PARIS — “I just met the fastest man alive!”
Within hours of checking into the Olympic Village on Monday, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team began posting photos and videos of themselves trying on official Team USA gear, posing with athletes in other sports (and Snoop Dogg), dancing and touring their two-to-a-room mini apartments complete with cardboard beds, makeshift closets and portable AC units.
“We didn’t get this experience last Olympics, so we’re overly hyped,” reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee said in a video she posted on TikTok. “Overly hyped,” two-time Olympian Jordan Chiles echoed emphatically.
While it’s true that four of the women on this team (and one alternate) return from the Tokyo Games, the entire squad is experiencing the Olympics for the first time. “Overall, Tokyo was really hard for a lot of us,” reigning Olympic floor champion Jade Carey, who competed in 2021 as an individual, told ESPN via Zoom in mid-July.
In Tokyo, the gymnasts stayed in a hotel outside of the athlete village. They…
