On Friday, an unprecedented opening ceremony along the Seine will kick off the Paris Olympics. The Games will showcase around 10,500 athletes, including many stars you'll remember -- and some you'll want to know. Here are 30 U.
S. Olympians to watch this year: Simone Biles, gymnastics Biles, 27, has won every all-around competition she has entered in more than a decade. That streak is likely never to be repeated .
She's a nine-time national champion, a six-time world champ and the 2016 Olympic all-around gold medalist. But after pulling out of the team and all-around finals in Tokyo with the twisties, Biles heads to Paris seeking redemption and could become the first gymnast to win Olympic gold in non-consecutive Games. One thing to know: Biles took two years off after the Tokyo Olympics and returned to elite competition last fall an even better gymnast.
This year, she's been remarkable and added a fifth eponymous skill to her repertoire: The Yurchenko double pike (YDP), the most difficult vault in women's gymnastics, is now called the Biles II. Biles has received standing ovations every time she competes the YDP -- for good reason -- so expect the same at Bercy Arena. One thing to watch: There is no greater show in gymnastics than a Simone Biles floor routine.
Take it in. She will compete two of her own moves on floor as well, the Biles I (double layout with a half-twist) and the Biles II (triple-twisting double-back). Cue: standing ovation.
-- Alyssa Roenigk Post worth seein.