Taylor Swift is as blown away by Simone Biles as the rest of us.
On Saturday, June 29, the pop star responded to the most successful gymnast of all time by using her hit song “Ready For It?” as part of her floor exercise on the first day of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials.
“Watched it so many times and I’m still not ready. But she is ready for it,” Swift posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to a video of Biles’ stunning routine shared by the official NBC Olympics & Paralympics X account.
So far, Swift’s response has been retweeted more than 6,000 times and liked more than 63,000 times. Biles also retweeted Swift’s response, because the best recognizes the best.
On Friday, Biles started her nearly perfect floor routine with Swift’s 2017 hit song from her album Call. As the song moved into the introduction, Biles performed what one commentator described as “the most difficult somersault pass in the entire world,” the triple-double.
It’s safe to say Biles was prepared for this.
“There isn’t much in sports that compares to watching Simone Biles on the floor,” noted another Olympic commentator after Biles finished her routine.
At the end of the first night of competition, the reigning world champion led the field with a score of 58,900.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Biles spoke about her life in the spotlight after winning 37 medals at the Olympics and World Championships.
“I’m not saying (people) scream and line up like I’m Taylor Swift, (but) I still get a lot of attention,” she told the publication at the time. “When five people come up to me and crowd around for a photo, I just get a little nervous. My anxiety sets in.”
Media attention on the athlete probably peaked after she withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics – a decision that ultimately highlighted the importance of prioritizing one’s mental health.
Simone Biles at the Met Gala 2021.
(Photo credit: Theo Wargo)
In the same interview, Biles talked about life as the wife of NFL player Jonathan Owens and the increased media attention at professional football games last year after Swift began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Last year, Biles’ husband and Kelce competed in a duel that saw both Biles and Swift in the stands.
“It’s a little weird because I’m like, this is definitely not my performance,” Biles said in response to the fan frenzy over her and Swift’s presence and that they even saw posters with her face on them. “But I know how excited (the fans) are.”
Biles went on to say that “no selfies” were taken of Biles and Swift before, during or after the game, adding that the two were sitting in different areas, “and I’m not sure they were really happy that the Packers beat them.”
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