'Redemption tour': 4 Tokyo team members are headed to Paris Olympics

After a crowd-free Tokyo Olympics due to Covid restrictions, Biles is grateful that her husband, Jonathan Owens, will be cheering her on in Paris.

"He’ll be there, yes," she said. "For just a short little time."

Biles said the Chicago Bears are granting Owens, their safety, a couple of days off from training camps to support her at the Olympics.

"I think it's super exciting that we get to be in each other's elements and supporting each other's dreams and goals," Biles said. "It’s these memories that we make that we'll never get back. So any time we can show up for one another and support, we just get super excited because our schedules don’t align that much."

After securing her second Olympic berth, Lee told reporters that Paris will be "kind of like a redemption tour" with four Tokyo team members returning to the Games.

"I’m excited to go back out there with the girls and really just see what we bring to the table," Lee said. "I think this time around, we’re so much more mature and know what we can do and what we can’t do."

In addition to a team gold, Lee shared what's on her personal Paris wishlist. "I want to make all-around finals," she said. "I want to be in the top three for the bars final, and I really want a beam gold."

"I feel like I always make the final and then I always mess up. ... It's so annoying," Lee said, laughing.

"My why is nobody is forcing me to do it," Biles said after the trials. "I wake up every day and choose to grind in the gym and to come out here and perform for myself, just to remind myself that I can still do it."

Success to Biles, though, is "what she makes it."

"I feel like right now, I've been successful," Biles said. "Competing at Olympic Trials and making the Paris Olympic team ... it's what I make it."

Simone Biles will be joined in Paris this summer by Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.

The team was selected at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials in Minneapolis tonight after two days of competition. With four returning Tokyo Olympians, it is the oldest and most decorated U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team in history.

Biles, 27, will be the oldest female American gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 72 years.

She secured an automatic spot on the Paris team by finishing first in the all-around, flanked by Lee and Chiles. The balance beam was treacherous tonight, with falls from all three top finishers, including Biles, the reigning world champion.

Read the full story here.

After clinching her third Olympic berth, Biles credited "being in a good mental spot" with her grand achievement.

"Seeing my therapist every Thursday is kind of religious for me, so that's why I'm here today," Biles said.

She said she "knew I wasn't done" after the Tokyo Games, when she withdrew from all but one of the event finals. But, she added, "I knew I'd be back" for the Paris games.

She said it’s important for her to be a mentor to the younger girls on the team, "because I’ve been in their exact same spot so I know exactly how they’re feeling."

In a later team interview, Biles said: "I used to call Aly [Raisman] 'Grandma,' and I’ve surpassed that … and I’m going to take care of them in Paris."

After the eighth rotation came to a close, all of the women vying for the Olympic team tonight came together for a hands-in moment to cheer on Team USA — and one another.

We officially have a women's Olympic team. Confetti and tears are falling in the Target Center.

Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong will travel to Paris as alternates. Two additional alternates will be announced later.

Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera

Shannon Miller, a seven-time Olympic medalist, and Carly Patterson, the 2004 Olympic all-around champion, will announce the 2024 women's Olympic team.

The crowd is chanting "USA" as it awaits an Olympic team.

At 27 years old, Biles will be the oldest female gymnast representing the U.S. at the Olympic Games since the 1950s.

If she gets a gold medal in the women's all-around, she'll be the oldest to do it in 72 years, after the Soviet Union’s Maria Gorokhovskaya got the gold at age 30 in 1952.

She could also become the oldest American woman to win an Olympic gymnastics medal in 76 years, the oldest American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics after Aly Raisman got two in in 2016, and potentially the oldest woman to earn an Olympic gold medal in 60 years.

Rivera, Sumanasekera, Roberson and Wong were the top contenders for the fifth spot ahead of today's competition.

Rivera finished fifth in the all-around and won the balance beam, so she has the edge when it comes to the numbers.

However, Olympic selection can be unpredictable. It will ultimately be up to the selection committee to decide whether to take Rivera, who is not only young but also relatively inexperienced, to Paris.

