Unless you’ve been out of internet range, doubtless you know by now that the U.S. women’s gymnastics squad won the women’s team all-around gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris on Tuesday in thrilling fashion.
The gold medal was won by the team – Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera – and the team was led by Biles who was the top scorer of the night while competing in the vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.
Biles’ thousand-watt smile on the medal stand took us back to last year when she spoke at the Axonius Adapt 2023 conference in Washington produced by MeriTalk, along with CISA Director Jen Easterly as part of the event’s closing keynote. Biles joined with Axonius in 2022 to launch the “Controlling Complexity” campaign aimed at revealing the human element of cybersecurity.
We meet a lot of interesting people on the technology beat at MeriTalk – some with quite a bit of influence – but very few with the kind of world-class star power that Biles brings when she walks through the door – and then sits down next to you in an otherwise empty green room and says hello.
I confess I don’t remember much about what the tech speakers had to say, but remember very well a delightful chat with Biles that had nothing to do with business and more to do with family things, travel, siblings, collecting Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. You know, the important stuff.
Thanks Simone and team – and congrats from everyone at MeriTalk on the stellar performance in Paris. We’re all doing somersaults for you – can’t wait to see you vault even higher in the individual competition.
