Simone Biles names a cruise ship and becomes the vessel’s godmother

Simone Biles became the latest celebrity to name a cruise ship on Friday. The seven-time Olympic medalist christened Celebrity Cruises' newest ship Celebrity Beyond in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Earlier in May, the cruise ship company announced that Biles would become its godmother when it docks in Florida. As per the latest release by the company, the Olympian flagged off the ship as it headed to Europe.

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Simone Biles teams up with Celebrity Cruise

Biles joined a list of celebrities including Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who named the company’s earlier ships. Saujani was dubbed godmother to Celebrity Apex while Yousafzai named Celebrity Edge.

Celebrity Cruise officials on Friday said that the most decorated gymnast of all time was the deserving candidate to join the list of empowered women. Jason Liberty, CEO of the Royal Caribbean Group, Celebrity's parent company said:

"I can think of no one better to be the godmother of this incredible ship than the G.O.A.T. herself - Simone Biles.”

Simone Biles expressed her joy at being named the godmother of a cruise ship. The athlete pointed out that she appreciated the recognition as an empowering woman. She also hailed Capt. Kate McCue, the first American female cruise ship captain. Biles said:

"It is an honor to be selected as Beyond's godmother and to join such a distinguished group of strong, barrier-breaking women who have been named as Celebrity's godmothers before me. I appreciate the important message this designation holds in recognizing our accomplishments as empowering women, and I am honored to share the stage today with fellow brave, boundary-breaking leaders like Lisa-Lutoff Perlo and Capt. Kate McCue."

Earlier in May, Biles released a statement claiming that she was honored to get the designation from the cruise company.

Simone Biles said:

"I have a lot of great memories of cruising with my parents while growing up, so I am beyond excited to serve as godmother of Celebrity Beyond… I am honored to join such a distinguished group of game-changing women and appreciate the important message this designation holds in recognizing our accomplishments, and hopefully inspiring the next generation of women."

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Simone Biles received the Presidential Medal of Freedom

She recently became the youngest recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The highest US civilian honor was conferred to her at a ceremony on July 7. While giving her the award, Joe Biden commended her for a successful athletic career and for using her platform to advocate for better mental health, and for speaking out against sexual harassment.

For context, Biles withdrew from the finals of the 2020 Summer Olympics citing deteriorating mental health. The gymnast’s move started a global conversation around the need to focus on better mental health for athletes.

Announcing her decision to pull out of the competition, Bile said:

"I say put mental health first. Because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. So it's OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are — rather than just battle through it."

Following this, the athlete was nominated for the national award. While Biles hasn’t officially retired, she has remained absent from competitive events for over a year.