18 Feminist Moments From The Olympics That Deserve To Win Gold

After winning the gold medal in the women’s individual all-around on Aug. 11, the 19-year-old gymnast insisted that she be credited for her own achievements.

“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps,” she told Sporting News after accepting her second gold medal. “I’m the first Simone Biles.”

Hell yes, Simone.

The 20-year-old Chinese swimmer, who's known for her great attitude and funny faces, recently revealed that she got her period before the 4x100-meter relay on Aug. 13.

“My period came last night and I’m really tired right now,” Fu told a reporter. “But this isn’t an excuse, I still did not swim as well as I should have.”

Her honesty was refreshing and so important, especially in a culture that still treats women’s periods as a taboo subject.

After becoming the first American woman to win gold in shot put, Michelle Carter expressed an empowering message about body image and self-love.

“I’m in a sport where people don’t look at us like women, they don’t look at us like being girls, or feminine,” Carter told the AP. “But I’ve been girly all my life and so I couldn’t separate... between the sport and being a woman."

Earlier this year, Carter told The New Yorker that it's just fine to be feminine and be a badass competitor. “I think now, it’s like, ‘You know what? We’re girls and we can throw heavy balls and be in the dirt and we look good while we’re doing it,’” she said. “I think it’s bringing more attention to the sport and girls are realizing, ‘Hey, I can do this and it’s O.K. to do this as a girl.’”

Forget their world domination in the Olympics, these five American gymnasts -- dubbed The Final Five -- deserve gold for their awesome sisterhood. Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian have shown each other some truly amazing support and TLC through the games.

One awesome example of the team's unwavering support for one another came after Biles won gold and Raisman won silver in the women's individual all-around competition.

"I think I was more proud of Aly getting silver than me gold," Biles told ESPNW. "She's worked so incredibly hard during her comeback. She's one of my role models, and I don't think there's anyone I'd rather share the podium with. I'm more happy for her than I am myself."

In response to a sexist comment that 19-year-old American swimmer Katie Ledecky "swims like a man," NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines said, “She doesn’t swim like a man, she swims like Katie Ledecky!”

We couldn't have said it better.

Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade slayed her floor routine on Aug. 7 set to the tune of Queen Bey's "Crazy In Love." While Andrade came in fourth in the individual all-around competition, the gymnast won the hearts of Bey fans everywhere.

We were certainly "crazy in love" with her routine.

The 20-year-old American swimmer made history on Aug. 12 when she set an Olympic record in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, and won a gold medal.

“It means a lot, this medal is not just for me. This is for a whole bunch of people who have come before me, and have been an inspiration to me,” Manuel told NBC after the race. “It’s for all the people after me who can’t -- who believe they can’t do it. And I just want to be an inspiration to others, that you can do it.”

Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad made history just by competing in the Olympic Games. But she didn't just show up -- she slayed, winning a bronze medal along with the rest of the U.S. Women's Fencing Team.

Uzbekistani gymnast Oksana Chusovitina is currently competing in her seventh Olympic Games. Yes, you read that correctly -- her seventh Olympic games.

Chusovitina, known as "Chuso" in the gymnastics community, first competed in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and has competed in every Olympics since. She has a 17-year-old son, who is one year older than the youngest gymnast on the American team, Laurie Hernandez.

During the women's vault competition, Chusovitina attempted a vault move so dangerous it's been dubbed the "vault of death." Although she didn't land it -- and unfortunately did not medal -- the 41-year-old gymnast won our hearts with her gutsy performance.

The U.S. women's basketball team is hands-down dominating the Olympics. Apparently, not everyone's happy about it.

When a reporter asked coach Geno Auriemma if he thinks it’s bad for basketball that his team is so dominant, the veteran women's coach responded perfectly:

"We live in that Trumpian era where it’s OK to be sexist and degrade people that are good, just because they’re the opposite sex. We are what we are. We’re never going to apologize for being that good. We’re never going to apologize for setting a standard that other people aspire to achieve.We got a guy in the pool with a USA swim cap on who nobody can beat. And if he wasn’t in swimming, there would be a lot of other guys with gold medals. So, it is what it is. The world needs times when such great, great teams or great individuals are doing great things, that other people can talk about and other people say, 'Wow, wouldn’t it be great to be at that level?' These are Olympians. They’re supposed to play at a high level.They’re professionals, they’re supposed to put on a show, they’re supposed to entertain. So, what are we supposed to do? Just go out there and win by a little?"

After Manuel’s history-making gold medal win in the 100-meter freestyle, she came back to her room at 2 a.m. to find Ledecky still awake and ready to hug her.

According to the New York Times:
"Before the 800, Ledecky did not have the best night’s sleep. She woke up on Friday with a sore throat that she kiddingly blamed on her roommate, Simone Manuel. After Manuel’s upset victory in the 100-meter freestyle on Thursday, Ledecky stayed awake to congratulate her. Manuel said she was shocked when she cracked open the bedroom door around 2 in the morning and was swallowed in an embrace by Ledecky.‘She said I’m not going to sleep until I give you a hug,’ Manuel said. ‘That really meant a lot to me.’"

#FriendshipGoals