1. Biles 117.225
2. Lee 111.675
3. Chiles 111.425
4. Carey 111.350
5. Rivera 111.150

After a slate of injuries plagued top contenders Jones, DiCello and Blakely leading into Olympic trials, four of the five spots on the women's team roster appear to be locked in — leaving several once-wild-card gymnasts vying for just one place on the official Paris 2024 squad.

But the two traveling alternate slots could be just as, if not more, consequential for Team USA.

Less than a month ago, Blakely and DiCello were standing next to Biles on the national championships podium. In the past week, both ruptured their Achilles tendons, dashing their Paris dreams.

In gymnastics, anything can happen.

The Olympic selection committee is now deliberating. It has about 20 minutes to reach a decision.

The reigning Olympic gold medalist on floor, Jade Carey, was the perfect anchor for these trials.

She hit a stellar routine for a 14.150.

Simone Biles has mathematically clinched an automatic spot on the Paris Olympic team, scoring 117.225 across both days.

She is the first American female gymnast since Dominique Dawes to make three Olympic teams.

Chiles had some negative momentum going into the final rotation, but she turned it around and then some.

She danced to Beyoncé and hit her tumbling passes like a pro, scoring a 14.100 on floor.

Chiles seemed like a lock for her second Olympics after Friday, but after her fall on beam and a world-class performance from Rivera, she could be in trouble.

The fall on beam matters more for Chiles than it does for Lee or Biles, whose other events are able to compensate more for one poor routine. Chiles is heading to floor exercise, where she is capable of greatness.

Coming into these trials, Rivera was contending for an alternate position at best. Now, she could be going to her first Olympic Games.

She gave a lights-out performance tonight, scoring a 56.325 in the all-around. The work is done; it's a waiting game for her and her Olympic dreams.

A 4-year-old golden retriever named Beacon is here to support Team USA after a tough week in Minneapolis.

He is USA Gymnastics' first official therapy dog and even wears "Goodest Boy" credentials around his neck.

"Thank god for Beacon," Suni Lee said in an Instagram post.

She competed through tears in the first rotation Friday, successfully landing a precarious double-twisting Yurchenko after witnessing back-to-back injuries on the skill. She watched Jones injure her knee and her close friend and roommate, DiCello, rupture her Achilles performing the vault.After the meet, Beacon roamed the competition floor, comforting Lee and the other athletes after a stressful start to trials. Mental health professionals will also be onsite after the Olympic team is announced, according to USA Gymnastics.

Today hasn't been Suni Lee's best day, but she will still have a strong all-around score and is in an excellent position to return to the Olympics.

She landed her vault with her feet slightly staggered to protect her wrapped ankle from injury and scored a 14.100, her best vault score all year.

If Biles performs well on the floor exercise, she will finish first in the all-around and mathematically secure her ticket to Paris.

The top three all-around gymnasts have all had falls on beam now, with Chiles coming off at the end of the third rotation.

That makes Rivera's case for an Olympic spot quite strong. She has the highest score of the night so far on beam, an event on which the U.S. is suddenly looking unstable.

After Rivera's world-class beam routine in the last rotation, Sumanasekera performed a clean set in response. However, her 13.950 will fall short of Rivera's score.

Rivera performed on floor shortly after and stumbled out of her last tumbling pass. That will keep things interesting heading into the last rotation.

Tonight, Biles is expected to become the first American female gymnast since Dominique Dawes to be named to three Olympic teams. At her first Olympic trials in 1992, she was the first Black gymnast to ever qualify.

"To see women of color dominating the sport of gymnastics 32 years later definitely gives me reason to at least know that the sport is becoming a little bit more inclusive," Dawes said in an interview with NBC News yesterday.

Dawes was a member of the "Magnificent Seven" team that won gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, as well as the 1992 and 2000 medal-winning teams. The pressure, she said, "heightened with each Olympics."

"As I got older, I understood the magnitude behind what it was about," she said. "You're not only representing your country, but I was also representing my race. Winning that gold on American soil, Kerri Strug's vault and the way it played out on NBC was such an iconic moment for our country, and it was an honor and very humbling to be a part of it."

