On Sunday evening, the U.S. women’s Olympic Team was announced after the second day of trials in San Jose, CA. It was the team many had named before the trials even began (and the one Martha Karolyi said she would be pleased with following the U.S. Championships last month). They were confirmed tonight: Simone Biles, Gabrielle Douglas, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Alexandra Raisman.
They are a mature team, certainly boasting more accumulative experience than the one that preceded them in 2012. Two of them have been to the Olympics before; one has dominated the last cycle, competing and winning everything since 2013; another has made two World Championship teams; and another—the only first-year-senior—has nevertheless proven her readiness this year.
As far as I’m concerned, there were only a couple of things (literally two) that could have transpired this weekend to shake up the team already living and smashing Rio in Martha’s head –namely Maggie Nichols performing an Amanar vault and/or blowing the other all-arounder’s out of the water, and Madison Kocian having a meltdown of epic proportions on bars.
Neither of those scenarios came to pass, and while others rose to the occasion and threatened the most-likely line-up (MyKayla Skinnner, Ragan Smith, Ashton Locklear, and Maggie Nichols, despite not being named as an alternate), Martha clearly favored an Olympic Team made up of all-around talents and people who had proven their competitiveness over the long haul, not just at one, or even two, competitions.
Perhaps with the exception of Kocian’s fall on balance beam, what was most noticeable about this evening was everyone hitting where they really needed to. It wasn’t an error-free meet by any means: Douglas fell on her standing full, Biles on her barani, and Raisman went out of bounds with two feet on her first floor pass. But all in all, the women were solid where they needed to be, mostly confirming the Team Final puzzle Martha was working with: Douglas worked her uneven bars magic, capping it off with a stuck DLO dismount; Kocian outscored Locklear on uneven bars, and Hernandez went four-for-four, shining especially on balance beam and navigating a missed connection on uneven bars with ease.
With this team, it’s most likely (barring any unforeseen developments at camp) that Biles, Raisman, and Hernandez will carry most of the weight in the Team Final, with Douglas and Kocian contributing big scores on uneven bars. In some ways, it’s a strange line-up with two gymnasts who may very well compete only one event after qualifications, and certainly one of the bigger questions will be who qualifies for the All Around Final or is given an opportunity to. Certainly in the upcoming days there will be justified questions about who was passed over, and I hope that conversation carries on in a spirit of gentleness and celebration of the Team USA’s depth.
For now it suffices to say that the women chosen will represent their country well. They have worked hard and deserve to be celebrated. On to Rio!
Article: Sara Dorrien-Christians
Photo: USA Gymnastics