Simone Biles has long been celebrated for what she does on the gymnastics mat. But it was a moment in a car dealership on Monday that had the internet in its feelings. The 29-year-old Olympic champion surprised her best friend, Rachel Roettger, with a brand-new Hyundai Palisade — documenting the entire thing on Instagram Stories with her characteristic warmth and without a trace of performance.
“Buying my best friend a car,” she captioned a clip of herself signing the paperwork. A large pink bow on the vehicle completed the picture.
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Grateful, in both directions
Biles followed up the reveal with a look at the SUV’s interior before posing alongside the car, adding simply: “Truly blessed to be able to do these things.”
Roettger’s reaction, shared on her own social media, was equally genuine. “Get you a best friend like mine,” she wrote alongside a photo of the two of them in front of the vehicle. “SB surprised me with my dream mom car. Forever thankful for you.”
Biles reshared the post with a short but heartfelt reply. The exchange resonated quickly online, with many noting the easy, unforced quality of the friendship on display.
A bond that goes back a long way
Biles and Roettger have been a regular fixture on each other’s social media for years, sharing everything from girls’ nights out to courtside appearances at Chicago Bears games to support Biles’s husband, Jonathan Owens.
Biles and Owens met on the dating app Raya in 2020, got engaged in February 2022 and married in April 2023. The couple made headlines last year when they travelled to South Africa for their honeymoon, sharing a series of images from the trip that gave their followers a glimpse of the country through their eyes.
Off the mat, Biles continues to demonstrate that the qualities that make her extraordinary in competition — generosity, intention, joy — translate just as naturally into everyday life.
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Featured Image: instagram | rachelroettger528
