Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera made the women's team and are heading to Paris. Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong were named as alternates.
Though Skinner and Carey did not compete in the team final, if a gymnast were injured in the lead-up to Paris before the start of competition, one of the traveling alternates could be America's only hope. The fall on beam matters more for Chiles than it does for Lee or Biles, whose other events are able to compensate more for one poor routine. Chiles is heading to floor exercise, where she is capable of greatness.Coming into these trials, Rivera was contending for an alternate position at best. Now, she could be going to her first Olympic Games.
Rivera performed on floor shortly after and stumbled out of her last tumbling pass. That will keep things interesting heading into the last rotation.Tonight, Biles is expected to become the first American female gymnast since Dominique Dawes to be named to three Olympic teams. At her first Olympic trials in 1992, she was the first Black gymnast to ever qualify.
Now that the best American beam workers, Lee and Biles, have both fallen today, Rivera's 14.275 is even more compelling.A natural performer on the floor exercise, Leanne Wong synthesized elegant dance and clean tumbling in the third rotation. Hezly Rivera may have bested her on beam, but Wong did not let that rattle her.The selection committee is seated directly in front of the beam and had to have been impressed by Rivera's stability under pressure.
Her leaps were stunning, as usual, but she fell on her first skill, the mount. She also had other large wobbles and earned a 12.825, nearly two points below her score on Day 1.That is partially because her routine is very well-constructed. She is able to minimize deductions by performing as few skills as possible. The ones she does perform she performs exceedingly well, hitting every handstand as close to 180 degrees as possible.
"It's obviously very challenging from the perspective of putting the team together," Memmel said."It's really hard to separate and take the emotion out of it, because it's just hard to watch, but we have to put together the strongest team that we can put forward, and that's what we're going to do."
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