Even Olympic medalists on the balance beam fall off the 4-inch apparatus sometimes.

Biles' beam routine started strong, but she came off on one of her easiest skills, a side aerial. Her Olympic chances remain unchanged; she will stay in first place.

Now that the best American beam workers, Lee and Biles, have both fallen today, Rivera's 14.275 is even more compelling.

Biles also fell on beam on Day 2 of Olympic trials for both Rio and Tokyo.

A natural performer on the floor exercise, Leanne Wong synthesized elegant dance and clean tumbling in the third rotation. Hezly Rivera may have bested her on beam, but Wong did not let that rattle her.

She raised her score by half a point from Day 1, scoring a 13.625.

Despite watching Lee have a rough go on the beam, Hezly Rivera nailed her routine.

The selection committee is seated directly in front of the beam and had to have been impressed by Rivera's stability under pressure. She is now two-for-two on her most important routines of the night.

Tiana Sumanasekera will aim to beat Rivera's 14.275 on beam in the next rotation, but it will be a tall order.

In April 2015, Simone Biles shared a viral video of a tiny young gymnast doing a “perfect” standing back flip with a full twist.

“im in awe,” Biles wrote, adding “some1 help me find this cutie. I wanna meet her, so she could teach me a thing or two.”

That 9-year-old pint-sized powerhouse was none other than Joscelyn Roberson, who now trains alongside the GOAT at World Champions Centre.

Tonight, 18-year-old Roberson has a shot to become her 2024 Paris Olympics teammate, too.

Roberson also made her idol Biles the subject of an elementary school project — perhaps someday, she’ll be on her own trifold poster board.

Lee had the highest beam score Friday but will not continue that trajectory after an uncharacteristically poor showing on the beam.

Her leaps were stunning, as usual, but she fell on her first skill, the mount. She also had other large wobbles and earned a 12.825, nearly two points below her score on Day 1.

She is still in good standing at third in the all-around despite the mistakes.

Bars is not Biles' best event, but she is still a world medalist on the apparatus.

That is partially because her routine is very well-constructed. She is able to minimize deductions by performing as few skills as possible. The ones she does perform she performs exceedingly well, hitting every handstand as close to 180 degrees as possible.

Biles started her night on the vault, where she performed her Yurchenko double pike for a 15.500.

Tiana Sumanasekera, Joscelyn Roberson, Jordan Chiles and more — Biles' training mates at World Champions Centre, the gym her family owns in Spring, Texas — will proceed in what is called "Olympic order," or vault, bars, beam, then floor.

Hezly Rivera and Leanne Wong, who are among a handful of gymnasts competing for the fifth and final spot on the Olympic team, started on bars and will end on vault. Their showdown could have major implications for selection.

Under the highest pressure of her gymnastics career, Wong hit a clutch beam routine. There was only one visible balance check, and she connected her skills fluidly.

Wong is the most experienced contender in comparison with Tiana Sumanasekera, Joscelyn Roberson and Hezly Rivera. That appeared to pay off on this event, and she scored a 13.650, her best score of the entire year.

Heartbreak is par for the course at the U.S. Olympic trials, but athletes aren’t the only ones with broken dreams. Even USA Gymnastics leadership is reeling after three of the five front-runners for the Olympic team went down with injuries in the past week.

Chellsie Memmel, a 2008 Olympic medalist and technical lead for the U.S. women's team, told NBC News yesterday that it has "not been a fun week."

"It's obviously very challenging from the perspective of putting the team together," Memmel said. "It's really hard to separate and take the emotion out of it, because it's just hard to watch, but we have to put together the strongest team that we can put forward, and that's what we're going to do."

Memmel dealt with plenty of ill-timed injuries herself, having missed the 2004 Olympics because of a foot injury. At the 2008 Olympics, she was limited to competing on the uneven bars after she broke her ankle in Beijing.

The fifth spot of the Paris Olympic team is likely to come down to the balance beam tonight.

