ST. LOUIS – There is one sure thing at the U.S. Olympic trials for gymnastics. When the women's competition ends Sunday, and five athletes are added to the Olympic roster, one of them will be named Simone Biles.
Suni Lee, Grace McCallum make final Olympic gymnastics bids Sunday
Simone Biles is a lock to make the U.S. team, and the two Minnesotans have good opportunities on the last day of the U.S. trials.
June 27, 2021 at 1:51PM
After that, it's far less certain. Suni Lee of St. Paul is in excellent position, sitting in second place behind Biles in the all-around competition following Friday's opening session. Grace McCallum of Isanti is part of an intense battle for an Olympic spot; only .300 of a point separates fourth through sixth place, with McCallum sitting in fifth.
Barring an injury, Biles will lead a five-athlete delegation — four who will compete in the team competition, and one who will compete as an individual — to next month's Tokyo Summer Games. The four-time Olympic gold medalist and 19-time world champion holds a wide lead going into Sunday's final day, with a score of 60.565. Lee is next with 57.666, followed by Jordan Chiles (57.132), MyKayla Skinner (56.598), McCallum (56.498) and Kayla DiCello (56.298).
Friday's scores carry over to Sunday, with the top two all-arounders automatically making the Olympic roster that will be announced shortly after the competition ends. A selection committee will pick three other gymnasts, two for the team competition and one for the individual berth, plus as many as five alternates.
Jade Carey already locked up a second, nontransferable individual spot for the Olympics. The entire field of individual competitors is expected to be officially announced this weekend by the International Gymnastics Federation.
The U.S. selection committee includes Tom Forster, high performance team coordinator for the women's program; an athlete representative; and a representative appointed by the USA Gymnastics international elite committee. According to USA Gymnastics, selection criteria include competition results, team needs, start values and execution values of routines and consistency.
The committee is expected to choose strong all-arounders for the two additional team spots. In the finals of the team competition at the Olympics, three athletes compete on each apparatus, and all three scores count, making it essential that all four team members can score well in every event.
For the individual athlete, USA Gymnastics officials said their choice will be "based on the goal of maximizing medal potential" in individual events at the Olympics.
Though Lee has a very strong chance to be among the four who will compete as a team, coach Jess Graba had a fallback plan. While a foot injury limited her training, Graba kept Lee focused on bars and beam. She competed only in those two events during the spring to ease the strain on her foot.
If Lee's injury prevented her from being ready for good performances on all events, Graba hoped her excellence on her two key events would put her in contention for the individual Olympic berth.
"Beam and bars were really kind of her ticket," Graba said. "If worse came to worst, she could at least make a case, if the foot didn't get better, for the (individual) spot."
Other than Biles, none of the top candidates for the women's Olympic team has competed in the Summer Games. Skinner was an alternate in 2016.
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