Simone Biles Says She Was Mistaken For 2 Athletes In One Day

Someone believed that Simone Biles was one of two other prominent Black athletes.

Olympian Simone Biles poses on the Barnstable Brown Derby Eve Gala red carpet Friday night. May 02, 2025 | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Simone Biles shared that she was mistaken for two different Black athletes in one day.

“It’s not even 6am and I’ve already gotten called Dominique Dawes 2x and Sha'Carri Richardson once," Biles wrote on her Instagram story on Sunday.

Both Dawes and Richardson are both prominent athletes in their own right, earning multiple awards for their sport. Dawes is a retired gymnast who earned four Olympic medals and was a part of the 1996 "Magnificent Seven" gold U.S. women's gymnastics team.

Dominique Dawes warms up in practice at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville on Aug. 23, 1994, for the Coca-Cola U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Richardson has two Olympic medals under her belt after winning a gold medal in the 4x100m relay and a silver medal in the 100m at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Biles also competed during the 2024 Paris Olympics and brought home four medals: three golds (Team, All-Around, and Vault) and one silver (Floor Exercise).

This is Not The First Time Simone Biles Was Mistaken For Someone Else

Despite having a positive attitude about the situation, this has happened to the Olympic medalist in the past. Back in 2023, she told the Wall Street Journal to correct a photo in an article they wrote about her.

"This picture isn’t even me…….. try again," Biles wrote on X in response to the since-deleted post.

The Wall Street Journal responded to the mistake by notifying Biles and their readers that they updated the photo on their site and across social media.

USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree Simone Biles poses for a portrait while at World Champions Centre Gymnastics Training Center one Tuesday, Mar. 8, 2022. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Simone Biles Gets Candid About Insensitive Comments

Biles is forever cemented into sports history as the most-decorated gymnast ever, among both men's and women's gymnasts. She has earned 31 World Champion medals and 11 Olympic medals, with seven of them being gold in several disciplines.

The gymnast has continued to use her platform to have tough conversations and even about her personal experience with racism.

In 2020, Biles was a guest on the "Today" show when she spoke to Hoda Kotb about how fellow gymnast Carlotta Ferlito made racist comments about beating her at the 2013 World Championships in Belgium.

Ferlito's comment about painting her skin black went viral fast.

During the 2013 World Championships, Biles was the first Black woman to win the all-around title. She admitted that instead of her winning the title and making history, it was overshadowed by the comment.