A pair of former “Dancing with the Stars” contestants have made history: Simone Biles and Suni Lee will compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. They have both also qualified for the Olympic individual all-around final.
As Team USA pointed out on Instagram, this fact is historic.
Simone Biles and Suni Lee face off in the all-around final
On July 28, Team USA offered encouragement to the women in an Instagram post.
The first photo in the post shows Biles and Li, with the caption above explaining that the US team will feature “for the first time in history two Olympic all-around champions competing in an Olympic all-around final.”
A slide added to the Instagram post showed that Biles will compete in the finals on vault, balance beam and floor exercise, while Li will compete on balance beam and bars.
The women’s team also qualified for the team finals. In fact, they qualified by placing first.
Fellow “Dancing with the Stars” contestant and Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, Shawn Johnson, also liked Team USA’s post, as did the show’s Instagram page.
On July 29, Team USA re-announced the historic achievement on their website, adding some more details: “Simone Biles and Suni Lee made history Sunday night as, for the first time in women’s gymnastics, two Olympic all-around gold medalists will compete in a final.”
The site continued, “Li, the gold medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Games, will face Biles, the champion at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.”
After the first round of the all-around, Biles was at the top of the leaderboard. Despite a calf injury, she was about two points ahead of everyone else. In the all-around final, Li beat teammate Jordan Childs to take second place for the United States.
The DWTS family is rooting for Biles & Lee
Both Lee and Biles have received a lot of support from their “Dancing with the Stars” family.
Professional dancer Sasha Farber competed alongside both Olympians during their respective seasons and has consistently shown her love for them on Instagram.
On July 29, Li posted several photos from the Olympics to her Instagram page. “So much emotion today. On to the Finals!!” she wrote.
Farber responded with a series of clapping emojis, while fellow pro Daniella Karagach used the heart-eyes emoji multiple times.
“I’m really proud,” said Nastia Liukin, another Olympian and former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant.
“Love you 🙌🙌🙌,” wrote Adam Rippon, winner of the athletes season of Dancing with the Stars.
Biles also posted several photos to Instagram on July 29th. “Blessed to be doing what I love,” she wrote in the caption.
Farber commented with a series of fire emojis, while “Dancing with the Stars” co-host Alfonso Ribeiro commented: “Get it tomorrow. So proud of your effort.”
Ripon expressed her joy, saying, “I’m grateful to have been able to witness it❤️.”
When fans learned that Biles and Li would be returning to the Olympics, the “Dancing with the Stars” subreddit lit up with comments.
Quite a few Reddit users speculated that another team member might return to the show this fall, with some pointing out that while Jordan Chiles seems to be a popular cast member, she has a tour scheduled for the fall that will overlap with Dancing with the Stars.
“I’m so happy Suni is doing well after all the health issues of the past few years. She’s a true warrior!” one fan commented.
“Wow, how far Suni has come!!! Love this. Versatile and incredibly talented,” someone else raved.
Another Reddit user pointed out that Lee used music composed by another show alum, Lindsey Stirling, for her floor exercise routine.
Dancing with the Stars fans won’t have to wait long to see how Biles and Lee fare in the individual all-around final, which will begin at 12:15 p.m. ET and stream live on Peacock, according to USA Today.
