The White House announced Friday that actor Denzel Washington, the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, football player Megan Rapino and gymnast Simone Biles will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

They are among 17 Americans honored by President Joe Biden for “outstanding-unique contributions” to U.S. development and value, world peace, or other important projects, according to the U.S. President’s statement.
Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington is known for his roles in Malcolm X and Philadelphia. Finally, he starred in The Tragedy of Macbeth, released in 2021, for which Washington received another Oscar nomination.
Megan Rapinoe, the star of the U.S. women’s soccer team, is “extremely committed to gender pay equity, racial justice, and LGBT rights,” according to the U.S. president.
The White House said the winners included Simone Biles, “the most decorated American gymnast in history” and “an outspoken advocate” for the mental health of athletes and victims of sexual assault.
Beals was one of the victims of Larry Nassar, a former doctor of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team who was convicted of sexually assaulting more than 250 gymnasts, most of them minors.
Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a shooting survivor who has since struggled to tighten gun laws, will receive a promising reward as the Biden administration tries to fight the massacres that regularly plague the country.