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 pool of experienced contenders. Among the gymnasts vying for spots are two past Olympic all-around champions, two other Olympic medalists and other gymnasts who have competed at world championships.
Team
Only five women will compete in Paris.
And three perform on each apparatus in the team final.
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.
And three perform on each apparatus in the team final.
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.
And three perform on each apparatus in the team final.
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.
Assembling the roster became particularly challenging when three top contenders suffered injuries before or during the Olympic trials. When the U.S. selection committee names the team after the final night of the trials Sunday — 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 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 reflects each gymnast’s recent performance? That mark is an average of scores at the U.S. Classic, the national championships and the Olympic trials.
Choose your approach:
Best scoresRecent scores
You can keep coming back to build new teams, even after the Olympic team has been named, but once results from both days of the trials are included, scores will no longer be updated.
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Which gymnasts would you pick for the Olympic team?
Your team:
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.
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🏅37
Olympian
Simone Biles
Spring, Tex.
Simone Biles
World Champions Centre
Age 27
Vault
15.975
Bars
14.650
Beam
14.800
Floor
15.200
SelectOlympic champions
Joining Biles in the field of contenders are two other Olympic champions: Sunisa Lee, who won the all-around title in Tokyo, 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. Gabby Douglas, the 2012 all-around champion, made a comeback this season but ended her hopes of earning a spot on the Paris team when she withdrew from nationals.
🏅6
Olympian
Sunisa Lee
Little Canada, Minn.
Sunisa Lee
Midwest Gymnastics
Age 21
Vault
14.100
Bars
14.875
Beam
14.900
Floor
13.850
Select🏅8
Olympian
Jade Carey
Corvallis, Ore.
Jade Carey
Oregon State University
Age 24
Vault
14.675
Bars
13.650
Beam
13.650
Floor
14.150
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Strong all-arounders
Shilese Jones had solidified herself as the country’s second-best all-around gymnast behind Biles, but she withdrew from the trials because of an injury. Jones would have been nearly sure to receive an Olympic berth. Kayla DiCello, the alternate for the 2023 worlds team, also was in the mix to earn a spot on the Olympic team, but she ruptured her Achilles’ tendon during the first day of competition at the trials.
Other gymnasts who are strong on all four apparatuses include Tokyo Olympian Jordan Chiles and three-time worlds team member Leanne Wong.
🏅4
Olympian
Jordan Chiles
Spring, Tex.
Jordan Chiles
World Champions Centre
Age 23
Vault
14.500
Bars
14.500
Beam
13.700
Floor
14.100
Select🏅4
Worlds
Leanne Wong
Gainesville, Fla.
Leanne Wong
University of Florida
Age 20
Vault
14.500
Bars
13.925
Beam
13.750
Floor
13.700
SelectYounger contenders
Joscelyn Roberson has also won gold medals with the U.S. team at world championships. Roberson was one of the best gymnasts in the country on vault and floor last year, but she recently recovered from an ankle injury. Skye Blakely, a member of the past two world championships teams, was in strong position to earn a spot on the Olympic team, but she withdrew from the trials because of an 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. Tiana Sumanasekera is excellent on beam and floor, and Hezly Rivera is strong on bars and beam.
🏅1
Worlds
Joscelyn Roberson
Spring, Tex.
J. Roberson
World Champions Centre
Age 18
Vault
14.500
Bars
13.300
Beam
14.050
Floor
14.000
Select
Kaliya Lincoln
Frisco, Tex.
Kaliya Lincoln
WOGA Gymnastics
Age 18
Vault
14.250
Bars
13.450
Beam
13.233
Floor
14.233
Select
Tiana Sumanasekera
Spring, Tex.
T. Sumanasekera
World Champions Centre
Age 16
Vault
14.350
Bars
13.150
Beam
13.950
Floor
13.900
Select
Hezly Rivera
Plano, Tex.
Hezly Rivera
WOGA Gymnastics
Age 16
Vault
14.200
Bars
14.300
Beam
14.500
Floor
13.550
SelectThere 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.
Show the best teamSwap out your picks or change the approach and see how it affects your score.
Simone Biles
Jade Carey
Dulcy Caylor
Jordan Chiles
Sunisa Lee
Kaliya Lincoln
Evey Lowe
Zoey Molomo
Hezly Rivera
J. Roberson
Simone Rose
T. Sumanasekera
Leanne Wong
Best scoresRecent scores
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 an average score from recent competitions in the top seven in the field on any apparatus. Once the selection committee named the gymnasts who advanced to the trials, only those athletes were included.
Before most top gymnasts had competed multiple times in 2024, The Post used a metric that reflected overall performance, which was the 75th percentile mark of all scores since the beginning of 2023, rather than recent performance.
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. Sunisa Lee photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters. Pictograms by Álvaro Valiño for The Washington Post.
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