Simone Biles Leads the US Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team [Video]

Like everything in 2020, the pandemic caused the Olympics’ postponement. Because of COVID-19 vaccines, international travel and some guidelines relaxed, allowing the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games to occur in July 2021. On Sunday, June 28, the names of the young women who qualified to represent the country in Tokyo.

Simone Biles, 24, will lead the team of women gymnasts. She is joined by Sunisa Lee, 18; Jordan Chiles, 20; and Grace McCallum, 18, who round out the team. Mykayla Skinner, 24, and Jade Carey, 21, will compete individually.

Biles is the reigning world and Olympic gymnastics champion. At the end of the two-day U.S. Olympic Trials, her overall score of 118.098 secured her one of two automatic spots on the team.

She hopes to become the first female gymnast in over 50 years to win consecutive all-around Olympic golds — vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.

Lee secured the second automatic spot with her overall total of 115.832. Her scores on the beam and uneven bars were higher than her teammates.

The rest of the team was announced after the selection committee met on Sunday night. Chiles earned the third spot on the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Japan will host athletes from around the world from Friday, July 23, through August 8, 2021.

Written by Cathy Milne-Ware

Sources:

ESPN: Simone Biles locks up spot on U.S. Olympic gymnastics team
WeAreIowa: Meet the six women gymnasts representing the US in Tokyo; by Will Graves

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Dennis Amith’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License