Most of you probably know who Simone Biles is. However, for some of you, the Olympics and/or gymnastics may not be your thing so let me bring you into the loop. This is Simone Biles:
And that was just the trials. She has been tearing it up in Rio. Her floor routines (including her signature move) have been gorgeous (sorry, NBC won’t let us embed the Rio footage yet so I can only give you links.) Yesterday she won the gold in the women’s individual all-around by two points. (Sidenote: when her score was announced, she took the floor to wave to the screaming crowd. She waved and then called silver medalist teammate Aly Raisman to come share the moment with her. I LOST it.) Simone has 10 gold medals and 14 overall and has the most medals of any American gymnast in history. Simone is also 19 and has had a crush on Zac Efron for some time now:
zac efron is just😍❤️😍
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) November 25, 2013
@ZacEfron 😍❤️💋 ilysm😭 pic.twitter.com/dm05MEIa2q
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) December 25, 2014
Last March, Ellen DeGeneres asked Simone about her crush. Because Ellen is also a big fan of Zac’s, she gifted Simone with this leotard covered with Zac’s face hoping it might catch his attention:
You can watch the whole segment here, the Zac bit starts about 2:20 (Simone performs a beam routine following, just fyi).
And it worked! Zac caught wind of it so he tweeted some good wishes to Simone for her trials and Simone flipped out:
@ZacEfron @TheEllenShow OH MY GOSH I THINK I AM GOING TO PASS OUT OH MY GOSH CRYING! THANK YOU 😊
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) July 8, 2016
Publicity stunt? I don’t know – the now single Zac tweeted this just last Monday:
@ZacEfron Thanks Zac! I hope you can watch Team Final tomorrow night.
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 9, 2016
I must confess something: Zac is a guilty pleasure of mine. Despite myself, I find him hot. The Mister signs off on many of my crushes but he does not condone my Zac attraction. I tell him I am going to super-important writing workshops when really my girlfriend and I are sneaking out to watch Zac films. Needless to say, I feel you, Simone. But here’s the best part – she has him sending messages now. Zac’s twitter says he’s currently in Japan with his brother Dylan but he still finds time (and wifi) to send a little love to Simone:
Of course I'm watching the #FinalFive 🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅dominate the floor! 😉#Rio2016 #TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/wdgVnvWOCa
— Zac Efron (@ZacEfron) August 10, 2016
After her victory Zac tweeted congratulations to Simone and she retweeted it and thanked him!
@Simone_Biles Congrats Simone! Can't wait to watch tonight.🤘🏼😉🏅#proud #hero #Rio2016
— Zac Efron (@ZacEfron) August 12, 2016
This is adorable and I love them both for doing it. As Simone noted in the Ellen clip, Zac’s last girlfriend used to be a gymnast, maybe he has a type? We’ll have to wait for the Baywatch premiere to see if Zac walks the red carpet on Simone’s arm.
Just one last thing – look at 4’9” Simone next to fellow Gold Medalists Nathan Adrian and Michael Phelps:
Congrats to @Nathangadrian & @MichaelPhelps on the 4×100 meter GOLD! pic.twitter.com/iPjVehDDFA
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 8, 2016
Photo credit: Twitter, Giphy, WENN and Fame/Flynet Photos and Getty Images
I’m TheRealPinky and I approve this pairing.
–TheRealPinky
I ship it.
Isn’t Zac like 28?
The ten gold medals are in the World Championships, not the Olympics (just for clarification).
She is so amazing, and she has the best, most contagious smile. She has the chance to win three more medals in Rio, I think (someone correct me if I’m wrong!).
You’re correct!
I’m sure she’ll smash it, I’ve no idea how she’s so consistently flawless on almost every apparatus.
And her picture with the swimmers is not only adorable, but also inspiring – there’s a sport for every shape and size and no two champions are alike 😊
Yeah that should definitely be revised. This is her first olympics LOL
So i know if ur like below 4’10 or 11 u can get a handicapped sticker. But shea not a little person so at wut height r u a little person?
Little people have various forms of dwarfism. Simone is just very petite.
Also gymnastics can keep you small (short) according to something I read yesterday. I think it was huffpo or slate. Gymnasts (female, not sure about male) keep getting smaller and smaller.
^^ No, they are not. The opposite is true, actually.
Often, elite gymnasts will grow an inch or two after they take a long break from the sport.
So cute!!! I hope they become a thing.
Adorable, I love the photo and tweet of him saying “of course I’m watching.”
I have not been following gymnastics lately up until these Games but Biles is breathtaking. I was watching her on the balance beam and you’d think she was on solid ground, I was just marveling at that. The whole team is pretty delightful to behold.
Simone is amazing. Her routines are like works of art in action.
It has been so fun watching the entire team. I love Laurie Herandez’s human emoji faces.
