Simone Biles wears goat on leotard to 'hit back at the haters'

Simone Biles is using her gymnastics attire to send a message to her critics.

In an interview with Marie Claire, the 19-time world champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist explained how her haters inspired her to add a rhinestone goat to her leotard.

"The idea was to hit back at the haters," Biles said. "I didn't feel like it was necessarily fair how they could keep saying whatever they wanted, but then if I said something, it wasn't fair. (The haters) were joking like, 'I swear, if she put a goat on her leo, blah, blah, blah.' That would make them so angry. And then I was like, 'Oh, that's actually a good idea. Let's make the haters hate it, and the fans love it.' And so that's exactly what we did and why we did it.

Biles also wants to send the message to young fans that they shouldn't be afraid to highlight their strengths.

"I just hope that kids growing up watching this don't or aren't ashamed of being good at whatever they do," she said. "And that's my problem: when people kind of harp on other people that are good at something. And it's like, everybody can say you're good, but once you acknowledge it, it's not cool anymore. And I want kids to learn that, yes, it's OK to acknowledge that you're good or even great at something."

Biles made history earlier this month when she won her record seventh all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. She's now tied with Alfred Jochim for the most U.S. titles won by an American gymnast.