What Simone Biles said backstage after winning 2 ESPYS
- - - What Simone Biles said backstage after winning 2 ESPYS
KELLY MCCARTHYJuly 18, 2025 at 12:24 AM
The hottest summer event in the sports world wasn't on a pitch or inside a stadium, it was at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Wednesday night, where the best athletes and entertainers gathered to celebrate the top moments in sports at The 2025 ESPYS.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images - PHOTO: Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and the Trojan Marching Band are seen onstage during the 2025 ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre on July 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California.Shane Gillis' ESPYS monologue
Comedian, actor and writer Shane Gillis delivered a sharp opening monologue as host, taking shots at the star-studded crowd and poking fun at everyone from Aaron Rodgers and Bill Belichick to Simone Biles and Shohei Ohtani.
Mark J. Terrill/AP - PHOTO: Host Shane Gillis, top right, speaks at the ESPY Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, July 16, 2025.
Despite a quip that likened Biles to a leprechaun for all her Olympic gold medals, the 28-year-old gymnast won even more hardware Wednesday night to add to her collection of accolades.
Simone Biles wins big at ESPYS, behind the scenes moments with top athletes
Biles took home two ESPYS on the night: best championship performance for her all-around win at the Paris Olympics and best athlete - women's sports.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images - PHOTO: Simone Biles accepts the Best Athlete Women's Sports Award onstage during the 2025 ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre on July 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California.
"It was very unexpected tonight, because the athletes in this room are absolutely phenomenal, and they're raising the bar each and every year," Biles told "Good Morning America" backstage.
Biles told "GMA" later that despite performing on the largest global stages regularly as a gymnast, accepting an award onstage "is so nerve-racking."
"It's definitely not like performing. I'd rather do a million beam routines in a row than to be up there and giving a speech," she said.
Elsewhere on Wednesday night, Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named best athlete - men's sports following an amazing NBA season that concluded with an NBA Championship and MVP title.
"I want to thank the Thunder organization for allowing me to be me, be a basketball player and make my dreams come true," he said in his acceptance speech.
The Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles also won best team at the awards ceremony for their decisive victory over the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this year, stopping the repeat Super Bowl champs from a three-peat.
Women's sports shine at the ESPYS
All night, women's sports were firmly in the spotlight with an array of longtime legends and up-and-comers alike.
Team USA rugby star Ilona Maher took home the award for best breakthrough athlete and used the moment to reiterate her goal of empowering women.
"My message stays the same: Strong is beautiful, strong is powerful. It's sexy. It's whatever you want it to be," Maher said in her acceptance speech. "I hope more girls can feel how I feel."
Maher told "GMA" that the best moment for her has been "when girls come up to me and say I've changed them -- they look up to me."
"I think that's the reason I do it and why I'm going to keep doing it," she continued. "That hopefully I'm changing their lives and helping them."
WNBA legend Diana Taurasi and retired Olympic soccer star and World Cup Champion Alex Morgan were both honored with the Icon Award, giving each other their proverbial flowers by hailing the others' success and athletic ability.
Mark J. Terrill/AP - PHOTO: Alex Morgan, left, and Diana Taurasi react as they accept Icon Awards at the ESPY Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, July 16, 2025.
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"Alex was always the player that you knew was gonna come up clutch. And I would always watch and say, 'I just wanna be like that. I wanna be Alex," Taurasi said onstage.
"I think being called clutch is pretty awesome, but for Di, I feel like just the longevity of her career is what's so inspiring -- like the fact that she was on the top for 20 years, grinding every day, gold medal after gold medal, championship, All-Star, MVP," Morgan said in her acceptance speech.
Once backstage, Taurasi told "GMA" that getting this recognition from peers and fans feels "amazing," adding that "we get to do something again in a team way -- that's what our careers were built on."
"And to go up there together, to me I thought that was really cool and special [rather] than going up there alone," she said of sharing the moment with Morgan.
Tennis star Sloane Stephens was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award, telling "GMA" that "the real work is done all behind the scenes, and it's done when nobody knows, nobody's talking about it."
"For the last 12 years of the Sloane Stephens Foundation, we've just been doing the work, put our heads down and trying to help as many kids and families as we possibly can," she said, referencing her namesake nonprofit organization, which aims to use "tennis and education to change the narrative of poverty, health inequity, and educational underdevelopment," according to its website. "It's even more impactful when you're doing it and nobody knows."
Biles' teammate and one of the most decorated female gymnasts, Suni Lee, who overcame an unspecified kidney disease and returned to the Olympic podium at the summer games in Paris, won best comeback athlete on Wednesday night.
Mark J. Terrill/AP - PHOTO: Suni Lee speaks after winning the Best Comeback Athlete award at the ESPY Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, July 16, 2025.
Backstage after the big moment, she spoke to "GMA" about the state and future of women's sports.
"I think that we are at an all time high, and it's so amazing to see," she said. "It can always get better from here, but it's just so amazing to see and for everybody to be engaged and actually care about women's sports."
Powerful narratives off the field at the ESPYS
Every year, the ESPYS are an emotional celebration of sports heroes outside traditional sports venues and places of competition.
Cancer survivor and Penn State women's volleyball coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley was honored with this year's Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
"Cancer changed my life, but it didn't take it. It didn't take my belief, it didn't take my spirit, and didn't take my team," the 45-year-old and two-time All-American said.
The Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, meanwhile, was presented to NBA luminary Oscar Robertson, the famed guard better known as "The Big O."
"I accept the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, humbled by the many past recipients and the choices to demand fairness and perseverance persevere through adversity," he said in his acceptance speech.
The Pat Tillman Award for Service went to Los Angeles County firefighters David Walters and Erin Regan, who were among the heroes and first responders who risked their lives to battle the brutal infernos that devastated the Southern California city earlier this year.
Regan, a former soccer player herself, shared a poignant message in her acceptance speech.
"We have this saying for this succession of responsibility in the fire service, and it gives me great honor to speak it to Pat Tillman, tonight: 'Rest easy, brother, we'll take it from here,'" she said.
Rishin Tandon, Maegha Ramanathan and Ian Waite, the winners of the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, joined King herself to take in the special moment with "GMA."
"Each and every one of them are amazing people -- and each and every one of them have done miraculous things already and they're just getting started," King said backstage, referring to the three young winners.
The trailblazing tennis icon and champion of women's sports also shouted out "GMA" anchor Robin Roberts, calling Roberts "a big part of it," and adding, "Thank you for being such a great role model for all of us, and I love you very much as a friend."
ESPYS full winner list
Click here to see the full list of winners from the 2025 ESPYS.
Source: “AOL Sports”
