Every weekday leading up to the big premiere we’ll be putting the spotlight on one of the Season 24 couples by introducing the celebrity to readers who may not be familiar with their work and sharing our personal thoughts on the pairing!
In celebration of today marking the completion of her second decade on Earth (aka her 20th birthday) our spotlight is on gold medal-gymnast Simone Biles!
Simone was born in Ohio, but later moved to Texas where she was raised by her maternal grandparents. At age 6, she tried gymnastics on a field trip with her daycare and starting formally training in the sport soon after. The first major competition of Simone's career was the 2011 American Classic, and a few weeks later, she competed in the 2011 U.S. Classic.
Simone competed in several more competitions in 2012, which led to her gaining a spot on the United States Junior National Team. In 2013 she made her senior international debut at the American Cup event after other gymnasts had to withdraw due to injuries. Later that year, Simone competed at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship and became the first African-American woman to win the all-round title at that competition, going on to repeat the achievement in 2014.
Simone announced her decision to turn pro in 2015, and in 2016 she was named to the U.S. Olympic team for the Rio games, in which she went on to win four gold medals and one bronze, setting the record for most gold medals won in women's gymnastics at a single Games.
Simone's partner for Dancing With the Stars is Sasha Farber, who previously competed in Seasons 17, 22, and 23, as well as one season of the Australian version of the show, and has also performed on Broadway.
Some highlight's of Sasha's DWTS career thus far include:
@TheBentleyNinja: As probably the most hyped contestant of the season, Simone must have a ton of pressure placed on herself to dance her heart out. But being that she is a gold medal Olympic gymnast, she must be used to it, and maybe even thrive from it. I don’t have any doubt that she will be amazing each week on the dance floor if she dances even half as well as she performs for her technical and artistic career. But with Laurie Hernandez as the current reigning champion of Dancing With the Stars, Simone has a lot to live up to.
I have never had a problem with any of Sasha’s choreography or anything relating to what we know about his teaching style. He just seems like an overall nice guy who knows what he’s doing and wants the best for his partners. And since I would now consider Sasha to be a regular on the show, separating himself from just being a troupe member, I know that audience sees him as someone who is not fooling around and as someone who can potentially become a popular name on the show, such as Derek, Mark, and Val. And mark my words-- Sasha’s popularity will skyrocket this season. And I am so happy about this because both he and his fiancé Emma seem like they are going to do things on this show that they were never able to do before. I can hardly wait!
I can definitely see Simone winning that Mirrorball Trophy, but she will have to work just as hard as she does for the Olympics to separate herself from the rest of the amazing cast this season. And while I think she will do just that, I think the finale will ultimately come down to the votes, and no matter how well she dances, the voting will practically be out of her hands. But it looks like to me that she will prove herself worthy of those votes by dancing hard and having the audience love her personality!
@juliadelbel: I am beyond thrilled about this partnership, and it's one that's had a lot of buildup (back in the summer Simone mentioned doing DWTS with Sasha as her partner and some twitter interactions and in-person run-ins have added to the anticipation). I already think these two are probably the best match of the season, if not one of the best of all time, and I'm excited to see what they do on the show together.
My main concern with this partnership is the timing. We just had Laurie Hernandez compete on last season and win, and this added to the already-present bias some viewers seem to have against gymnasts. Many people believe gymnasts always win when they are on the show (in reality, only two out of five seasons in which gymnasts have been present have been won by one) and some others simply just don't want to see back-to-back winners from the same sport. The belief that all gymnasts are the same is annoying because in many ways they aren't; for example some gymnasts focus more on the dance elements of routines, while others moreso on strength and power, and Simone is the latter. That doesn't mean she lacks an advantage over some other contestants, but I'm already seeing it get way overblown (especially in comparison to some other contestants with advantages in this group) and I fear it's going to affect her votes.
I think the best ways for Simone and Sasha to try to minimize these potential roadblocks are to stay positive and have fun (which they seem to be doing so far) and to differentiate themselves from other gymnastics partnerships-Laurie and Val in particular-as much as possible. If they do that, I can see them in the Finals and MAYBE winning. Maybe. But if they don't do it enough or the audience backlash is just too strong, they could be eliminated before then.
@dwtsdreams: I have been so busy and unfortunately don't have a ton of time to blog tonight but I couldn't miss out on the opportunity to write a little bit about one of my favorite couples! I am so excited about this partnership and I think it will be one for the books! Simone has expressed her love of DWTS before she went on the show, and she and Sasha have an incredible connection. If I had the time I would write for hours about them because I am just so excited to see what Sasha does because I know he and Simone are going to kill it! I am just so excited for them!
TOMORROW: Will this two-time Bachelorette runner-up make it a hat trick on the dance floor?
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