On a hypothetical team of Biles, Chiles, Lee and Carey, the U.S. women will be looking for support from another strong beam worker.

A fall on beam tonight from Hezly Rivera, Tiana Sumanasekera, Leanne Wong or Joscelyn Roberson could knock them out of Olympic contention; hit routines could punch their tickets to Paris.

After a shaky outing on the balance beam on Day 1, Biles' coach, Laurent Landi, told her to "just do her normal" going into the second half of the competition tonight.

"I don’t want her to do better, just do her normal. That's all," Landi told reporters Friday. "Stuff will happen, mistakes will happen, it’s part of gymnastics. I don’t think there is anybody that didn’t make a tiny mistake today. I mean, it’s trials. They are trying to make the Olympic team; it’s supposed to be stressful."

Carey also performed two vaults, a Cheng and an Amanar, which could hold as the highest vault scores of the night behind Biles.

She landed the Amanar (a Yurchenko with a 2½ twist) a bit low and a had to fight to stay on her feet, but her legs of steel pulled it off.

After Jones went down with an injury, Suni Lee is without a doubt the best bars worker in the country.

She showed the highest difficulty on bars in this trials field, earning a 14.875.

Ahead of two gorgeous vaults, Jordan Chiles rallied the crowd to clap to the music in the arena. Even as she competes for a return to the Olympics, she is all smiles and relaxed energy.

Leanne Wong was an Olympic alternate in 2021 and was a member of every subsequent world championship team. Tonight, her Olympic dreams could finally become a reality, but she'll have to outscore some young up-and-comers.

She started her night on the uneven bars, where she scored a 13.900. That's still a good score, but four-tenths lower than Rivera. She'll want to close some of that lead if she wants to stay in contention.

As part of its deliberations, the selection committee will consider scores from these trials, as well as other major competitions this season.

Using average scores from the Core Hydration Classic, the U.S. Gymnastics Championships and Day 1 of the U.S. Olympic trials, the highest-scoring potential team in an Olympic Team Final scenario would be Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Kaliya Lincoln with a 172.820.

However, these statistics do not account for certain aspects of selection, like balancing the strengths and weaknesses of an Olympic team. Lincoln’s and Carey’s strengths are the same (vault and floor), and their weaknesses (beam and bars) are identical, with Carey having an edge as a medal threat on vault.

The U.S. might consider athletes who are stronger on events like the balance beam but can also fill in on other events in a pinch.

Joscelyn Roberson, a teammate of Biles’ who is also in the mix for the fifth Olympic spot, performed two vaults. To earn an Olympic vault medal, gymnasts much show two contrasting vaults with different entry styles. She earned a 14.500 for the first vault, which is the one that will count toward her all-around score.

The U.S. already has strong vaulters who score higher than she does, but it's a great start for Roberson.

Tokyo Olympian Jordan Chiles had a "rough practice" ahead of Day 1, but everything came together when she donned her competition leotard and finished second in the all-around to Biles.

"At the end of the day, we can’t control what is happening," Chiles said of Friday's injuries. "We can be stressed and we can be concerned, but we also have to understand that we still have a job to do."

In anxious moments, Chiles draws on a sage piece of advice from her mother, Gina.

"Every room you walk into, just be the best Jordan you can be," Chiles said, quoting her mother. "Whether it’s a mall, whether it’s a grocery store, whether it’s the biggest stage on Earth, I just put myself out there and just am authentic to who I am. ... I’m always going to shine brighter and just vibe with it."

One of the most important routines of the night came early in the competition.

With an Olympic spot on the line, Hezly Rivera hit a clean set on bars, earning a huge 14.300. All her routines will matter here, but beam will be especially decisive.

Tune into the final night of the trials, where the women's team for Paris will be determined, at 8:10 p.m. ET on Peacock and 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

The athletes competing for Olympic spots tonight were announced one by one as they entered the arena.

Biles and Minnesota-native Suni Lee received particularly earsplitting cheers from the crowd.

