Congratulations to Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian, and Laurie Hernandez for making it onto the US Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team! Martha Karolyi announced the team after two days at the US Olympic Trials in San Jose, California.
The women were both excited and shocked when the announcements were made declaring the official US Olympic team. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Douglas was extremely overwhelmed, telling Us Weekly, “I might cry again! When you’ve just done so much hard work and just put a lot of hours into something, you want it to turn out like a masterpiece. All the tears, all the hard work—it’s something so special.”
Douglas isn’t the only returning member from the 2012 London Fierce Five. Raisman, the 2012 team captain, will also join the team after winning three medals in London. “It doesn’t feel real at all actually” Raisman told Us Weekly. “It doesn’t really sink in that I’ve already been here before.”
Simone Biles, 19 is a three- time world champion, four time national champion, and a member of the 2014 and the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She says of the team, “All of us still have to earn our spots and nothing is ever handed to us so we all have something to prove whenever we get there, it’s not like any of us have an automatic spot.”
Alternates are MyKayla Skinner, Ashton Locklear, and Ragan Smith. The Olympics will take place in Rio De Janeiro beginning August 5, 2016. It will stream live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.
