Simone Biles will release her first collection of NFTs.
The gymnast has joined the advisory board of Autograph, a company cofounded by NFL player Tom Brady that provides a new way to connect fans with players and create memorable experiences.
The Simone Biles Collection will be available to view exclusively on Autograph’s website and will be on sale online at DraftKings Marketplace starting Aug. 31.
Autograph’s advisory board includes several other all-time greats, including golfer Tiger Woods, tennis player Naomi Osaka, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, former baseball player Derek Jeter and former ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky.
“Our advisory board is already home to some of the most iconic athletes ever, and we’re thrilled to announce that one of the greatest of all-time, Simone Biles, is joining the Autograph team as a leader and content partner,” Dillon Rosenblatt, chief executive officer and cofounder of Autograph, said in a statement. “Simone’s digital collection is the first step in a larger series designed to bring her audience into the new era of collecting.”
Related Articles
Premier editions of the Simone Biles collection will drop throughout the day starting at 3 p.m. on Aug. 31, with its signature editions set to drop Sept. 2 also starting at 3 p.m. The signature edition will contain authentic digital signatures from Biles herself.
You May Also Like
“As I look ahead in my career, I want to diversify my creative skills and explore new ways and platforms to reach fans through collecting and digital art,” Biles said in a statement. “I am excited to work with Autograph and provide my perspective as part of the advisory board. I am honored to join a group of very accomplished legends and greats across all sports to collaborate with Autograph and help lead the next generation of digital collecting for our fans.”
Autograph’s Simone Biles NFT collection is created in collaboration with Religion of Sports, which is behind the Facebook Watch series “Simone vs. Herself.” The series explores an in-depth look at her life, training and challenges she faces. “Simone vs. Herself” will continue in the weeks ahead, and will include footage from her time competing at the Tokyo Olympics.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which concluded earlier this month, Biles withdrew from multiple women’s artistic gymnastics events due to mental health reasons. These included vault, floor exercise, individual all-around and team final, all of which she received gold medals for in the last Olympics.
Biles explained later that she was dealing with “the twisties,” a type of mental disorientation a gymnast can experience during their sequences. She explained on Instagram that it’s “not having your mind and body in sync.” She shared that she was having difficulty shaking off the twisties and that she “literally can not tell up from down.”
Biles decided to compete in the balance beam final, one of the last events in women’s artistic gymnastics and received a strong score of 14.000 to win the bronze medal. She also earned the bronze medal in the beam final in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“I wasn’t expecting to walk away with the medal,” Biles said after the event, according to the New York Times. “I was just going out there doing this for me. To have one more opportunity to be at the Olympics meant the world to me.”
In earning her seventh Olympic medal, Biles is now tied with Shannon Miller for the most by any athlete in gymnastics for Team USA.
READ MORE HERE:
Simone Biles Wins Bronze on Beam at Tokyo Olympics
Simone Biles Unsure of Return to Olympics After Withdrawal from Gymnastics Team Event