Janet Heller is having her own golden moment at the Summer Olympics—the jeweler behind the now famous goat necklace worn at the Games by U.S. gymnast Simone Biles has the world coming to her door.
Good Morning America and People magazine interviewed the Calabasas, Calif., designer. Her local television station did a long video about the creation of this iconic piece of jewelry. Vogue wrote about it as well. It’s been overwhelming in the best possible way, Heller says.
“Everything about it has been so incredible—the timing, the pendant, the meaning behind it. I don’t think it will ever happen again in my career,” she says.
Heller credits her team at Janet Heller Fine Jewelry for the hard work of turning around her design so quickly. They had only a few weeks to make the necklace and then less than an hour between its completion and pickup by the messenger who took it for shipping to snap a few photographs of it, Heller says.
The goat (as in GOAT, Greatest of All Time) has 546 hand-set diamonds on it, and it sparkles like the sun on water, says Heller, who had done previous pieces for Biles—considered the GOAT in gymnastics even before she won her second all-around title and two other gold medals at the Paris Games.
Biles was thrilled to receive her custom necklace in time for the Games, but she was honest about its chances for fame. She told Heller she loved the necklace, especially because it was three-dimensional, but wasn’t sure she’d be able to show it off while on camera.
How wrong they all were. It seems like everyone on Earth saw Biles when she was filmed wearing the necklace after one of her routines. People started inquiring on social media about the designer, and Heller’s daughter Taylor claimed it as her mom’s on one Instagrammer’s post.
That acknowledgment put a magical public-relations ball into motion. Heller says she never expected to get so much attention, but the storytelling around Biles and these Olympic Games has been extraordinary—and, luckily for Heller and her team, the necklace has become part of that.
“I still can’t believe it. I’m still in shock,” the jeweler says. “It’s something she’ll pass down to her children and her children’s children. It’s a tangible memory of a moment so special.”
Other Olympic athletes including Biles’ teammate Jordan Chiles and long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall wear Janet Heller jewelry in everyday life as well as while competing. Chiles, who won two medals in Paris, had first worn her gold-and-diamond Olympic Rings necklace at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Davis-Woodhall, a gold medalist in Paris, has sported a necklace that Heller made of her silhouette as she’s doing the long jump.
Heller got started creating designs for these champions because her daughter is friends with Davis-Woodhall from school. The designer says she appreciates that these Olympians and all of her clients trust her to make jewelry for them.
“I feel like they’re my daughters, all of them. Those are my girls. They’re just so approachable, down to earth, and sweet,” Heller says.
Thanks to Biles’ goat, new orders and interest in other custom pieces are coming to Heller in droves, she says. And before you even dare to ask it, Heller says she will not make another goat necklace or anything like it—that design and that necklace belongs to Biles and Biles alone.
“Simone is one of a kind,” Heller says. “She’s 4 foot, 8 inches tall, but she’s larger than life.”
Top: The diamond goat necklace Janet Heller Fine Jewelry made for Olympic gold medalist—and gymnastics GOAT—Simone Biles (photos courtesy of Janet Heller Fine Jewelry)
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