Nineteen-year-olds Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, both born in mid-March 1997, are megastars at the top of their games at the Rio Olympics. They each have the chance to come back from Rio with five medals.
Ledecky, a swimming sensation, won a surprising 800-meter freestyle Olympic gold at just 15 years old at the 2012 London Games. At the subsequent world championships, she's never lost a race. At the 2016 Olympics, she has so far claimed gold in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle, plus won a silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay. She attempts to defend her 800m freestyle title in Friday’s final.
Simone Biles burst onto the scene in 2013 with her first all-around World title. She hasn't lost an all-around competition since, claiming two more World all-around titles – becoming the first woman ever to win three straight – and a bevy of apparatus medals for a total of 14. She made her Olympic debut in Rio and won gold with her “Final Five” teammates on Tuesday; she’ll look to prove her dominance again in the all-around final on Thursday.
- Birthdate: March 14, 1997 (Biles) / March 17, 1997 (Ledecky)
- Training location: Spring, Texas (Biles) / Bethesda, Maryland (Ledecky)
- Started sport: Age 6, 2003
- 1st Major Intl'l Competition: 2013 World Championships: team, all-around and floor gold, vault silver, beam bronze (Biles) / 2012 London Olympics: 800m freestyle gold (Ledecky)
- First world championships titles: 2013: 3 golds (Biles) / 2013: 4 golds (Ledecky)
- Total World golds: 10 (Biles) / 9 (Ledecky)
- Graduated from high school: 2015
- Has a driver's license? Yes (Biles) / No (Ledecky)
- Signature moves: The Biles: floor exercise skill consisting of two back flips in the straight body position with a half twist before landing / "Ledecky Slam": 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle golds in same world championships
- Records: Most world championships golds won by a female gymnast; first female gymnast to win three straight all-around titles (Biles) / Currently holds 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle world records (Ledecky)
- Professional status: Turned professional on July 29, 2015 (Biles) / Stayed amateur and will compete for Stanford in the fall (Ledecky)
