he U.S. has set its women’s and men’s gymnastics teams for Paris.
The group features five Olympians, including , who is competing in her third Summer Games, and five who will make their Olympic debuts at the Bercy Arena. In total, 36 gymnasts, 16 women and 20 men, competed for the 10 spots available, and four were named as alternates who will travel to Paris. The women and men each competed over two days, and their scores from both days, combined with their competition results from the past season, factored into the selection decision.
No trials process is easy, and this was no exception. Many gymnasts see the winnowing process to make Team USA more nerve wracking and difficult than the Olympics themselves. “It’s still stressful,” Jordan Chiles said after the first day of competition.
“This is the most stressful one I’ve done in my whole entire career, because you find out you either make it or you don’t.” This year’s trials was especially punishing for the women, as three promising gymnasts injured themselves during training or warmup for the competition in Minneapolis. Skye Blakely, a member of the gold medal-winning team at last year’s world championships, injured her Achilles the day before the first day of competition while training on floor exercise; Kayla DiCello and Shilese Jones both injured themselves minutes before the first day of competition as they were warming up on vault.
Jones returned to compete on uneven bars, but eventually pulled out.
