Following a gymnastics-filled weekend dominated by Simone Biles in St. Louis, the United States' selection committee announced the names of the girls who received invites to the Olympic trials in San Jose on July 8.
Who's headed to San Jose?
The top eight all around scores all automatically qualify for the Olympic trials. Those eight gymnasts include first place finisher Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, who placed a distant second, Laurie Hernandez, 2012 Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian, Amelia Hundley, Alyssa Baumann and Ragan Smith.
There were also seven adds by the selection committee. These gymnasts were Christina Desiderio, Brenna Dowell, Rachel Gowey, Ashton Locklear, Maggie Nichols, Emily Schild and MyKayla Skinner.
Are these the right choices?
United States' selection committee made the right decisions with their remaining choices. There were multiple names that were left off the list, including Bailie Key, Jazmyn Foberg and Nia Dennis, but all three of them were limited by injuries.
Out of everyone who competed at the P&G competition over the weekend, all the top performers who received one, earned a chance to compete in the Rio Olympic trials in July.
Who's in the lead going into Olympic trials?
Some names stuck out more than others this week and gave themselves a boost heading into the trials.
Amongst these are Biles, Raisman, the returning medalist from the 2012 Olympics, and Hernandez, who performed really well on several events, finishing in a strong third place. Rounding out the top five in all-around were reigning gold medalist from London Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian.
What a Rio team could look like
Biles, Raisman and Douglas appear to be locks for the team, while Laurie Hernandez with another similar performance in San Jose is also extremely likely to make the team. There will likely be a decision between Kocian and Locklear for uneven bars, while Skinner, Smith and Baumann also still have a chance of getting in also.
One projected team could look like this:
Floor: Biles, Raisman, Hernandez
Beam: Biles, Raisman, Kocian
Vault: Biles, Raisman, Douglas
Bars: Douglas, Hernandez, Kocian
This team would feature the top five all around performers, but would mean Douglas and Kocian would have to team up to combine for bars and vault.
Another potential team could look like:
Floor: Biles, Raisman, Skinner
Beam: Biles, Raisman, Baumann
Vault: Biles, Raisman, Skinner
Bars: Douglas, Skinner, Baumann
This would require Baumann and Skinner (or any potential non bar-specialists) to do bars. This particular lineup, however, would only require Douglas do bars, and would give the team a boost to their vault score with Skinner, as well as a beam specialist in Baumann.
The three "locks" for team USA include Biles, Raisman
Every gymnast has put in a lot to get to the Olympic trials, that much is known; however, with the exceptions being Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, the Olympic Trials should be the most important aspect to everyone's admittance.
Biles absolutely dominated the national championships yet again, and has been named world champion every year since London. She performs every event well, and could be used everywhere. She's the best gymnast in the world right now, and there is no reason she would ever be left off the team except for injury.
Raisman finished second, has good international experience from London, and can perform well on three (if not all four) events as well, making both of them locks for Rio pending injury.
Douglas just needs to show that she has regained her confidence, and can still perform well on at least one event other than floor, and she will likely be in as well. She is the reigning all-around gold medalist, and also pending injury still should not have lost her spot on the Olympic team.
The non-locks must prove themselves in San Jose
For the rest of the competitors, San Jose may be their most important performances ever. It will likely decide how the selection committee decides to build the team, and who will run which events.
Ultimately, it should, and will, come down to what happens in San Jose, that will determine what the United States Women's Gymnastics team looks like heading into Rio later this summer.