WOMEN+POWER: Olympic Athletes

Simone Biles

Simone Biles is a four-time Olympic champion from Rio 2016, but her Tokyo 2020 went unexpectedly after she developed a case of the ‘twisties,’ which saw her lose awareness while performing her skills in the air.

She took a two-year break from gymnastics to work on her mental health, returning in 2023 to win the U.S. national all-around crown. She also qualified for the World Championships, where she won four gold medals to indicate she was well and truly back.

The term “greatest of all time” may be overused, but it is a title that applies to Biles. Her 23 World Championship golds and 30 total medals are more than any other gymnast in history, and only the foolish would write off Biles adding to her four Olympic golds in Paris.

Sha’Carri Richardson

Sha’Carri Richardson is finally set for her Olympic debut in Paris after a turbulent young track career. She was highly touted as one of the USA’s big young stars to watch ahead of Tokyo 2020, but at the U.S. Trials in 2021 she tested positive for cannabis, a substance banned under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, and was handed a one-month suspension. That cost her a spot on the American team for Tokyo.

After a disappointing 2022, which saw the Dallas native miss out on a home World Championships, the 23-year-old – who turns 24 later this month – Richardson bounced back in the best way possible, announcing herself on the world stage at the 2023 World Championships in Hungary.

There, she won the women’s 100m in a new Championship record 10.65 and was part of the winning 4x100m U.S. team, as well as taking 200m bronze. With so much attention on the women’s sprints and Florence Griffith-Joyner’s long-standing world records under threat, many eyes will be on Richardson in Paris.

Katie Ledecky

It took Katie Ledecky a moment to get the statistic straight, which is relatable for anyone who’s ever tried to quantify Ledecky's greatness.

Ledecky was watching NBC’s coverage of U.S. Olympic Trials from her hotel in Indianapolis on one of her nights off last week. She had to pause when the announcers mentioned that if Ledecky wins the 800 freestyle at the Paris Olympics this summer, it would make her the first woman to win four straight gold medals in the same event.

“And I was like, wait, I would?,” Ledecky shared Sunday. “These things kind of go in one ear and out the other.”

Some of that is just a matter of volume – Ledecky has won so often and for so long that she requires new echelons of achievement that only she populates. But it also speaks to how Ledecky arrived here: By eschewing concern about her legacy or her accolades and applying her legendarily laser focus onto immediate, granular goals.