Follow our Olympics coverage in the lead-up to the Paris Games.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A crowded field vying for five spots on the U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team has dwindled to 16 after this weekend’s U.S. championships, but shrinking the pool doesn’t mean choosing who gets a ticket to Paris will be easy.
Among the group invited to the U.S. Olympic Trials are three Olympic champions, a Tokyo silver medalist, multiple world championship medalists and a handful of newcomers who are packed with potential. Notable contenders like 2012 Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas and 2022 U.S. champion Konnor McClain, who helped LSU to its first NCAA gymnastics championship in April, are no longer in the mix due to injuries. So who fits where? And how should the U.S. approach the “three up, three count” format — in which three athletes compete in each apparatus and all three scores count, often incentivizing a team to select gymnasts who excel in certain events — for the team final?
Start with Simone Biles, as she’s a lock on this 2024 team barring injury between now and June 28 when the trials begin. After taking a two-year hiatus from competition following the Tokyo Games, where she struggled with the twisties, Biles has continued her dominance with few…
