After the recently concluded 2016 Rio Olympics, four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles is starting to make the rounds for Team USA's victory tour. This included a stint at Chicago's O'Hare airport, one of the world's busiest airports, where she briefly worked as crew member for United Airlines, one of her many sponsors as a professional athlete.
Simone Biles, four-time Olympic gold medalist, United Airlines cabin crew
Simone did tasks such as informing passengers about Wi-Fi details on the flight, scanning tickets at the gate, and inspecting the plane's cargo hold.
The best part of the day was when she did a shift as a flight attendant, and announced that an Ohio-bound plane was headed to Rio, site of the last Olympic games.
Interacting with the fans
"Simone Biles was back on the podium yesterday, but for a very different reason: She was alerting passengers it was time to board a flight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport," says the Huffington Post.
The four-foot-eight Texas native was greeted at the airport by a flood of selfie requests. Most of the excited onlookers were young fans, also training to become world-class gymnasts for Team USA.
"She's my favorite gymnast - she's my idol!," Averill Downey, 11, of Patterson, NY, tells the Chicago Tribune, "I'm so happy to have met her today." Averill, an aspiring gymnast, did a handstand while Biles assisted.
"Oh, no, no, no, no," said Charlie Hughes, 11, of Darien, CO, when the Chicago Tribune asked if he would take a picture with Biles. Hughes said, "I'm too scared. She was so great in the Olympics." Eventually, with much coaxing, his mother talked him into taking the picture, something he can be proud of when he achieves his goals.
Stage Dad
Despite Biles' fun and excitement over the Team USA tour Ronald Biles, Simone's father, was standing by at the airport, and was "mystified" over people's reactions to his daughter. Besides the many requests for selfies, many fans end up screaming and getting way excited, reactions Ronald isn't used to over his daughter, whom he has known for the past 19-years of her life.
Team USA Gymnastics Tour
Simone and the rest of the US Gymnastics Team will be at the United Center on Thursday, October 13 for the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions. Other well-known Team USA athletes include team captain Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian.
Simone Biles is also sponsored by Hershey's who released an ad in June 2016, featuring the famous athlete.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
