Simone Biles leads the most experienced U.S. women’s gymnastics team ever into the Olympics

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team is well positioned to win the Olympic team gold medal not solely because of talent but also because of experience.

Four of the five women suiting up this month were members of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team. With two all-around Olympic champions and four Olympic medalists, the 2024 Paris group is the most experienced and most decorated in U.S. history.

Simone Biles, with 37 Olympic and world championship medals, is the headliner. Her Olympic medal collection consists of two bronzes, one silver and four golds, including the most coveted hardware in the sport: the Olympic all-around gold medal.

She is tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals for U.S. gymnasts, a record she is likely to break in Paris as the reigning world champion in the all-around, beam, floor and team events.

Biles will be joined in Paris by reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee, Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles, Olympic gold medalist Jade Carey and first-year senior Hezly Rivera.

Biles called the coming Olympics a “redemption tour” for the Tokyo returners.
“I feel like we all have more to give and our Tokyo performances weren’t the best,” Biles said Sunday at the Olympic trials in Minneapolis. “We weren’t under the best circumstances, either, but I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we’re better athletes.”

Team USA settled for the silver medal in the team event in Tokyo after a few uncharacteristic mistakes. Chiles fell on floor exercise, and Biles got lost in the air on her vault before a case of t
he “twisties” forced her to withdraw from the competition.

“We’re more mature, we’re smarter, and we’re more consistent,” Biles said this week.

With the Russian gymnasts banned from participating in Paris because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Brazilian and Chinese teams are expected to be the U.S. women’s biggest rivals in the team competition.

The Brazilian team is also flush with Olympic experience and hardware, with Rebeca Andrade having made her debut in Rio like Biles. She became the first Brazilian to claim an Olympic medal in women’s artistic gymnastics, winning silver in the all-around and gold on vault in Tokyo.

Brazil is eyeing its first Olympic team medal after it won its first world medal as a team last year.