The U.S. Olympic Trials ended on Sunday night with the selection of the five women who will represent Team USA at the Paris Olympics next month: Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and first-year senior Hezly Rivera. They will be joined by two traveling replacement athletes, Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong, who was also an alternate to the Tokyo Olympic team.
Three of the five Olympic team members have ties to the NCAA. Carey is a rising senior at Oregon State, Chiles a rising junior at UCLA, and Lee competed for two seasons at Auburn from 2022-23. While Carey continued to train for the Olympics while in college this year, Chiles decided to take a gap year from the NCAA to focus on her Olympic preparation.
Lee, Chiles, and Carey finished second, third, and fourth in the all-around, respectively, behind Biles. The fifth member of the team, Rivera, is a five-star recruit in the class of 2026, who has just started her recruiting process. She finished fifth in the all-around at Trials and will provide instrumental depth to the team, especially on bars and beam.
Roberson and Wong also have ties to the NCAA. Roberson is an incoming freshman at Arkansas while Wong is a rising senior at Florida. Similar to Carey, Wong continued her college career while training for the Olympics.
Trials were also marked by two Achilles’ tears to two top Florida gymnasts: incoming freshman Skye Blakely and rising sophomore Kayla DiCello. The injuries raise some questions about Florida’s lineups and depth next season.
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
