Meet the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team
On Sunday, after two days of trials in Minneapolis, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team finalized its lineup for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The group will, of course, include Simone Biles, who dominated the trials three years after bowing out of several events at the Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health. She’ll be part of the oldest and most decorated U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team ever, a group that includes four athletes returning from the 2021 Tokyo games. Meanwhile, three top contenders were knocked out by injuries — Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello were both forced to withdraw with ruptured Achilles tendons, and Shilese Jones also withdrew on Sunday with a knee injury — making way for an exciting young up-and-comer to join the team. Also, SZA stopped by?
At the end of the week, Biles and her teammates — Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera, along with alternates Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong — were announced. Here’s what we know about the crew heading to Paris.
WE ARE GOING TO PARIS
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) July 1, 2024
Simone Biles
Duh. Despite an uncharacteristic fall off the beam, Biles finished first all-around, giving her an automatic spot on the team for her third Olympics. At 27, she’ll be the oldest female U.S. gymnast to go to the Olympics in 72 years. Her floor routine, which was set partially to an instrumental version of Taylor Swift’s “… Ready for It?,” earned her a comment from Swift herself, who wrote on X, “Watched this so many times and still unready. She’s ready for it tho.” Biles seems to agree — after qualifying, she said she’s in a “good mental spot” heading into Paris.
…Ready for it?
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 29, 2024
SIMONE BILES’ FLOOR ROUTINE ???? #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/kUcQsBDqw4
Simone Biles sticks the landing on uneven bars and her mom is LOVING it. ❤️ #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/Tn9yHJI59V
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 1, 2024
Suni Lee
Lee is the reigning Olympic champion, having won the all-around event in Tokyo during her first Games after Biles bowed out. Last year, she revealed that she was struggling with two types of kidney disease and retired from competing at Auburn College. Since then, she’s resumed training with her sights on the Olympics — she told reporters in the spring that her condition is in remission. By this weekend’s trials, the 21-year-old had rallied enough to win the uneven bars with a new routine, though she struggled on the beam.
EVERYONE was loving Suni Lee’s uneven bars routine! ????
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 1, 2024
???? NBC & @peacock | #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/1VFPgRZLw5
“A year ago, I didn’t think this was possible.”
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 1, 2024
An emotional Suni Lee reflects on her journey to the #ParisOlympics. pic.twitter.com/vkFmnk2omd
Jordan Chiles
Another returning member of the 2021 Tokyo team, Chiles moved to Texas when she was 18 to train with Biles at the World Champions Centre. The duo became super close, and the now 23-year-old Chiles thanked her teammate on Sunday, saying that Biles has “put me in a position to understand what it’s like to be an athlete … and also a person.” And, she did her floor routine to an instrumental Beyoncé medley:
Jordan Chiles floor routines never miss ????
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) June 29, 2024
????: @nbc & @peacock #MTUSA | #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/Sui2pBYaQX
Jordan Chiles is FEELING IT with a fabulous vault to open night 2. ????
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 1, 2024
???? NBC & @peacock | #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/sbRHQYseAw
Jade Carey
Like Lee, Carey won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, taking home the medal for floor exercise. She placed first on vault during this weekend’s trials and came in just behind Biles on the floor. Carey, who’s 24, is coached by her father, both on the elite circuit and also at Oregon State University, where she competes. Guess they’re about to take the father-daughter trip of a lifetime — for the second time.
BIG vault from Jade Carey ‼️#XfinityChamps | ???? NBC & @peacock pic.twitter.com/6PkLuUqX43
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 3, 2024
Hezly Rivera
Rivera is the only first-time Olympian on the team and also the only teenager — she just turned 16 in June. The 2023 junior national champion told reporters she thought these trials would be a “steppingstone” to competing in the 2028 games, but with Jones, Blakely, and DiCello injured, she surged to the top of the pool of fifth team member contenders — especially after tying Biles for the two-day average on the beam. She seems absolutely shocked to have qualified, and we are all — Biles included — pretty excited to have her on board.
Imagine being a junior in high school and competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials?!
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 1, 2024
That dream is a reality for 16-year-old Hezly Rivera. #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/n8A9wmsMgQ
Hezly Rivera and Simone Biles are 11 years apart, and they had very different reactions to Hezly making the U.S. women’s gymnastics team for #Paris2024 at just 16. ????#USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/OPRTzYWghb
— Gymnastics Now (@Gymnastics_Now) July 1, 2024
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