After four long years of blood, sweat, and tears, the Road to Rio has finally come down to San Jose for the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Olympic Trials. After one night of competition at the Secret US Classic in Hartford and two nights in St. Louis at the national championships, the P&G Women's Gymnastics Championships, the final chance for Olympic selection is here with one spot guaranteed to the all-around winner and four others chosen by the national team committee. The competition will be held Friday and Saturday night at the SAP Center in downtown San Jose.
Performance at the P&G Championships
At the national championships in St. Louis, it was four-time national champion Simone Biles who once again took the title at the P&G Women's Gymnastics Championships. Just behind the three-time world all-around champion was London 2012 floor and team gold medalist Aly Raisman and in third was Jesolo beam gold medalist Laurie Hernandez.
For Biles, the heavy favorite for the all-around gold medal in Rio and three-time World All-Around Champion did not disappoint, dominated the field with incredibly consistent routines to win by over four points. While Raisman showed why she is a near-lock for the team, Hernandez captured national team coordinator Martha Karolyi's attention with an amazing performance to finish third.
Other notable finishes in Hartford came from reigning Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas who finished fourth, defending world bars gold medalist Madison Kocian who placed fifth, Ragan Smith who placed eight, and MyKayla Skinner who finished tenth.
Past Olympic and Olympic Trials experience
Of the 14 gymnasts competing in San Jose, only three have past Olympic Trials experience and only two have Olympic experience. While many have competed in past world championships, only Brenna Dowell, Aly Raisman, and Gabby Douglas competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials and of those three Douglas and Raisman competed in London.
While most of the athletes are very young, eight of the gymnasts in San Jose have world championship experience with Simone Biles, Ashton Locklear, Madison Kocian, and MyKayla Skinner bringing home a team gold medal from Nanning in 2014 and Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Maggie Nichols, Madison Kocian, MyKayla Skinner, and Brenna Dowell winning in Glasgow in 2015.
Who will be selected to represent the U.S. in Rio?
With Biles arguably being the most dominant female athlete in all of sports, barring injury, there is no plausible way the three-time world all-around gold medalist is not heading to Rio. Aside from that, there are no locks, but expect 2012 team and floor gold medalist Aly Raisman and reigning Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas to punch their tickets to Rio with consistent routines throughout.
With a breakout 2016 and an incredible third place finish at the P&G Championships, Laurie Hernandez looks to be who Martha Karolyi will select for the team with Maggie Nichols looking still not fully recovered from knee surgery in April. Finally, the likely bars specialist spot looks like it will go to Madison Kocian over Ashton Locklear due to the reigning bars world champion's performance on the other three events compared to Locklear's one event.
Predictions:
U.S. Women's Gymnastics Olympic Team: Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian.
U.S. Women's Gymnastics Olympic Team Alternates: Ashton Locklear, Maggie Nichols, MyKayla Skinner.