--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez Throwback description: Simone Biles posted a throwback photo of herself with teammate Laurie Hernandez Monday, celebrating the pair's face-off in the beam final. canonical: https://time.com/4452730/rio-2016-olympics-simone-biles-laurie-hernandez-throwback/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-15T18:36:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:31.729Z og:title: Simone Biles Posts Adorable Throwback Picture With Laurie Hernandez og:description: "Back then we never thought we would be competing at the Olympics" og:url: https://time.com/4452730/rio-2016-olympics-simone-biles-laurie-hernandez-throwback/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23ee52d81d373171/6988a2692dce01289f9ea4ff/u-s-womens-gymnastic-team.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: U.S. Women's Gymnastic Team og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Simone Biles Posts Adorable Throwback Picture With Laurie Hernandez twitter:description: "Back then we never thought we would be competing at the Olympics" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23ee52d81d373171/6988a2692dce01289f9ea4ff/u-s-womens-gymnastic-team.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Simone Biles Posts Adorable Throwback Picture With Olympic Teammate Laurie Hernandez > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Aug 15, 2016 6:36 PM UTC  Gold Medalists Gabrielle Douglas, Simone Biles, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Alexandra Raisman of the United States pose for photographs on the podium at the medal ceremony for the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Team on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gold Medalists Gabrielle Douglas, Simone Biles, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Alexandra Raisman of the United States pose for photographs on the podium at the medal ceremony for the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Team on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Aug 15, 2016 6:36 PM UTC [Simone Biles](http://time.com/4451734/olympics-simone-biles-third-gold-vault/) will have the opportunity to win her fourth gold medal of the [Rio Olympics](http://time.com/4451806/usain-bolt-gold-rio-2016-olympics-100-meters-gatlin-blake/) in the final for women’s beam Monday afternoon, but she clearly hasn’t forgotten what a long journey it was to get to the 2016 Summer Games. The 19-year-old gymnast posted a throwback photo of herself with teammate [Laurie Hernandez ](http://motto.time.com/4447177/rio-olympics-laurie-hernandez-balance-beam/)on Instagram Monday, celebrating the pair’s face-off in the gymnastics competition. “Funny thing is back then we never thought we would be competing at the Olympics,” she captioned the picture. “Crazy how things happen, so excited to be competing in Beam Finals today with this girl love you so much! DREAM BIG GIRLIES.” The women’s balance beam final begins at 1 p.m. EST, but will air in primetime on NBC at 8 p.m. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4452730/rio-2016-olympics-simone-biles-laurie-hernandez-throwback/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4452730/rio-2016-olympics-simone-biles-laurie-hernandez-throwback/"},"headline":"Simone Biles Posts Adorable Throwback Picture With Olympic Teammate Laurie Hernandez","datePublished":"2016-08-15T18:36:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:31.729Z","description":"\"Back then we never thought we would be competing at the Olympics\"","url":"https://time.com/4452730/rio-2016-olympics-simone-biles-laurie-hernandez-throwback/","keywords":["Newsfeed","olympics","Summer Olympics","Rio 2016","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Simone Biles","Rio 2016 Olympics","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23ee52d81d373171/6988a2692dce01289f9ea4ff/u-s-womens-gymnastic-team.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23ee52d81d373171/6988a2692dce01289f9ea4ff/u-s-womens-gymnastic-team.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Women's Gymnastic Team","caption":"Gold Medalists Gabrielle Douglas, Simone Biles, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Alexandra Raisman of the United States pose for photographs on the podium at the medal ceremony for the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Team on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic","creditText":"Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/4452730/rio-2016-olympics-simone-biles-laurie-hernandez-throwback/","name":"Simone Biles Posts Adorable Throwback Picture With Olympic Teammate Laurie Hernandez"}}]}] ```