Gymnastics Preview
Team USA will be looking to continue its gold-medal standard in artistic gymnastics at this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, and will again be relying on one of the all-time greats of the sport to lead the way.
Simone Biles — the first woman in a generation to capture four Olympic gold medals in a single Games — is once again looking to make her mark at the Olympic stage. At the 2016 Rio Games, Biles won individual gold medals in the all-around, vault and floor exercise, a bronze medal on balance beam, and another gold as part of the U.S. team. Biles has also won a record 25 medals at the world championships, 19 of them gold.
She’ll be joined in Tokyo by five Olympic newcomers on the women’s side, including 2019 team world champions Sunisa Lee and Grace McCallum, plus rising star Jordan Chiles, for the team competition. Also heading to Japan as individuals are world championships medalist Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner, an alternate from the 2016 Olympic team.
After finishing fifth at the past two editions of the Games, and fourth at the last two world championships, the American men hope to be serious contenders to reach the podium in Tokyo. The four-man team is led by two-time Olympian Sam Mikulak, though defending NCAA champion Brody Malone of Stanford stole the show this summer by posting the top results at the U.S. championships and Olympic trials. They’ll be joined in Tokyo by world championships medalist Yul Moldauer and 2019 world championships veteran Shane Wiskus.
The Olympic gymnastics program also includes competitions in rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics.
Team USA will send its biggest rhythmic gymnastics contingent ever to Tokyo. Evita Griskenas and Laura Zeng both finished in the top 10 in the all-around final at the 2019 world championships, a first for the U.S. Their performances earned two berths to the 2020 Olympic Games — the first time the U.S. has qualified two individuals to the Olympic Games since 1992. In rhythmic group competition, the U.S. ensemble of Lili Mizuno Camilla Feeley, Nicole Sladkov, Isabella Connor, Yelyzaveta Merenzon and Elizaveta Pletneva will face off for medals in Tokyo this year The group finished 10th in the all-around at the 2019 world championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Since trampoline made its Olympic debut in 2000, U.S. athletes have qualified for every Games, though places in the eight-gymnast finals have proven harder to come by. To date, Savannah Vincent’s sixth place finish at the 2012 Olympic Games in London stands as the top finish by an American trampoline gymnast.
For the U.S. men, Aliaksei Shostak will be headed to his first Olympic Games after he recorded the top U.S. finish at the 2019 world championships, fittingly held at the Tokyo Olympic gymnastics venue. On the women’s side, Nicole Ahsinger will return to her second Olympics (or third, if you count the Youth Olympic Games) after winning the USA Gymnastics Championships in June.
Updated on July 11, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.