Simone Biles felt the “Start Of Something New” in 2016 when her celebrity crush, Zac Efron, gave her with a kiss on the cheek. Now, having him congratulate her for her gold win at the 2024 Paris Olympics is a full-circle moment for the athlete.
The 27-year-old gymnast led her nation to victory alongside her teammates Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Hezly Rivera. Her skilled athleticism and effort on the gym mat have been recognized throughout the world, including by her childhood crush. The 36-year-old actor first met the greatest gymnast of all time back at the Rio de Janeiro games, where they filmed the viral video of him kissing Simone on the cheek.
She was all of us because, as we know, Zac Efron, aka Troy Bolton, was the heartthrob of the 2000s.
Ever since her “cloud 9” moment with the Wildcat, they have maintained a supportive friendship. With her 2024 win, Zac applauded Simone for her excellent work in leading the team to victory. “So incredibly proud of you @simonebiles,” he wrote on his Instagram stories, adding a hand-shaped heart, a gold medal, and a goat emoji to a post of Simone that labeled her “the oldest U.S. women’s gymnast to win Olympic gold (27).”
The High School Musical actor even collaborated with ESPN’s sports accounts and SportsCenter to share a recollection of photos from their first encounter.
Simone had previously shared in 2016 that, “everyone who knows me knows about my crazy crush on the twenty-nine-year-old actor Zac Efron. I even had a life-sized cardboard cutout of him back home in Texas. I loved his movies, but mostly, I thought he was cute, and I’d heard that he’s really a good person,” according to Cosmopolitan.
She added to the outlet, “when I finally came out from behind Aly, he lifted me right up onto his hip and planted a big kiss on my cheek. I almost died. I was giggling so hard, all I could think was, This can’t be real life. This is too perfect to be real.”