+2
Love her smile. She is a power house in a tiny body. She and the final 5 are so gracious. I love how they gave big hugs and kisses to the Team China girls after beating them. They make their opponents feel included in their joy. #FinalFiveForever
Simone Biles, Simone Manuel. Guess what imma name my daughter …
Jessica? Lol.
Simone Manuel Biles ________ (last name) AKA Lil Lemonade is for all of us really! Passes the Supreme Court Test AND befits out Black History Year Celebrations
He’s too pretty for me to find hot, but this whole situation is so cute! If my teenage crush started sending me supportive messages, I would have freaked out too. Simone is a badass.
This is too cute. I love how cool, calm, and collective Simone is — just inspiring.
How is this a publicity stunt? She was a young girl with a celebrity crush, got thrown in the spotlight where of course they’re gonna ask stupid questions like this. And Zac responded because he’s a nice guy. And she’s adorable.
true, he is a nice guy and supporting her like that during a competition is very encouraging 🙂 it makes him even cutter lol
Former gymnast and fully paid up member of the gymnastics fandom here! God, NBC’s coverage of this has been so bad. It’s meant to be a marquee sport and they barely showed half the routines and didn’t explain the scores for the ones that they did.
Simone’s dominance is almost unbelievable. It’s such a privilege to watch her. I really like Aly- not so much her gymnastics, but her determination is incredible. And the bronze medallist, Aliya Mustafina from Russia, is a gymnastics legend herself and has carried her team for years. So pleased for her too! The average age of this podium was 21, which is brilliant- it’s totally possible to continue competing after 16 now.
Yea, I like that the 20-somethings have a chance to be competitive. Of course, in the USA with the depth of the programme, you will see them in 2 Olympics at most, likely. Getting 3 olympics in was easier 20 years ago, in the days of Dominique Dawes, which is the only 3-time olympian from the USA that I can remember off-hand, and even she only participated in 1 all-around competition, in 1996.
The teams are too small and the girls at some point want to move on, or get injured. In the USA is just too competitive to make it more than 2 olympics IMO.
CBC mixed up their USA swim lanes and flipped out about Lochte winning and Phelps wasn’t even going to medal.
Super embarrassing but also really funny.
Coverage seems to all around suck.
Nobody worse than the guy who outed closeted gay athletes and put their lives in danger…
Wait what ?! I didn’t hear about that…
Plus it may not seem like this, but Simone is only 19, and been a competitive athlete with not much time to socialize during the entirety of her teen years. After all, she had classes, then she had to train 20-30 hours a week, plus training camps, plus gym. Not much time left for the boy-craze phase. Add to that that she was being interviewed by someone whose job is to get people talking… if she managed to capitalize her “sacrifices” for success and interaction with her crush more power to her.
Again, she’s only 19, not fully matured, and has been concentrating on athletics, not social interactions of this type.
It’s nice to an accomplished young woman not taking semi nude selfies and working toward something much bigger. She is a good role model and an incredible gymnast. Team USA all the way and that is awesome of Zac to show his support for her.
I have such a soft spot for Efron, I don’t know why. I think maybe because he seems troubled but I’ve never seen him acting like a douche to other people… only to himself I suspect.
I had no idea this was going on, it’s cute!
Whilst Zac is too old and druggie for my young Queen I do find myself in the same Efron predicament, he looks like a young angry ham but he is so so so immensely enjoyable in Neighbors ( both Times) i came out with a lot of like for him and Dave Franco
This is adorable and she is awesome!
There was a great profile on her a few months ago in the New Yorker magazine. You cannot help but love her. She is awesome in every way.
Simone is an excellent athlete and has a bright future ahead being so young. Congratulations to her.
The Texans cheerleaders posted a picture of her with them and I started laughing so hard. She is so tiny and petite. A little powerhouse.
Congrats to her 🙂
I had no idea she was so tiny! Phelps looks like he could be twice her height!
Cast her in a DC or Marvel movie as a superhero.
I do not get it – these athletes are great and super powerful w/ their bodies. They are superheroes by default. They also need money to train. A lot of money and time. Cast them in these superhero movies as secondary characters. Villains… heroes… you know, the works.
Better than selling breakfast cereal w/ corn syrup just to make the requisite money for training.
Hey, now. Zac is hot. I think he’s hot and I never liked High School Musical, never cared one way or another for his acting, I just think he’s sweet looking and really came into his own manliness wise. There’s NOTHING WRONG with find Zac Efron hot! Lol.
This is sweet. Good for him for being so cool about it and good for her for…well, everything she’s done so far!
Zac is also a guilty pleasure of mine, despite his dumb movies I find him charming and talented (and HOT!).
Nathan Adrian is MY JAM.
I too teared up when she called Aly up to share that special moment with her. A true feel good moment.
Well, Zac IS very pretty. He just seems like a perpetual boy to me, though. Must be my advanced age.