The gymnastics star Simone Biles has emerged as the most promising and decorated female Olympic athlete of the modern time. Having dominated elite women’s gymnastics since her teenage years, did Biles also manage to get a college degree?
Born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, Simone was introduced to what would become her career at the tender age of six. Since then, gymnastics has essentially become Biles’ entire life. Though she briefly attended Benfer Elementary School in Harris County, Texas, Biles soon switched from public school to homeschooling in 2012, to increase her training from 20 to 32 hours a week.
Biles’s rise in gymnastics coincided with her high school years at home in Texas, where she worked tirelessly to balance her academics with rigorous training. But as her gymnastics career took off and she won several World Championships, she had to make a crucial choice that many athletes have to make: whether to go to college or concentrate only on her sport.
Did Simone Biles go to college?
In an interview with Forbes, Biles elaborated on her pronounced dilemma; prestigious institutions like UCLA offered her a full-ride scholarship, but she was torn between full-time gymnastics training and a university education track. Eventually, Biles was motivated by her aspirations for Olympic glory, which she soon achieved in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Though Biles turned down UCLA’s offer, despite the perks of its NCAA gymnastics team, a pathway many elite gymnasts choose, Biles took an alternative route to higher education. Instead of attending UCLA or another brick-and-mortar institution, Biles opted for online education at the University of the People (UoPeople), a tuition-free, fully accredited online university. In her interview with Forbes, she recalls,
“University of the People opened up an opportunity for me that didn’t otherwise exist, accommodating the flexibility I need to fit in my college studies around my career.”
So, in 2018, she enrolled in the University of the People online, which allowed her to pursue a degree in business administration while maintaining her intensive training schedule. The 27-year-old is now thriving in her career, boasting 7 Olympic medals and numerous other titles.
