USA Gymnastics names Jessica Stevens and Aliaksei Shostak to Paris 2024 trampoline team
On 26 June, USA Gymnastics named Jessica Stevens and Aliaksei Shostak to the trampoline team for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The selection came after three days of high stakes elite competition at the USA Gymnastics Championships in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
With only one male and one female spot on the Olympic trampoline team, tensions ran high and there was no room for error, but Stevens and Shostak came out on top to secure their spots on the coveted U.S. Olympic Team.
Shostak has worn the stars and stripes on the Olympic stage before at Tokyo 2020, and has since taken three synchronised medals at the World Championships, as well as the continental synchro title at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Contrasting Olympic trials for Tokyo 2020 where he had a named spot, stakes were higher this time as he walked into the arena not knowing whether or not he would be walking out with a spot in Paris.
"There was a little bit added pressure," he told Olympics.com after being named to the team.
"I really had to dig deep and like kind of figure out why I wanted all this."
In Paris, he hopes to avenge his disappointing performance in Tokyo while enjoying the moment, saying "In Tokyo, I was just overwhelmed and I couldn't enjoy it. I think this time around I'm going to fully immerse myself in the whole experience."
Stevens will be making her Olympic debut in Paris. At the 2023 World Championships, she took the all-around team gold and the individual bronze medal. She was nearly speechless after being named to the team, telling Olympics.com "I am still in disbelief. I still can't believe this is real. It's been a dream for so long, so it's amazing.
"I just wanted to stay true to myself and I wanted to do what I've been practicing," she added.
Both athletes are looking to bring the first ever medals in their discipline back to the United States.
Two-time individual world champion in double-mini trampoline Ruben Padilla and two-time Olympian Nicole Ahsinger will be the respective men's and women's trampoline alternates in Paris.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024
Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.