MINNEAPOLIS — Simone Biles has officially punched her ticket to a third Olympic Games.
She will be joined in Paris this summer by Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.
The team was selected at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials in Minneapolis on Sunday after two days of competition. With four returning Tokyo Olympians, it is the oldest and most-decorated U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team in history.
Biles, 27, will be the oldest female American gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 72 years.
She secured an automatic spot on the Paris team by finishing first in the all-around, flanked by Lee and Chiles. The balance beam was treacherous, with falls from all three top finishers, including Biles, the reigning world champion.
Biles credited “being in a good mental spot” with qualifying for her third Olympics.
“I knew I wasn’t done after the performances in Tokyo,” she said. “I knew I’d be back.”
Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong were named as alternates. Wong was also an alternate for the Tokyo Games.
Alicia Sacramone Quinn, the strategic lead at USA Gymnastics, said the selection committee, which she heads, “had their eye” on Rivera and sees her as someone who could represent the U.S. at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“It was a hard decision,” she said of picking the team. “All the athletes did their jobs; they did what they needed to do.”
While there were some mistakes during Sunday’s trials, Quinn said, “better here than in Paris.”
Lee, the Tokyo Olympics all-around champion, won the uneven bars with a newly upgraded routine. She flawlessly connected daring release moves, including a Nabieva and a Bhardwaj.
Chiles’ dreams of returning to the Games were in jeopardy after she fell on beam, but she sealed her fate dancing to Beyoncé on floor, tumbling like a pro.
Carey, the reigning Olympic gold medalist on floor, anchored the trials with a high-energy floor routine. She was second on floor at trials, bested only by Biles.
Rivera, 16, will be the only teenager on a team of veterans, but she proved she can withstand Olympic-level pressure with a clutch routine on the balance beam.
Despite having watched Lee have an uncharacteristically rough outing on the beam directly before her, Rivera nailed her routine and tied Biles for the two-day average on the event.
“My mentality was that I had nothing to lose, so I just went out there and did my best, gave it my all, most importantly,” she said.
Rivera said she was shocked to hear her name called for the team.
“I was pretty surprised to hear my name, but I’ve also been working for this my whole life,” she said.
Three front-runners were injured in the lead-up to Friday’s competition, taking world champions Skye Blakely, Shilese Jones and Kayla DiCello out of Olympic contention. Blakely and DiCello both ruptured Achilles tendons. The nature of Jones’ injury remains unknown.
On Friday, Biles led the all-around standings by 2.5 points over Chiles, and Lee rounded out the top three.
Rebecca Cohen contributed.
