--- --- # 4 Photos That Prove Size Doesn't Matter for Olympic Gymnast Superstar Simone Biles  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 2, 2016 8:33 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 2, 2016 8:33 PM UTC There’s been [quite a bit of hype](http://time.com/4428013/simone-biles-gymnastics-usa/?iid=sr-link1) around 19-year-old superstar American gymnast Simone Biles going into this year’s Olympics. The athlete is an advance favorite to bring home a hefty stack of medals, thanks to the level of difficulty she includes in her routines and her title as three-time world champ. But although she may be launching herself to unheard-of heights in her jumps, with her two feet on the ground, Biles is very tiny. So tiny, in fact, that at 4 ft. 8 in., she’s the shortest of the 555 athletes that make up the U.S.’s Olympic delegation. She was even able to find a fellow Team USA Olympian, volleyball player David Lee, who stands two whole feet taller. > [](https://twitter.com/Simone%5FBiles/status/760474039047561216) Fellow gymnastics squad member (and 2012 medalist) Aly Raisman also [went back-to-back with Lee for a photo opp](https://www.instagram.com/p/BIm-fmhgMzV/?taken-by=alyraisman) — and he towers over her, too. Take a look at how the entire men’s volleyball team of Cuba dwarfs the petite U.S. ladies’ gymnastics squad, none of whom clock in above 5 ft. 2 in.: Even in comparison with her own crew, Biles is a particularly compact athlete. Here she is with Gabby Douglas, the reigning all-around champion from 2012: And here’s the whole 2016 squad lined up (and decked out in patriotic leotards). The lesson here, as Biles herself tweeted: size really doesn’t matter. Because the Team USA gymnasts may be small, but [expectations for their Rio success](http://time.com/4428013/simone-biles-gymnastics-usa/?iid=sr-link1) are very tall. Simone Biles: Height Doesn't Matter in Photos ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4435662/4-photos-that-prove-size-doesnt-matter-for-olympic-gymnast-superstar-simone-biles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4435662/4-photos-that-prove-size-doesnt-matter-for-olympic-gymnast-superstar-simone-biles/"},"headline":"4 Photos That Prove Size Doesn't Matter for Olympic Gymnast Superstar Simone Biles","datePublished":"2016-08-02T20:33:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:00.928Z","description":"Biles and her squad prove that small can be strong, too","url":"https://time.com/4435662/4-photos-that-prove-size-doesnt-matter-for-olympic-gymnast-superstar-simone-biles/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4435662/4-photos-that-prove-size-doesnt-matter-for-olympic-gymnast-superstar-simone-biles/","name":"4 Photos That Prove Size Doesn't Matter for Olympic Gymnast Superstar Simone Biles"}}]}] ```