As the lights dimmed in the Target Center ahead of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, "...Ready For It?" by Taylor Swift was played.

Biles will tumble to the song tonight in her quest to clinch her third Olympic berth.

"Baby, let the games begin," as the song goes.

For many years, understanding gymnastics was pretty simple — falls are bad, and a 10 is the best score! Some of the old rules still stand, but scoring in the sport is more complicated than it was in past decades.

Here’s everything to know about modern scoring in gymnastics so you can watch Biles and the rest of Team USA contend for Olympic glory with an expert eye.

Read the full story here.

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on downtown Minneapolis this weekend for both the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials and the annual Twin Cities Pride.

“I’m proud to proclaim Gymnastics City USA Week in Minnesota as our state hosts the gymnastics Olympic trials for the first time,” Gov. Tim Walz said ahead of the trials.

The festivities included a parade, which passed by the Target Center, where the trials are being held, a few hours ago.

Twin Cities Pride was first held in 1972 and has since grown into one of the largest Pride celebrations in the country, with 600,000 estimated to attend, according to organizers.

Biles is ready for it.

Biles chose to execute some of her most impressive tricks to the intro track of Taylor Swift's "Reputation" album — "...Ready For It?" — which is featured in Biles' U.S. gymnastics trials floor routine. Yesterday, Swift showed her support for the GOAT.

In response to a video of Biles' that NBC Olympics and Paralympics posted to X, Swift replied that she has "[w]atched this so many times and still unready."

"She’s ready for it tho," Swift added, referring to Biles.

Based on Friday’s results, the four returning Tokyo Olympians appear primed to return to the Games. The big question tonight is: Who will join them in Paris?

A week ago, the younger, greener athletes in this trials field had next to no shot at making this Olympic team. After a wave of injuries tore through the top American contenders, they are no longer dark horses, and they now find themselves at or near the top of the standings.

With their Olympic dreams abruptly within reach, it will be interesting to see how Hezly Rivera and Tiana Sumanasekera, both 16, respond to the spotlight.

The women of USA Gymnastics are READY, sharing a glimpse of their looks for the final night of Olympic trials on social media.

Biles and Jade Carey posted selfies to social media in their matching GK Elite leotards for the trials tonight.

The women's field — now down to 13 contenders after three injury withdrawals — is split into two squads, with each group of gymnasts switching its leotard styles for days one and two of competition.

After an ankle injury intercepted her own historic comeback this season, three-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas weighed in on Jones' withdrawal from the trials.

"I'm completely heartbroken," Douglas said on Instagram.

"No one deserved it more," she said, referring to Jones' securing a spot on the Olympic team.

The two gymnasts trained together at Buckeye Gymnastics in Westerville, Ohio, while Douglas geared up for the 2016 Rio Olympics, but both have since moved to other gyms.

Simone Biles is four routines away from making her third Olympic team.

She led her Olympic and club teammate Jordan Chiles by 2.5 points after the first day of competition at the Olympic trials. Reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee rounded out the top three.

Read the full story here.

The men’s team was named at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials in Minneapolis yesterday: Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong and Stephen Nedoroscik are going to Paris.

The alternates are Shane Wiskus and Khoi Young. They barely missed the official team but are still considered Olympians by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“We have a chance to win a medal, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Malone said after yesterday’s final.

Read the full story here.

Nobody pictured Paris without Shilese Jones.

USA Gymnastics announced yesterday that, after evaluation, Jones will not be compete in the trials today, slashing her hopes of making the Paris team.

Jones, 21, was a near-lock for the Olympic team after having won six world championship medals in the past two years.

Warming up on the vault at Friday’s trials, Jones landed short and immediately cradled her knee.

Read the full story here.

• Gabby Thomas and Noah Lyles win 200-meter finals at the U.S. Olympic trials
• Runner qualifies for second Olympics after nearly missing race because of portable restroom mishap
• Sports watchdog under scrutiny as former U.S. gymnast facing misconduct allegations judges Olympic trials
• Sport climber Brooke Raboutou describes seeing the rapid growth of the event