Simone Biles Leads Team USA at the Rio Closing Ceremony
Team USA Gymnast and actual superwoman Simone Biles has been chosen by her teammates to carry the flag during the Rio Olympics' closing ceremony Sunday evening. The U.S. Olympic Committee announced Saturday morning the 19-year-old, who won four gold medals at the games (and is the first American to ever do so!), will lead Team USA in the ceremony's parade of nations.
"It's an incredible honor to be selected as the flag bearer by my Team USA teammates," Simone said. "This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me and my team, and I consider it a privilege to represent my country, the United States Olympic Committee, and USA Gymnastics by carrying our flag. I also wish to thank the city of Rio de Janeiro, and the entire country of Brazil, for hosting an incredible games."
As NBC's broadcast plays out, Simone has yet to perform any gymnastics with the flag, but is causing a bit of a logjam because so many of her fellow Olympians want selfies with her. Hooray! I'm so excited to see our lady Simone close out the games in style but also sad they're over! I guess I just have to go back to not caring about sports for another four years (But I'm also a little happy the Olympics are over because I can't take this level of stress much longer. I *literally* ripped out a chunk of my hair during the women's floor finals, and I think I need to take several Valium and sit in a dark room for a week to wind down. How do the athletes cope?!)
Update 8/20, 1 p.m.: Simone just invited her celeb crush Zac Efron to come along via Twitter. Come through, Zac!
hey @ZacEfron
I'm carrying the flag for closing ceremony!! Will you still be here ? #GoTeamUSA- Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 20, 2016
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