Champion gymnast Simone Biles recently revealed why she placed the face of a bedazzled goat, now dubbed Goldie, on her leotard, and her response was priceless.
Last month, the 24-year-old had the internet buzzing after she snagged her seventh women’s all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships — breaking the record for the most all-around titles for an American woman ever.
However, it was her attire at the competition that really had fans chatting. Biles wore a series of leotards from GK Elite throughout the match, each featuring a sparkling goat. Many of her supporters online thought the idea was genius for someone considered, if not working her way up, to being the greatest of all time.
While talking to Marie Claire, Biles explained her inspiration behind the GOAT stamp on her uniform, revealing that “the idea was to hit back at the haters.” She continued, “I didn’t feel like it was necessarily fair how they could keep saying whatever they wanted, but then if I said something, it wasn’t fair.”
Biles explained that seemingly before her tournament and historic win, people on social media were critical of her and even brought up the idea of the athlete wearing a goat on her uniform — an idea Biles quickly adopted.
“That would make them so angry. And then I was like, ‘Oh, that’s actually a good idea. Let’s make the haters hate it, and the fans love it.’ And so that’s exactly what we did and why we did it,” the Ohio native added.
However, her wardrobe wasn’t only about taking a shot at her critics. The world’s third most decorated gymnast told the publication that she wants to show that it’s okay to think highly of yourself.
“I just hope that kids growing up watching this don’t or aren’t ashamed of being good at whatever they do,” she said. “And that’s my problem: when people kind of harp on other people that are good at something. And it’s like, everybody can say you’re good, but once you acknowledge it, it’s not cool anymore. And I want kids to learn that, yes, it’s okay to acknowledge that you’re good or even great at something.”
On June 7, Biles uploaded several photos of her various uniforms featuring Goldie onto her Instagram account. In addition, she thanked her supporters for naming her. Goldie has already made fans of her own, with many asking if the sparkling goat would appear on Biles’ leotard at the summer Olympics set to take place in Tokyo from July 23 to Aug. 8.
