Simone Biles has been named Sportswoman of the Year for 2018.
The US gymnast was honoured with the top prize at last night’s Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco.
This is the second Laureus award for 21-year-old Biles, who also picked up the title last year following her fifth national championship and fourth international championship wins.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist was also named as one of Time Magazine’s most influential people in the world, as well as ESPN’s most dominant athlete of 2018.
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Biles, who was not present at the awards ceremony, was up against tennis grand slam winners Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber, skiing gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, and skiing and snowboarding gold medalist Ester Ledecka.
Last year, she picked up four gold medals, one silver, and one bronze at the 2018 world championships.
Biles has become the most decorated gymnast in American history, taking home more world gold medals than any other athlete.
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Serb Djokovic picked up the Sportsman of the Year award following his victories at the US Open and Wimbledon.
Naomi Osaka won the Breakthrough of the Year awards for her skills in tennis, and Tiger Woods received the Comeback award.
20×20 is an ambitious two-year long initiative to better promote and champion women in sport.
With the tagline of “if she can’t see it, she can’t be it,” the 20×20 movement has three targets to reach by 2020:
- 20 percent more media coverage of women in sport
- 20 percent more female participation
- 20 percent more attendance at women’s competitions and events
And at Maximum Media, we’re proud that Her and SportsJOE is backing the 20×20 movement as official digital media partners.
