All eyes were on Simone Biles as she took her place at the top of the Olympic podium Thursday, becoming the first American gymnast in the history of the Games to win two individual all-around gold medals.
She has cemented herself as the GOAT, and she proudly displayed her gold and status — in more ways than one.
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Biles wore a necklace with a three-dimensional goat, made from white gold and set entirely with diamonds.
"It's really an incredible piece," said jeweler Janet Heller, who made the custom piece for Biles. "She is just such a shining star, and we wanted [the goat] to shine from every angle."
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Heller, who has been in the jewelry industry for two decades, is the founder and CEO of Janet Heller Fine Jewelry in Calabasas, California. Biles reached out to her about five weeks ago to commission the custom necklace.
"We visited a couple different iterations of it," Heller said. "We kept working on it until we got to this final iteration, which is one that she loved and approved."
It took her team five weeks to make the "GOAT" necklace, which features 546 diamonds — each one drilled and set by hand. They surprised the gymnast by making the goat three-dimensional, wanting the necklace to truly shine and "encapsulat[e] the essence of [Biles'] extraordinary career," the jeweler wrote on Instagram.
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"[Biles] was so blown away," Heller said. "When she received it, she sent us a text saying, 'Oh my God, it's 3D!'"
The jeweler said she had freaked out and got chills when Biles, who had just won the individual all-around final, went offstage and put on the necklace while teammate Jordan Chiles cheered her on.
"We go into these projects not expecting anything," she said. "So for her to have been so loud and proud about it — we couldn't believe it. We were just so honored."
Throughout the five-week process, Biles was easy to work with, according to Heller.
"It was an absolute honor and privilege to work with her," she added. "To have found her to be so humble, down-to-earth and appreciative really was the cherry on top."
Aside from the goat necklace, Heller made a diamond-set Olympic rings necklace for Biles, her mother and Chiles.
The rings necklace was also requested by track and field Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband, Paralympian and double-amputee sprinter Hunter Woodhall — hers in diamond, and his in gold. Heller and her team also made Davis-Woodhall a yellow gold necklace with a silhouette of the athlete in a jumping position.
However, there will never be another "GOAT" necklace.
"It's very special, very one of a kind," Heller said. "[It was] exclusively for her ... [T]hat exact necklace, we would not make again."
