Simone Biles won her fourth Female Athlete of the Year trophy at the Laureus World Sports Awards, tying Serena Williams for the record.
Biles was honored at the awards in Madrid, eight months after winning three gold medals and one silver at the Paris Olympics. Biles previously won the Laureus award in 2017, 2019 and 2020 for her accomplishments in each preceding year.
“I’ve been dreaming of moments like this since I was a foster kid,” Biles said after being presented the award by show host Lindsey Vonn. “So I have to say thank you to my parents for adopting my sister and I and for allowing me to turn my passion into my profession.”
Williams won the award in 2003, 2010, 2016 and 2018. The Laureus awards began in 2000.
Biles, the Comeback of the Year winner in 2024, won the 2025 Female Athlete of the Year over this field of nominees: Aitana Bonmati (soccer, Spain; last year’s winner), Sifan Hassan (track and field, Netherlands), Faith Kipyegon (track and field, Kenya), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (track and field, USA) and Aryna Sabalenka (tennis, Belarus).
Biles, 28, said after the show that she will be at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but hasn’t decided whether it will be as a competitor or a spectator.
“I’m still focusing on healing physically and mentally, because doing the Olympics, it kind of takes a toll on your body,” she said. “I haven’t gotten that much time -- because I sacrificed so much -- to hang out with my family, my friends, my husband and stuff like that. So I’m really enjoying my time off before I decide if I want to go back to the gym and compete.”
At the end of the show, Biles stood on stage a few feet away from tennis legend Rafael Nadal — who retired last year — as Nadal gave his acceptance speech for the Icon award.
“Enjoy the moment, because the professional careers are short,” Nadal said in front of not just Biles to his left and hurdling legend Edwin Moses to his right, but a room full of star athletes past and present. “Just try hard, enjoy and appreciate every single moment that you have to enjoy this beautiful world of sport. Keep going.”
In separate comments before the awards, Biles said according to L’Equipe, translated: “2028 seems so far away. And my body is aging. I felt it in Paris. At the end of the competition, I went back to the village, took the elevator, and my body literally collapsed: I was sick for ten days. And just the other day, we sprinted in the garden with friends, and I was sore for three days. So, honestly, I don’t know. We’ll see!”
Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis won Male Athlete of the Year after raising the men’s pole vault world record by one centimeter on three occasions in the last year, including at the Paris Olympics.
Duplantis, who was presented the award by Novak Djokovic, told the tennis legend on stage that he wants to break the world record “hopefully a few more” times.
“LA’s quite a bit away, too,” he said of the 2028 Games. “That’s three years, so that’s a good bit of world records, I guess, that I can hopefully chip off before then. Maybe we can do something special in LA, too.”
Duplantis became the first track and field athlete to win Male Athlete of the Year since Usain Bolt won his fourth and final award in 2017.
The other nominees this year were tennis player Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, swimmer Leon Marchand of France, cyclist Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands.
Other award winners included Real Madrid (Team), Spanish soccer player Lamine Yamal (Breakthrough), Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade (Comeback), Chinese Para swimmer Jiang Yuyan (Sportsperson with a Disability), British cyclist Tom Pidcock (Action Sportsperson), American surfer Kelly Slater (Lifetime Achievement) and Lesotho’s Kick4Life (Sport for Good).
