"I still have no words. I’m shocked" - Simone Biles responds to becoming the youngest person to ever receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Celebrated gymnast Simone Biles received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from United States of America's President Joe Biden in a glittering ceremony on July 8.

Biles became the youngest person to ever receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom award. The 25-year-old gymnast won the award for advocating for athletes' mental health, foster care children, and sexual assault victims. As he introduced Simone Biles for the award, President Biden said:

"Today, she adds to her medal count. I don't know how you're going to find room for another medal."

The celebrated gymnast has won a whopping 32 international medals to her name. She took to social media to say she was honored and thankful to be recognized for the award and added that she was still shocked to have won it. Biles posted on Instagram:

"I’m so honored & thankful to be recognized as a recipient by President Biden for this prestigious award. I still have no words. I’m shocked!"

The gymnast is one of the 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award, which is the United States of America's highest civilian honor. The award is presented to individuals who have made contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States of America, world peace or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.

Simone Biles - The greatest gymnast?

The 25-year-old has won 15 individual gold medals spread across four World Championships (2013 to 2019). Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, who has six medals of the same hue in individual events, did so over the course of nine World Championship events.

Biles shot to fame when she effortlessly performed the Yurchenko double pike at the Tokyo Olympics podium training. The Yurchenko Double Pike has the highest difficulty in the vault.

It's assigned a 6.6 D-score, with Produnova - nicknamed the Vault of Death - coming second at 6.4.