AIPS ranked Biles third among female athletes of the past 100 years, behind Serena Williams and Nadia Comăneci.
The Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive included Simone Biles in its century-spanning female-athlete ranking announced in 2024. Tennis champion Serena Williams placed first, while Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comăneci ranked second.
Comăneci became the first gymnast to receive a perfect 10.0 in Olympic competition, achieving it at the 1976 Montreal Games. She won five Olympic gold medals and helped make gymnastics one of the Games’ most internationally followed sports.
The ranking is a journalists’ poll, not an official statistical table, so it reflects reputation and historical influence as well as medals. A common mix-up is confusing Comăneci with Larisa Latynina, who holds the record for the most Olympic medals won by a female gymnast, or Věra Čáslavská, another highly decorated Olympic champion.