Simone Biles will carry the American flag at Sunday's Closing Ceremony in Rio

Simone Biles has been chosen to lead the American delegation at the Closing Ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games on Sunday. She is the first gymnast to be chosen to carry the U.S. flag since 1936.

"It's an incredible honor to be selected as the flag bearer by my Team USA teammates," said Biles in a statement Saturday. "This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me and my team and I consider it a privilege to represent my country, the United States Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics by carrying our flag. I also wish to thank the city of Rio de Janeiro, and the entire country of Brazil, for hosting an incredible Games."

Biles' gold medals in Rio cement the 19-year-old's status as the greatest living gymnast. Read The Week's guide to what makes her so uniquely skilled here.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.