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If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about competition, it’s gymnast Simone Biles. At age 22, Biles has won more medals than any other gymnast in history, and there are now four jaw-dropping gymnastics skills named after her. Despite her penchant for winning, there’s one competition she will no longer participate in: beauty. Biles, along with an impressive roster of fellow Olympic athletes, including world-record holder swimmer Liu Xiang and the Japan volleyball team, have joined forces with SK-II for #nocompetition, a new global campaign created to inspire women to live by their own definitions of beauty.
Biles admits that in an image-obsessed era, ignoring the pressure to measure up isn’t always easy, not even for her. “I’ve been dealing with scrutiny my whole life. I had to go through puberty in the public eye. It’s hard and social media doesn’t make it any better, but I think the campaign will help us as women to speak up about toxic beauty standards,” says Biles, who already has a history of making statements that exude confidence. Exhibit A: that time she wore a leotard with a goat embroidered on it to put her haters in their place. “That was a jab,” she says.
Here, Biles talks about more of her standout moments, her strategies for tuning out negativity, and her hope for the next generation of gymnasts.
On why she doesn’t do “mat talk” before an event
“I’ve seen Cheer, but our sports are very different. [In gymnastics,] you’re taught at a very young age to just focus on you. Whenever you’re up there, it feels like it’s just you, your team, and your equipment. Before I go out and compete, my mom always says ‘be the best, Simone,’ but other than that, there’s nothing special that I do. I’m just myself.”
On her headline-making eyeliner looks
“I just wanted to be different. I had done so much and I didn’t want my photos from every competition to look the same. Now that I look back, I don’t think the liner was that great, but you know—it’s a process [laughs]. I just used tubes of glitter that my teammates gave me. You get older and you figure out how to make it look better.”
On dealing with body shaming
“There are times when I’ve gotten upset because I’m not what everyone likes to look at, but without my muscles, I wouldn’t be able to do gymnastics the way I do, so at the end of the day, I can’t be mad. This is how I was built and I need this body for gymnastics. Not looking at comments on social media helps. I also like to make fun of myself and that takes the pressure off of everything.”
On her low-key skincare habits
“I don’t really have a set routine. SK-II was the first product line that I was introduced to a while ago and I fell in love with it. That’s all I really use now. My fear with other products is always that they might be too thick, but SK-II formulas are lightweight. In between practices I’ll come home, take a shower and wash my face and I like to apply moisturizer before I put any makeup on. Sometimes during the weekends, I’ll do the SK-II face mask. I try not to do a lot to my skin because we sweat a lot in the gym, but it’s relaxing to do that stuff.”
On diversity in the gymnastics world
“I think it’s increasing. When you see a team where everyone has a different ethnicity and you’re the little girl watching on TV and you say ‘I look like her,’ it makes you feel like you can do it too. Believing that they can do it is what opens up more kids to the sport. I don’t look at my comments too much, but when I see kids get super excited, it’s inspiring to me. I think it’s neat that I can be a role model by just being myself.”