Women's gymnastics trials are getting underway. Most eyes are on Simone Biles, who is all but certain to make Team USA and compete in the Paris Olympics. NBC News' Jay Gray reports from Minneapolis on the Olympic hopefuls.
Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera made the women's team and are heading to Paris. Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong were named as alternates.
Though Skinner and Carey did not compete in the team final, if a gymnast were injured in the lead-up to Paris before the start of competition, one of the traveling alternates could be America's only hope. The fall on beam matters more for Chiles than it does for Lee or Biles, whose other events are able to compensate more for one poor routine. Chiles is heading to floor exercise, where she is capable of greatness.Coming into these trials, Rivera was contending for an alternate position at best. Now, she could be going to her first Olympic Games.
Rivera performed on floor shortly after and stumbled out of her last tumbling pass. That will keep things interesting heading into the last rotation.Tonight, Biles is expected to become the first American female gymnast since Dominique Dawes to be named to three Olympic teams. At her first Olympic trials in 1992, she was the first Black gymnast to ever qualify.
Now that the best American beam workers, Lee and Biles, have both fallen today, Rivera's 14.275 is even more compelling.A natural performer on the floor exercise, Leanne Wong synthesized elegant dance and clean tumbling in the third rotation. Hezly Rivera may have bested her on beam, but Wong did not let that rattle her.The selection committee is seated directly in front of the beam and had to have been impressed by Rivera's stability under pressure.
Her leaps were stunning, as usual, but she fell on her first skill, the mount. She also had other large wobbles and earned a 12.825, nearly two points below her score on Day 1.That is partially because her routine is very well-constructed. She is able to minimize deductions by performing as few skills as possible. The ones she does perform she performs exceedingly well, hitting every handstand as close to 180 degrees as possible.
"It's obviously very challenging from the perspective of putting the team together," Memmel said."It's really hard to separate and take the emotion out of it, because it's just hard to watch, but we have to put together the strongest team that we can put forward, and that's what we're going to do." She landed the Amanar a bit low and a had to fight to stay on her feet, but her legs of steel pulled it off.After Jones went down with an injury, Suni Lee is without a doubt the best bars worker in the country.Ahead of two gorgeous vaults, Jordan Chiles rallied the crowd to clap to the music in the arena. Even as she competes for a return to the Olympics, she is all smiles and relaxed energy.
The U.S. might consider athletes who are stronger on events like the balance beam but can also fill in on other events in a pinch.Joscelyn Roberson, a teammate of Biles’ who is also in the mix for the fifth Olympic spot, performed two vaults. To earn an Olympic vault medal, gymnasts much show two contrasting vaults with different entry styles. She earned a 14.500 for the first vault, which is the one that will count toward her all-around score.
Here’s everything to know about modern scoring in gymnastics so you can watch Biles and the rest of Team USA contend for Olympic glory with an expert eye.Hundreds of thousands of people descended on downtown Minneapolis this weekend for both the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials and the annual Twin Cities Pride.
Biles chose to execute some of her most impressive tricks to the intro track of Taylor Swift's"Reputation" album —"...Ready For It?" — which is featured in Biles' U.S. gymnastics trials floor routine. Yesterday, Swift showed her support for the GOAT.Based on Friday’s results, the four returning Tokyo Olympians appear primed to return to the Games.
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