Olympic Champion Simone Biles Named AP Female Athlete Of The Year.

HOUSTON, TX -- Olympic champion Simone Biles has been named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year by U.S. editors and news directors in a vote held on Monday.

Biles received 31 votes out of a possible 59 votes, followed by U.S. Olympic swimmer and gold medalists Katie Ledecky who finished a distant second to Biles with 20 votes.

Serena Williams, who won Wimbledon for the seventh time to tie Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slam titles, and three-time NCAA women's basketball Player of the Year Breanna Stewart tied for third with four votes each.

Biles, 19, became the fifth gymnast to win the honor, joining fellow Olympic gold medalists Olga Korbut in 1972, Nadia Comaneci in 1976, Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and Gabby Douglas in 2012.

Biles, who is from Spring, Texas, was part of the Final Five who bested the rest of the world in the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, propelling her to superstardom.

At the end of her Olympic run, Biles collected four gold medals -- one of those in the vault, which was a first by an American woman -- and a bronze medal on the balance beam.

Meanwhile, the honor comes a few weeks before she is to consider her options moving forward into 2017, and maybe beyond.

There is a chance that an appearance in the 2020 Olympics could happen, but Biles is said to be weighing her options for the coming year and that gymnastics isn’t part of the equation.

"I miss training with the girls and having a good time," Biles said. "Whenever I go to the gym to visit them and I see them, I do not miss this part at all right now."

Image: Agencia Brasil Fotografias via Flickr