by Khaila Gentle
WASHINGTON D.C., Mon. July 4, 2022
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles will be among several other outstanding persons to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honour in the United States—from President Joe Biden.
According to the White House, the medal is awarded to individuals who have “made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.”
Biles, along with sixteen others, including Denzel Washington, Megan Rapinoe, Steve Jobs, and John McCain, will be awarded this Thursday. The 25-year-old gymnast, whose adoptive mother—Nellie Cayetano Biles—is Belizean, will become the youngest athlete to receive such an honor, taking the title from Tiger Woods who had been awarded in 2019 at the age of 43.
Upon announcing the list of awardees, President Biden praised Biles for being an advocate for athletes’ mental health and safety, children in the foster care system, and victims of sexual assault. He also commended Washington, an Oscar-winning actor, for his extended work with the Boys & Girls Club of America, and Rapinoe, Biles’ fellow Team USA Olympian, for her advocacy for gender pay equality, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice.
“These seventeen Americans demonstrate the power of possibilities and embody the soul of the nation – hard work, perseverance, and faith,” said the White House.
Other awardees include Father Alexander Karloutsos, former Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Alan Simpson, who served as a U.S. Senator for 18 years; and Diane Nash, a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who “organized some of the most important civil rights campaigns of the 20th century.”
Simone Biles was recently in Belize for the Fourth of July weekend—spending the holiday on Ambergris Caye. The gymnast, who holds Belizean citizenship through her mother, has often referred to the country as her “second home”.