Biles Finds Her “Why”
“Nobody is forcing me to do it, so I choose to get up every day, work in the gym and come out here and perform for myself, to remind myself that I can still do it,” Biles said after the trials.
But for Biles, success is about “how she makes it.”
“I feel like I’ve succeeded right now,” Biles said. “Going to the Olympic Trials and making the Paris Olympic team, I accomplished that on my own.”
Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles selected for U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team
Simone Biles will be performing in Paris this summer along with Suni Lee, Jordan Childs, Jade Carey and Hesley Rivera.
The team was selected after two days of competition at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials in Minneapolis tonight, and features four returning gymnasts from the Tokyo Olympics, making it the oldest and most decorated U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team in history.
At 27, Biles will be the oldest American female gymnast to compete in the Olympics in 72 years.
She tied with Li and Chiles for first place in the all-around and earned herself an automatic berth on the Paris team. The balance beam was treacherous tonight, with all three skaters in the top three, including reigning world champion Biles, falling.
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For Biles, therapy is “a kind of religion”
After qualifying for her third Olympic Games, Biles said being in a “good mental state” led to this great achievement.
“Seeing my therapist every Thursday is kind of like a religion to me, and that’s why I’m here today,” Biles said.
After the Tokyo Olympics, where she withdrew from all but one of the finals, she said she “knew it wasn’t over,” but added that at the Paris Olympics “I knew I’d be back.”
She said it’s important to her to be a mentor to the younger girls on her team “because I know exactly how they feel, because I’ve been in their exact positions.”
In a team interview afterwards, Biles said, “I want to be Allie. [Raisman] “‘Grandma’, and I’ve outgrown it… and I’m going to take care of them in Paris.”
Women’s power is at its peak on the final night of the trial
After the eighth rotation was completed, all the women competing for the Olympic team tonight came together and put their hands together to support Team USA, and each other.
Confetti and tears falling
The women’s Olympic team is officially here, and confetti and tears are raining down at Target Center.
Roberson and Wong are substitutes
Jocelyn Roberson and Lianne Wong will travel to Paris as alternates; two additional alternates will be announced at a later date.
The Olympic team…
Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Childs, Jade Carey, Hesley Rivera
Shannon Miller and Carly Patterson announce Olympic team
Seven-time Olympic medalist Shannon Miller and 2004 Olympic all-around champion Carly Patterson will be announcing the 2024 women’s U.S. Olympic team.
Calls of “USA!”
Crowds chant “USA” as they wait for the Olympic team.
Biles is the oldest American female Olympic gymnast since the 1950s.
At 27, Biles will be the oldest female gymnast to represent the United States at the Olympics since the 1950s.
If she wins the gold medal in the women’s individual all-around, it will be the Soviet Union’s Maria Gorokhovskaya won the gold medal in 1952 at the age of 30.
She also could become the oldest American woman to win an Olympic gymnastics medal in 76 years, the oldest American woman to win an Olympic gymnastics gold medal since Aly Raisman won two in 2016, and the oldest woman to win an Olympic gold medal in 60 years.
