Belize, Simone Biles' 2nd-Favorite Country, Offers Final 5 a Free Trip

The work isn't over for Simone Biles. She won team gold with her "Final Five" teammates two days ago, and claimed all-around gold tonight, but she still has three event finals--beam, vault and floor--to prepare for.

But that isn't stopping her from looking forward to a post-Rio vacation. And she's hoping to bring her team with her.

A few hours after her commanding win in the all-around final, the tourism board of Belize extended Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Gabby Douglas a tempting offer.

Biles is a dual citizen of Belize, a tiny country in South America, through her mother, Nellie Biles. Nellie's mother was the owner of a popular grocery store in Belize City while her father was a senator.   

Biles has often traveled to her mother's home, including for her brother's wedding last summer.

She also considers herself a decent fisherwoman. When she's in Belize with her family, she says, "we fish for snapper, grouper, and, yeah, some other ones, but I can’t think. Triggerfish sometimes get our lines. You put like another fish, like half a fish on it, and then you kind of trawl the boat, and then barracudas get it, and then you reel it in real quick. I don’t really like baiting my own hooks. Because it’s gross."  

Hopefully her teammates will be willing to help out with Biles' bait and tackle, because within minutes of Belize's inviation on Twitter she accepted on their behalf.

The offer is for five days, all-expenses-paid, in Belize for the Final Five team. 

They'll likely be treated like celebrities there. The New York Times reported that the First Lady of Belize, Kim Simplis Barrow, gathered with contestants in the Miss Belize pageant and members of Biles' extended family to watch the all-around competition.

“We’re trying to put Belize on the map as much as we can,” Nellie told the Times. “Simone is competing for the U.S., and we’re not taking any credit away from that. But the fact that she has dual citizenship, I don’t see why we cannot celebrate her second country also.”

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