Photos: Who are the 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients

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Simone Biles Simone Biles is the most decorated American gymnast in history, with a combined total of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals. Biles is also a prominent advocate for athletes’ mental health and safety, children in the foster care system, and victims of sexual assault. (Natacha Pisarenko/AP)

Gabrielle Giffords President Joe Biden awards the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Gabrielle Giffords, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 7, 2022. Giffords is a former member of the House of Representatives from Arizona, who was gravely wounded when she was shot in the head in January 2011 during a constituent event in Tucson. (Susan Walsh/AP)

Fred Gray President Joe Biden awards the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Fred Gray during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 7, 2022. Gray is a prominent civil rights attorney who represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr., who called Gray "the chief counsel for the protest movement." (Susan Walsh/AP)

Father Alexander Karloutsos President Joe Biden awards the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Father Alexander Karloutsos during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 7, 2022. Karloutsos is the former Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. After over 50 years as a priest, providing counsel to several U.S. presidents, he was named by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as a Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. (Susan Walsh/AP)

Khizr Khan President Joe Biden awards the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Khizr Khan during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 7, 2022. Khan, an immigrant from Pakistan whose son was killed in Iraq while serving in the U.S. Army, gained national prominence, and became a target of Donald Trump's wrath, after speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Susan Walsh/AP)

Biden to award Medal of Freedom This combination of file pictures created on July 01, 2022 shows (L-R, top) US gymnast and 'The Original Award' honoree Simone Biles arriving for the sixth annual Instyle Awards in Los Angeles on November 15, 2021; US actor Denzel Washington attending the 94th Oscars in Hollywood on March 27, 2022; former Democratic US Representative Gabby Giffords speaking during the opening of the Gun Violence Memorial in Washington, DC, on June 07, 2022; US soccer player Megan Rapinoe arriving for the 2021 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New Yorkon September 13, 2021; Khizr Khan, a Goldstar father, speaking during a forum woth US House Democrats Washington, DC, on February 02, 2017; Apple CEO Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone 4 d in San Francisco on June 07, 2010; US Republican Senator from Arizona John McCain speaking at a press conference in Washington, DC, on March 07, 2011; AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka addressing the Economic Club of Washington in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2019. - The 8 are among 17 designated by US President Joe Biden on July 1, 2022,to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, three of them posthumous. The White House said the medal recognizes "exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors." (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

July 07, 2022 at 2:00 am EDT

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