In what is sure to prove one of the defining moments of the 2024 Paris Olympics, US gymnast Simone Biles (03/14/1997, Pisces Ox) this week achieved an extraordinary four medal haul—gold in the individual and team all around events, gold in the vault, and silver on the floor. 

With a total now of 11 Olympic and 30 World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated gymnast in history. The Guardian described her as a “a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, a special artist who makes the unthinkable look elementary and the extraordinary look effortless. We will never see another like her.” Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade (05/08/1999, Taurus Rabbit), who edged out Biles for gold on the floor, said Biles was simply “from another world.” 

Biles represents a fascinating blend of Western and Chinese astrological influences. On the Western side, she embodies the most artistically sensitive and changeable of all the signs, the dreamer Pisces. In fact, with a birthday in the third week of Pisces, right before the cusp with Aries, Biles could be described as among the most Pisces-like of all Pisces, a true “old soul”, with this sign’s natural inclination towards contemplation and aesthetic sensibility dialled up as far as it goes. Yet on the Chinese side, the year of the Ox provides a stark contrast, for the Ox influence is associated with unrivalled determination and patience, a potentially immoveable resolution to make their mark and build a secure fortress for themselves and their loved ones. Biles’ achievements as a gymnast can thus be seen as a supreme fulfilment of her destiny. By extending gymnastics into realms never reached before on the world stage—Biles has had no fewer than five movements named after her due to their unprecedented difficulty—she has displayed at once an instinctual aesthetic for the natural beauty of bodily movement, consistent with the instinctual artistry of Pisces, and the capacity for limitless dedication, perseverance, and real-world achievement that is synonymous with the spirit of the Ox.

But Biles’ ability to impact the world with her unique brand of sensitivity and determination is not confined to gymnastics. Much of the attention Biles has attracted in Paris this year has been attributed to her “comeback”, after she withdrew from most of her events at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. This was due to experiencing disorientation in the air, a phenomenon gymnasts call the “twisties”. By revealing her experiences as she did, Biles displayed a kind of vulnerability and strength that arguably transcends gymnastics. This has encouraged other athletes to be more forthcoming about the kinds of emotional or mental challenges that are intrinsic to the human condition, yet are too often invisible behind the mythic status of sporting champions. As British Olympic rower Cath Bishop wrote in 2021, 

Biles’s courage to step back under the global spotlight in Tokyo and put her own mental and physical health first sent shockwaves round the traditional “win at all costs” sporting world. In perhaps her swiftest and most agile of moves, she undercut our entrenched macho narratives around pain, sacrifice and drive to be the best at all costs and exposed them for what they are – made-up narratives that diminish rather than enhance performance, controlling mantras that constrain rather than inspire athletes.

Looking at historical and contemporary figures who share Biles’ profile as a late Pisces born in an Ox year reveals some remarkable synergies. The early twentieth-century Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky (03/12/1889) displayed a similar aptitude for stunningly determined physical beauty, and has long been regarded as “the epitome of the male dancer”:

Nijinsky’s extraordinary technique and his magnetic stage portrayals drew large audiences of non‐balletomanes. Astonished by his pyrotechnics — his jetés, cabrioles and the nearly impossible entrechat‐dix — they decided to stay on to see the rest of the show.

Other athletes personifying a similar matrix of energy to Biles include the Dutch soccer player Edgar Davids (03/13/1973), who during a brilliant international and European club-level career also became famous as the first player to wear protective glasses (due to glaucoma). There is also the incredibly successful US swimmer Katie Ledecky (03/17/1997), just three days younger than Biles, who with nine Olympic and 21 world championship gold medals has won more than any other female swimmer. Ledecky’s autobiography, Just Add Water (2024), includes intriguing contrasts between her instinctual creativity and determined nature:

In a pool, I was unencumbered and able to flip and turn and spin my body in every direction. I was also hemmed in by a pen of concrete. It represented creativity within bounds…

In the twenty years since [my first race in 2003], swimming has not ceased being hard. Uniquely so. It tests my body and my psyche equally. It challenges me like I imagine a marathon would—a marathon with the added burden of the force of water reminding me with every stroke what I’m up against. But to my mind, the hard is kind of what makes swimming great. Giving your best effort has been baked into my DNA for generations. Trying hard is the whole point. It’s what makes something as simple as swimming laps meaningful.

What the future holds for Simone Biles is anyone’s guess at this point. She certainly has some strong social supports. These include her BFF, fellow gymnast Jordan Chiles (04/15/2001, Aries Snake), with whom she shares the special Chinese Trine energy between the Ox and Snake, and her husband, NFL footballer Jonathan Owens (07/22/1995, Cancer Pig), with whom she shares the superb Western Trine connection of Pisces and Cancer. 

One thing can almost certainly be counted on—Biles is likely to continue to display rare sensitivity and aesthetic instincts, while never shrinking from hard work or a challenge.