PARIS, France— The United States women’s gymnastics team made its debut at the Paris Olympics on Sunday morning, with two local stars, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, competing in their second Olympics.
Chiles placed third in the all-around during early qualification. She will, however, miss the all-around final since nations are only allowed to submit two competitors each competition. If Chiles finishes in the top eight, she has a chance to go to the floor exercise final.
Carey will be unable to defend her title as the reigning gold medalist on the floor at the 2021 Tokyo Games due to a sad fall during her floor routine. After the qualification, Carey posted on X. “I haven’t been feeling the best the past few days, but I gave it everything I had today.”
Carey will get a shot at redemption in the vault final alongside teammate Simone Biles. Carey averaged 14.433 on the vault in qualifying, and she is presently ranked second behind Biles with a score of 15.300.
The United States competed in Division 2, which began at 2:40 a.m. PST on Sunday. Subdivision two also included Italy and China.
Team USA ended with 172.296, more than five points ahead of Italy’s score of 166.861 after two of the five subdivisions.
Biles took center stage for Team USA, making her much-anticipated Olympic return after withdrawing from the tournament in 2021 due to “twisties.”
Despite sustaining a calf injury during warm-ups, Biles won qualifying with extremely technical and hard routines. At the completion of the second segment, Biles finished first with a score of 59.566.
Biles and partner Sunisa Lee are preparing to create Olympic history in the all-around final. This is the first time in history that two gold medalist all-around competitors from different countries will compete in the same final.
Lee, who won gold in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, beat out Chile in the all-around final by 0.067 points. During the Olympic trials, the two improved on previously tight scores.
After finishing second in Tokyo, the United States will try to reclaim the top spot in women’s gymnastics. Fortunately for them, Russia won the 2021 Games despite being disqualified owing to the continuing invasion of Ukraine.
The team final is scheduled on Tuesday, with the all-around final on Thursday.
How to Watch
What: 2024 Paris Olympics, women’s artistic gymnastics team final.
When: Thursday, August 1, starting at 9:15 a.m. PST
Television: NBC
Streaming: Peacock
