Michelle Obama Praises Simone Biles After 2024 Olympics Backlash (& It's Not The First Time)

These days, we're all Simone Biles fans — even Michelle Obama. Biles and teammate Jordan Chiles were recently called out by a fellow athlete for their sweet show of sportsmanship at the 2024 Paris Olympics, prompting Obama to jump to Biles' defense. While others called the moment "disgusting," Obama considered it "beautiful."

On August 5, Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade took home the gold medal in the women's floor exercise final. She was joined on the podium by her runners up, Biles, who scored the silver medal, and Chiles, who took home bronze. Biles and Chiles proceeded to kneel and bow down to Andrade in honor of her amazing performance. The Olympic Games account on X, formerly known as Twitter tweeted a photo of the scene with the caption, "This is everything," earning nearly 800,000 likes.

This is everything. pic.twitter.com/FrXz7wWtQg

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 5, 2024

However, another award-winning athlete didn't find this move quite so likable. In fact, he said, "This is literally disgusting." Baltimore Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey retweeted photos of the special moment with his opposing caption. While Humphrey wasn't a fan, former First Lady Obama loved it. She also retweeted the photo and wrote, "I'm still not over this beautiful moment of sisterhood and sportsmanship! You can just feel the love shining through these ladies. Congrats Rebeca, Jordan and Simone!"

Michelle Obama's defense of this iconic Paris Olympics moment isn't the first time she showed support for Simone Biles. When Biles dropped out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 to protect her mental and physical health, Obama tweeted encouragement, writing, "We are proud of you and we are rooting for you." And, unsurprisingly, this feeling of admiration is mutual. In 2021, Biles told People, "I think she's been such an inspiration," adding that Obama is "such a role model that it makes you want to be the first in your category to do something, to strive to perfection."

While Obama and Biles' love for each other goes way back, the former First Lady's most recent display of admiration was met with lots of appreciation. Obama's tweet in support of Biles and Jordan Chiles' kindness toward their opponent earned over 370,000 likes and many positive comments, including, "I agree! It's beautiful to see!" and "Respect. This shows character."

Marlon Humphrey's take on the event wasn't as well-received. His commentary earned only 14,000 likes, as well as quite a bit of backlash. "God forbid athletes show respect to a fellow athlete who has suffered a torn ACL multiple times," one commenter sarcastically quipped. "Sportsmanship disgusts you?" another X-user wrote with crying emojis. Evidently, it seems that good sportsmanship is more popular than being a sore loser. If you disagree, well, you might have to take that up with the former First Lady.