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Olympics


THINK YOU CAN BUILD A GOLD-MEDAL U.S. GYMNASTICS TEAM? TRY IT.


AS THE COMPETITION HEATS UP AND THE PARIS GAMES NEAR, USE OUR TOOL TO MAKE YOUR
BEST TEAM.

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experience.
By Emily Giambalvo, 
Kati Perry and 
Artur Galocha
Updated May 19, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.Originally published May 16, 2024

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Selecting an Olympic gymnastics team is a complicated puzzle — especially for
the U.S. women, who are the favorites to win gold in Paris and have a deep pool
of experienced contenders. Among the gymnasts vying for spots are three past
Olympic all-around champions, two other Olympic medalists and several more
gymnasts who have competed at world championships.

Team

Only five women will compete in Paris.

1

2

3

4

5

And three perform on each apparatus in the team final.

Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

To maximize medal potential, teams usually assess each gymnast’s individual
strengths and choose the best five-person combination — not necessarily the top
all-around finishers.

Only five women will compete in Paris.

1

2

3

4

5

And three perform on each apparatus in the team final.

Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

To maximize medal potential, teams usually assess each gymnast’s individual
strengths and choose the best five-person combination — not necessarily the top
all-around finishers.

Only five women will compete in Paris.

1

2

3

4

5

And three perform on each apparatus in the team final.

Vault

Bars

Beam

Floor

To maximize medal potential, teams usually assess each gymnast’s individual
strengths and choose the best five-person combination — not necessarily the top
all-around finishers.

When the U.S. selection committee names the Olympic team on June 30 — taking
into consideration each gymnast’s recent scores and her potential — it will be a
difficult decision with life-changing implications.

For you, though? The stakes are low. And while the choices are hard, we’ll make
it easier by helping you experiment with building your own roster. When you’re
done, we’ll tell you how well your team would score.

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The top finisher at the Olympic trials in late June will automatically earn a
spot on the team. The selection committee chooses the other four members based
on discretionary criteria laid out in its procedures, which include results from
“tryout events” — which are international meets since last fall and the major
competitions this year — plus a gymnast’s consistency and the overall strength
of the team.

It’s reasonable to assume that scores earned closer to the Olympics, especially
at the trials, will carry more weight than others. In general, scores above a
14.000 are ones that would boost the U.S. team on any apparatus.

But unless you’re secretly a committee member, you can build your team however
you want. (Again: Stakes = low.)

FIRST, HOW DO YOU WANT TO ANALYZE SCORES?

Do you want to see each gymnast’s best marks from the tryout events? Or would
you rather see a score that represents each gymnast’s overall performance since
the beginning of 2023? We determined that score by identifying the 75th
percentile mark across all competitions, as long as the gymnast had competed at
least five times on an apparatus. That score should reflect a strong performance
for a gymnast while ensuring a single high mark isn’t skewing the result.

Choose your approach:

Best scoresOverall performance

You can keep coming back to build new teams as the gymnasts progress through
their seasons. There are still two major competitions to go: the national
championships (May 31 and June 2) and the Olympic trials (June 28 and 30). After
each competition, we will update these scores.

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WHICH GYMNASTS WOULD YOU PICK FOR THE OLYMPIC TEAM?

Your team:

1

2

3

4

5

THE STAR

Simone Biles, widely considered the best gymnast in history, is seeking a spot
on her third Olympic team. She won the all-around title at the world
championships last year, capping an impressive comeback season after she
withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Biles has won 🏅37
world and Olympic medals, and she often dominates competitions.

Tap or click to flip me!

🏅37

Olympian



Simone Biles

Spring, Tex.

Simone Biles

World Champions Centre

Age 27

Vault

15.600

Bars

14.550

Beam

14.800

Floor

15.166

Select

OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS

Joining Biles in the field of contenders are three other Olympic champions:
Sunisa Lee, who won the all-around title in Tokyo; Gabby Douglas, the 2012
all-around champion who’s making a comeback this season; and Jade Carey, the
gold medalist on floor in Tokyo. Last year, Lee dealt with two kidney diseases,
and she hasn’t competed internationally since the Tokyo Games.

🏅6

Olympian



Sunisa Lee

Little Canada, Minn.

Sunisa Lee

Midwest Gymnastics

Age 21

Vault

13.250

Bars

11.800

Beam

14.600

Floor

13.000

Select

🏅6

Olympian



Gabby Douglas

Plano, Tex.

Gabby Douglas

WOGA Gymnastics

Age 28

Vault

14.000

Bars

11.850

Beam

13.350

Floor

11.450

Select

🏅8

Olympian



Jade Carey

Corvallis, Ore.

Jade Carey

Oregon State University

Age 23

Vault

14.300

Bars

13.400

Beam

13.650

Floor

13.800

Select
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STRONG ALL-AROUNDERS

Shilese Jones has lately solidified herself as the country’s second-best
all-around gymnast behind Biles. Jones won all-around medals at world
championships in 2022 and 2023, and she is one of the country’s best gymnasts on
bars. Other gymnasts who are strong on all four apparatuses include Tokyo
Olympian Jordan Chiles, three-time worlds team member Leanne Wong and 2023
worlds alternate Kayla DiCello, who had an impressive start to the 2024 season
by winning the Winter Cup.

