Simone Biles or Caitlin Clark? Either Way, Women’s Sports Is Running Everything

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In this op-ed, associate editor Aiyana Ishmael unpacks the misogynoir surrounding Simone Biles's Sportsperson of the Year win.

On January 2, Sports Illustrated announced Simone Biles as its 2024 Sportsperson of the Year, and it should be no surprise. It’s undeniable that Biles was the leading player in athletics last year. The Olympic Games occur only every four years, but Biles’s dominance in gymnastics is unparalleled no matter the season. Of course, though, the haters have come out.

On social media many people undermined Biles’s win, claiming, in particular, that WNBA star Caitlin Clark should’ve gotten the spot. Some commenters even tried to diminish Biles’s success, stating that they “don’t even know what she did in 2024.” That’s being purposefully obtuse: Around 5 billion people — 84% of the potential global audience — followed the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, according to the International Olympic Committee. That alone proves that all eyes were on Biles and Team USA to bring home as many medals as possible during the Paris Olympics.

And Biles did just that. Biles has a total 11 Olympic medals, including 7 gold. Since the 2024 Games, she holds the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Beyond the Olympics, Biles has 30 total World Championship medals, including 23 gold, which makes her the gymnast with the most World Championship medals in history.

Her record-breaking 2024 season came after her 2021 Tokyo Olympics performance, when she withdrew following a “twisties” incident. Biles decided to prioritize her mental health over competing at the highest level. Her withdrawal sparked important conversations about the mental health of athletes and the pressures of elite competition. Biles's performances in Tokyo and Paris not only demonstrated her extraordinary physical capabilities, but also her strength in facing one's struggles head-on.

Biles is the 2024 sportsperson of the year, and the dismissal of her athletic dominance feels packed with misogynoir, especially when fans bring Caitlin Clark into the discourse. In the last year, since her arrival in the WNBA, many sports fans have used Clark as their racist leverage for why Black women athletes are less deserving of recognition. (Clark has denounced this sentiment, advocating for uplifting Black women in her sport.)

We see this clearly in how basketball fans discuss Angel Reese. Reese entered the WNBA alongside Clark as the number seven pick, playing for the Chicago Sky. From the moment the two athletes faced off in college, the internet pitted them against each other, making microaggressive and sometimes outright racist remarks about everything Reese does, whether it's how she talks, dresses, or acts on the court. Most of the time placing Clark on a pedestal brings her more vitriol too, creating larger issues for the athletes and disturbing their camaraderie on the court. Clark herself spoke out about racism from her fans: “People should not be using my name to push those agendas. It's disappointing. It's not acceptable,” she said in a post-game interview.

To once again see (mostly) men on the internet stating that Clark should have won the Sports Illustrated award instead of Biles is a telling sign that their allegiance to accurate recognition has less to do with stats and more to do with their disdain for Black women getting their flowers.

But here’s the thing: Even though the conversation around Biles is, as usual, rooted in misogynoir, the entire discourse is a win for women’s sports. The last time a singular woman won the Sports Illustrated honor was in 2019, when the magazine honored Megan Rapinoe (2020 featured multiple athletes, a mix of women and men). For the argument this year to be between Biles and Clark without mention of a man at all is a win that women's sports deserve. Yes, that's an unfortunately low bar, but it's what we're working with. Thanks to the incredible talent and transformation in women’s sports last year, multiple breakout stars — Clark and Reese among those at the forefront — drew more attention and respect than ever before.

Clark has had a rookie season of dreams, even taking home the Time Athlete of the Year award. In her first professional season she scored 769 points, made 337 assists, and 122 3-pointers — all stats that broke many of the standing rookie records. Her powerhouse force has been a key pillar in the narrative change in sports last year and what will surely happen in years to follow.

But, of course, Clark didn’t accomplish all of this in a vacuum. She stands on the shoulders of athletes like Biles, Serena Williams, Wilma Rudolph, Billie Jean King, Sue Bird, Jackie Joyner-Kersee — the list goes on. Racism and misogyny are still glaring issues that these athletes face, but more and more people are beginning to realize that women’s sports are just as exciting, fast-paced, and talent-packed as men’s. It's high time their abilities are at the center of it all, even if that progress — and the fans who are upholding archaic beliefs — still have some unpacking to do.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue