US Olympic Gymnastics Trials: Simone Biles Leads World's Toughest Team to Build

MINNEAPOLIS They joined hands. They shouted, both in encouragement and sometimes in horror. They twisted in their seats as if it could telepathically help them get down onto the competition field. They sometimes covered their eyes.

The U.S. gymnastics trials may have sparkled and glittered on NBC Sunday night, but across the lower pool at Target Center, where gymnasts' families sat, it was a cauldron of pressure and prayer.

The U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team has long been the toughest team in the world to assemble. This year, it was even tougher, partly because of new rules from the International Gymnastics Federation and partly because of a group of veterans who not only wouldn't give up their spots but also raised their game.

The search for perfection was so strong for the competitors that no one was safe from it. Simone Biles fell from the beam. Suni Lee too, and almost twice.

They are only the last two Olympic all-around champions. And even they were affected.

In the end, it's five superstars and survivors who head to Paris to represent America, where expectations are focused on gold and nothing else.

Simone Biles competes on the floor exercise during the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Biles, of course, is on his way to his third Olympics. A fall wasn't going to change that; she won the trials with an impressive score of 117.225 points (5.55 ahead of Lee) and earned a guaranteed spot. When she wasn't testing the laws of gravity, she spent much of her evening trying to both calm herself and motivate her potential teammates.

I know exactly what they're going through, Biles said afterwards.

The next four were selected by a committee, analyzing not only performance here, but also experience, confidence and scoring potential in the team event.

They chose Sunisa Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Hezley Rivera.

The first four are Olympic veterans, in their twenties, who, through their talent, determination and the FIG rules that reward the degree of difficulty, have made this team a team that is no longer reserved for isolated teenagers.

Rivera, 16, of Oradell, New Jersey, is the only new face, likely on the team because she can add some pop on bars and perhaps shine in the team event, where the Americans are looking to reclaim gold after being beaten by the Russians in Tokyo.

Along the way, there was carnage. Three devastating injuries to top competitors on Friday ended years of dreams and raised the stakes. Everyone is at some point of disaster. Others missed the slightest error or mental error.

Everyone tried to make their way. Chiles fell off the beam. Carey fell to the ground. Biles too. Sometimes routines ended with tears of relief.

And it continued like that. It was mostly about showing the ability to recover from those mistakes and come back stronger, Biles on floor and Lee on vault, for example, after the mistakes on beam.

In the parents' section, meanwhile, the tension only continues to rise, hearts soaring and breaking with every move and slide.

The Olympics used to allow a country to invite seven gymnasts to compete. The famous 1996 team was nicknamed the Magnificent Seven. For Tokyo, it was six o'clock. It is now five o'clock.

Hezly Rivera, Joscelyn Roberson (alternate), Suni Lee, Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Leanne Wong (alternate) pose after being selected for the 2024 U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics team. (PhotoJamie Squire/Getty Images)

The rationale was to reduce the advantage of flagship programs, particularly Americans, who are able to call on event specialists for the team competition. Think McKayla Maroney on vault in 2012 or Madison Kocian on bars in 2016.

All that meant here was one less ticket in a lottery with near-impossible odds.

In 2023, 4.76 million girls in the United States participated in gymnastics, according to statistics from USA Gymnastics, but the potential number is even greater. Gymnastics is an extremely popular sport that nearly every girl in the country has tried at some point in her life.

Not everyone swims. Not everyone sails, skis or plays ice hockey. Almost everyone is exposed to some kind of fall, often at a very young age or even in gym class. Biles, for example, was first sent to a gymnastics room because her constant jumping off the couch kept her father from watching football on TV.

Yet only five of them made the Olympic team, the only time the sport, generally speaking, attracted widespread attention in America.

By the end of Sunday night, that meant a spot for any American gymnast born between 2004 and 2008, which was once considered a gymnastics generation. In the past, they all would have succeeded, but this time the top four new contenders Rivera; Tiana Sumanasekera, 16, of Pleasanton, California; Kailua Lincoln, 18, of Frisco, Texas; and Joscelyn Roberson, 18, of Texarkana, Texas, could only try to survive each other.

Basketball, football and track and field have similar participation and exposure rates, but also larger numbers. There's no room for sentimental choices here. No guys with good chemistry, no backups or veterans who could be good for leadership. This luxury does not exist.

Everyone will need to be sharp next month.

Biles will, of course, lead the way. At 27, the Spring, Texas, native is a timeless wonder, the oldest American female gymnast since the 1950s. She hasn’t lost a competition in 11 years, including the 2023 World Championships. She’s not just maintaining her greatness, she’s pushing the boundaries of greatness.

With her degree of difficulty, she will be the hot favorite to win a second gold medal (2016, Rio) and avenge a tumultuous 2021 trip to Tokyo that saw her abandon numerous events due to the Twisties. In the team event, he will likely be counted on to perform in all four apparatuses.

“I knew I wasn’t done with my performances in Tokyo,” Biles said. “I knew I would come back.”

She is joined by a group of veterans, but who had to fight to get there.

Suni Lee, 21, from St. Paul, Minnesota, and the 2020 Olympic all-around champion, battled health issues to return from a career at Auburn to elite competition.

Jade Carey, 24, is also back for her second Games. In Tokyo, she won gold on floor, qualified for the vault and all-around finals, and was part of the Americas team that won the silver medal.

Jordan Chiles, 23, was also part of the silver medal-winning U.S. team at the last Games, and had to take on extra duties when Biles had to drop out after the first rotation. She is coming off two individual NCAA championships in 2023 while competing for UCLA.

There's also Rivera, who will likely have the chance to compete in at least one discipline in the team event and could qualify for the Olympic final on the balance beam and uneven bars. On a team that has always been known for its youth and energy, she will be the one to make her debut, perhaps reminding veterans what the Olympics are all about.

These are your five, the five Americas, the only five.

In a country obsessed with gymnastics, with the talent to stock a dozen Olympic teams, this is the hardest team in the world to put together.

And now comes the even harder part.

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