🏅6

Worlds



Shilese Jones

Auburn, Wash.

Shilese Jones

Ascend Gymnastics

Age 21

Vault

14.350

Bars

15.250

Beam

14.066

Floor

14.000

Select

🏅4

Olympian



Jordan Chiles

Spring, Tex.

Jordan Chiles

World Champions Centre

Age 23

Vault

14.400

Bars

14.300

Beam

13.700

Floor

13.533

Select

🏅4

Worlds



Leanne Wong

Gainesville, Fla.

Leanne Wong

University of Florida

Age 20

Vault

14.166

Bars

13.850

Beam

13.366

Floor

13.250

Select

🏅2

Worlds



Kayla DiCello

Gaithersburg, Md.

Kayla DiCello

Hill's Gymnastics

Age 20

Vault

14.200

Bars

14.300

Beam

14.300

Floor

14.050

Select

YOUNGER CONTENDERS

Skye Blakely and Joscelyn Roberson have also won gold medals with the U.S. team
at world championships. Blakely has the potential to earn high scores on bars
and beam. Roberson was one of the best gymnasts in the country on vault and
floor last year, but she’s been held back lately by an ankle injury.

Gymnasts with specialized strengths can earn spots on the Olympic team. Kaliya
Lincoln finished second on floor at nationals last year, trailing only Biles.
Hezly Rivera, who turns 16 in June, is excellent on beam.

🏅2

Worlds



Skye Blakely

Frisco, Tex.

Skye Blakely

WOGA Gymnastics

Age 19

Vault

14.200

Bars

14.166

Beam

14.500

Floor

13.250

Select

🏅1

Worlds



Joscelyn Roberson

Spring, Tex.

J. Roberson

World Champions Centre

Age 18

Vault

14.466

Bars

13.200

Beam

13.450

Floor

13.633

Select

🏅0



Kaliya Lincoln

Frisco, Tex.

Kaliya Lincoln

WOGA Gymnastics

Age 18

Vault

13.933

Bars

13.100

Beam

13.233

Floor

14.233

Select

🏅0



Hezly Rivera

Plano, Tex.

Hezly Rivera

WOGA Gymnastics

Age 15

Vault

13.933

Bars

13.167

Beam

14.500

Floor

13.350

Select

There is a crowded field of contenders, ranging from up-and-coming teenagers to
returning veterans, and they are all trying to prove that they should be chosen
for the U.S. Olympic team.

Your U.S. Olympic team!

Pick five gymnasts to be on your Olympic team.

Swap out your picks or change the approach and see how it affects your score.

Simone Biles

Skye Blakely

Jade Carey

Jordan Chiles

Kayla DiCello

Gabby Douglas

Kieryn Finnell

Jayla Hang

Shilese Jones

Katelyn Jong

Sunisa Lee

Myli Lew

Kaliya Lincoln

Hezly Rivera

J. Roberson

T. Sumanasekera

Trinity Thomas

Leanne Wong

Best scoresOverall performance

ABOUT THIS STORY

METHODOLOGY

The Post analyzed results from all meets included in the U.S. elite program
calendars for 2023 and 2024. Those include international competitions, major
domestic meets, selection events and national elite qualifiers. Other
competitions were added if top American gymnasts participated. Scores from
national team camps were included only if they were released by USA Gymnastics.

Most scores were verified with results published by USA Gymnastics. When the
governing body did not publish results, The Post relied on data from gymnastics
scoring websites Meet Scores Online and My Meet Scores, as well as the
Gymternet, a website that maintains records of elite scores.

Gymnasts must be age eligible for the Olympics to be considered for inclusion.
Some gymnasts were excluded because they were not slated to compete at U.S.
elite competitions in 2024. Gymnasts who have competed at past Olympics or world
championships were automatically included in the list of gymnasts available to
select. (Alternates for those events were not.) Others were added if they had a
high score at tryout events or 75th percentile score in the top seven in the
field on any apparatus.

Some gymnasts perform two different vaults, which is required to earn individual
medals on the apparatus, but in team competitions, the score from the first
vault counts. The Post included only scores from a gymnast’s first vault. Jade
Carey’s vault scores from the Swiss Cup were not included because the
competition reported only the two-vault average.

The towns listed with each athlete indicate where she trains. Because world
championships alternates receive a medal in the team competition, those medals
were counted in each gymnast’s total. At the Olympics, alternates do not receive
medals.

CREDITS

Editing by Samuel Granados, Joe Tone and Meghan Hoyer. Photos by USA Gymnastics.
Myli Lew photo by Nick Lawler/USA Gymnastics. Sunisa Lee photo by Andrew
Kelly/Reuters. Pictograms by Álvaro Valiño for The Washington Post.

Share
14 Comments
Emily GiambalvoEmily Giambalvo is a sports reporter focusing on data-driven
projects with the enterprise and investigations team. @EmilyGiam
Kati PerryKati Perry joined the graphics team at the Washington Post in 2022 and
focuses on politics. @kt_prry|
AddFollow
Artur GalochaArtur Galocha is a graphics reporter focusing on Sports. Before
joining The Washington Post in December 2020, he was a graphics editor at El
País (Spain). @arturgalocha


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