Zac Efron celebrates Simone Biles’ Olympic gold eight years after surprising gymnast at Rio games

PARIS, FRANCE: Simone Biles, the reigning queen of gymnastics, has long admired actor Zac Efron, but it seems the admiration is mutual.

Eight years after Efron made headlines by surprising the then 19-year-old Biles at the Rio Olympic Games, he’s back in the spotlight, celebrating her latest Olympic triumph.

Simone Biles earns her eighth Olympic medal

Following the US women's gymnastics team's historic gold medal victory at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday, July 30, Efron took to Instagram to shower Biles with praise.

“So incredibly proud of you @simonebiles,” he wrote, celebrating her remarkable feat as the oldest US women gymnast to win Olympic gold at age 27.

His post was adorned with emojis - a heart, a gold medal, and a goat, symbolizing her legendary status in the sport.

Biles's much-anticipated return to the Olympics comes three years after stepping away from the Games in Japan to focus on her mental health. On Tuesday, she and her teammates secured gold after scoring 171.296 points. The 27-year-old solidified her status as the most decorated American gymnast of all time as she bagged her fifth gold and eighth overall Olympic medal.

Simone Biles' unforgettable starstruck moment with Zac Efron in 2016

The iconic moment between Zac Efron and Simone Biles dates back to the 2016 Rio Games when the actor made a surprise appearance that left Biles starstruck.

During a live segment on TODAY, Biles had playfully expressed to Hoda Kotb at the time that she and her teammates wished for Efron’s presence at the team final.

"I think this is a moment, I think if you look at Camera 1 ..." Hoda told Biles.

"I can't get my hopes up, I can't do that!" Biles replied. "OK, Zac Efron, I think we need you here at the team final because we'll all get to be there," she spoke into the camera. "And we need you to come watch."

A few days after Biles clinched her fourth gold medal (and fifth overall) at the 2016 Games, Efron delighted the gymnast with a surprise visit in Rio de Janeiro, donning a Team USA shirt and bringing her joy with his heartfelt congratulations.

The emotional encounter was captured on camera, with a visibly flustered Biles exclaiming, “Stop, you’re lying! Stop, no way, no way. Ahhh, oh my God, is this real life? Oh my God. Stop.” 

In a subsequent TODAY interview, Efron shared that he began following Olympic gymnastics after being “immediately captivated by these girls and what they were doing.”

“Their story just blew my mind,” he remarked. "When I found out Simone and this team were fans, I was like, ‘What kind of guy am I if I don’t show up?'"

Efron also took to X (formerly Twitter) to express that meeting the team was his "Olympic dream" come true.