Simone Biles clinches third Olympic trip with win at U.S. Olympic trials
Simone Biles is headed to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 after handily winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for gymnastics, locking her spot on a third-straight American squad. She has seven previous Olympic medals from her appearances at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Inside a near capacity Target Center in Minneapolis, Biles tallied a final score of 117.225 for the top spot. Suni Lee, the reigning Olympic all-around champion, was second at 111.675 with Tokyo 2020 team silver medallist Jordan Chiles rounding out the top three (111.425).
"I wake up every day and choose to grind in the gym and come out here and perform for myself just to remind myself that I can still do it," Biles told media afterward.
Biles is the first American woman to make three-straight Olympic teams 19since Dominique Dawes went to Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.
She'll lead a team of veterans to Paris that will include Tokyo 2020 teammates Lee, Chiles, and Jade Carey. Newcomer Hezly Rivera will make her Games debut in Paris.
After the U.S. took silver in Japan, Biles says the returning Olympians are looking forward to their second chance at team gold.
"This is definitely our redemption tour. I feel like we all have more to give, and our Tokyo performances weren't the best. We weren't under the best circumstances either," the 27-year-old said. "But, I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we're better athletes, we're more mature, we're smarter, we're more consistent."
Earlier in the week, six-time World Championships medallist Shilese Jones withdrew from the competition after competing only on the uneven bars. She appeared to injure her knee during the final pre-meet warm-ups on vault and had to be assisted off the podium by medical staff. 2023 Pan American Games all-around champion Kayla DiCello also withdrew from the event.
Rivera relishes underdog role, lands Olympic berth
At 16 years old, Rivera will be the youngest member of the team in Paris, and coming into competition at Minneapolis, the talented first-year senior athlete might have been under the radar.
But as injuries piled up, Rivera delivered solid performance after solid performance from what she called an underdog role.
"I don't think there was so much pressure on me, which is also good," she said. "You know, it feels really good to just do my own thing and just be here."
To this point, Rivera's biggest competition has been the Junior World Championships a year ago where she won team and floor exercise silvers.
But, with four Olympic veterans alongside her, she knows she'll have plenty of guidance when she heads to France in under one month.
"It's super comforting. You know, they've already been through it. They've been through the journey, they've been to the Olympic Games, they've been through the pressure," Rivera said. "I think they'll be able to mentor me and help me so much, especially not just during the competition, but throughout the whole process of training, going out. I think they will be such great help for me."