The U.S. gymnastics team will almost certainly have Simone Biles on the team for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Who else goes with her may depend on who is still healthy.
Shilese Jones, member of Team USA’s 2022 and 2023 World Championship teams, was disqualified from the remainder of the Olympic Trials on Saturday after suffering an injury during the warm-up for the vault on Day 1. She is the third major contender for the Olympic team to be named, after Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello.
Jones’ injury only allowed her to compete in the uneven bars, where she recorded the competition’s best score of 14.675. In any case, it was a special moment for her mother.
Jones had already withdrawn from the US Championships last month due to a shoulder injury and now needed to petition to be admitted to the Trials.
Her injury is a big loss for Team USA. She is the only woman in the world to reach the all-around podium in the past two world championships, winning silver behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade in 2022 and Biles in 2023. If healthy, she is almost guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team , just by her talent on the uneven bars, with the potential to win a medal in the all-around.
Blakely and DiCello also had shots at the Olympic team until they both tore their Achilles tendons this week. Blakely crashed during podium training two days before the tests, while DiCello landed badly on her jump and immediately indicated that something was wrong.
With all three gymnasts out of the competition, the Trials standings after Day 1 contained the following Top 5:
1. Simone Biles, 58,900
2. Jordanian Chiles, 56,400
3. Sunisa Lee, 56,025
4. Jade Carey, 55,825
5. Joscelyn Roberson, 55,475
The five-member Olympic team will be named on Day 2 of the Trials on Sunday.
