"As a little girl, you always want to become President one day"- When Simone Biles visited White House and met Barack Obama

2016 was a big year for Simone Biles, both on and off the mat. The American stormed to four gold medals in Rio on her Olympic debut, and subsequently cemented her status one of the world's best known gymnasts. During that time, she had opened up about visiting the White House and meeting then-President Barack Obama.

Going into the Rio Games, Biles and Team USA were favorites to win gold in multiple events. The 26-year-old entered the Games with ten World Championships gld medals to her name, with Team USA being the defending Olympic champions after the "Fierce Five’s” heroics at the 2012 Olympics.

Come competition time at the Rio Games, Simone Biles and co. absolutely surpassed the already high expectations fans had of them. Biles won the gold on the all-around, floor, and vault, as well as a bronze on the balance beam. Meanwhile, Team USA completed their title defense in the team event in dominant manner, scoring 184.897, which was eight points higher than silver-medalists Russia.

After this, Biles and her teammates, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian were invited to the White House, an experience the gymnast found ‘amazing'.

“As a little girl or as a little kid, you always want to become President one day and go visit the White House. But to actually have the opportunity ?? it was amazing to meet Mr. Obama and Mrs. Obama and how we interacted. And I got to be on stage with them for one of the speeches. They told us what a wonderful job we did in Rio and how inspiring it was to the nation,” she told Laureus.com six months after the Games.

Simone Biles on winning four golds at the Rio Olympics

In the same interview, Simone Biles opened up about her experience of her debut at the Olympics. The gymnast called it the best time of her life, telling Laureus,

“It was an amazing experience you dream about as a little girl. So once you're there, everything happens so fast, and it's kind of a blur looking back on it. But I know I had the best time of my life with some of my best friends.’

When asked if she expected to win four gold medals going into the Olympics, Simone Biles had stated she knew she had the potential, but focused on performing like she did in training instead of the results.

“I knew I had the potential if I hit all my sets. But then again, you never know, because it's a stage you've never been on. Nerves get to you sometimes and other things like that. But training had been going really well. But once I walk into a competition, I don't think about the medals and the outcome. I just try to do what I do in training.”

After her heroics in Rio, Simone Biles went on to win two more Olympic medals at the 2020 Games, despite struggling with mental health issues in Tokyo. The 26-year-old is now on track to make it to the Paris Olympics. She recently triumphed at the U.S. Championships.