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Simone Biles is Olympic all-around champion; silver for Aly Raisman

“The Simone Biles net worth total of $2.1 million has grown 1000% in 2016 from huge endorsement deals built on her gymnastics fame and excellence”, Money Nation explained to readers earlier this week.

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“This medal is not just for me”.

The 20-year-old doesn’t want, though, to be remembered as an exception.

As the first African-American woman to win gold in an individual Olympic swimming event, Simone Manuel knew the colour of her skin would generate more interest than the colour of the medal she had just won. Comparing their reactions to watching Biles at the games, Rick said, “It’s a calmness for me, but for her she’s squeezing my hand really hard”. So, I just stay out of it.

“I hope that I can be an inspiration to others, so this medal is for the people who come behind me and get into the sport and hopefully find love and drive to get to this point”, Manuel said. Don’t believe me? Check out this tweet by ESPN.

That she did, her smile as bright as the gold eyeliner she wore. It’s the fourth consecutive Olympics where he’s won that event. Biles relishing the victory with her teammates, leaving Rio with that coveted medal and a taste of triumph.

She was just 0.034 points behind – the equivalent of one wobble – and uneven bars are her “worst” event. They are the two most decorated male Olympic swimmers of all-time, but Lochte simply never had a chance to overtake the best who ever was. This one was a little more personal. “I wish that they would change it but I don’t think that they ever will”, Raisman said.

But they’re in good company. “I know our decision was very much questioned”.

Like Biles, Manuel has cheered on her teammates, posting hilarious tweets featuring Katie Ledecky, Lilly King and Maya DiRado.

She spoke of the difficulty in being a rare black swimmer on the American team, how it has attracted positive attention but at the same time brought a burden.

During her senior year in college, she became a household name in the swim community when she broke the national age group record on her 17th birthday. “Standing tall at just 4’9”, the 19-year-old, unstoppable, defying gravity, flipping and flying through the air.

Manuel’s passion for the sport extends beyond the pool. Billed as the heavy favorite heading into the women’s all-around gymnastics competition, she lived up to the hype.

Standing just 1.45m (4ft 9ins) the bubbly Texan with the big smile threw down the gauntlet with a nerveless performance two days after helping the USA women to a second straight team gold in her first Olympics.

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“We were always encouraged to try what we wanted to do”.

US women's gymnastics team wins gold in RIO