How the USA gymnastics team is selected after the Olympic trials

After touching the wall at the Olympic trials, swimmers can confirm their success by checking the arena’s scoreboard, bringing a dramatic end to their race. The certainty of achievement is emotional and straightforward, repeating itself in swimming night after night and also during track and field trials.

In gymnastics, however, even after scores are posted and the competition ends, athletes are left waiting in limbo as it’s a subjective sport with subjective decisions. They anxiously wait in a private room to hear if they’ve made it to the U.S. team.

Amid fierce competition for the final spots in this year’s trials, tension will fill the room in Minneapolis on Sunday night as an opaque process will determine the gymnasts representing the United States at the Paris Games.

For the past two decades, the selection process has remained consistent, with the top all-around finisher – and sometimes the top two – securing an Olympic spot while the rest are chosen by a committee based on broad and vague criteria.

With new leadership heading into the Paris Olympics, uncertainty surrounds how this committee will select the five gymnasts this summer, with one method prioritizing all-around standings at the trials and the other favoring gymnasts with complementary skills that maximize team score.

Past regimes had different approaches, with Karolyi valuing team scores over all-around standings and Forster opting to name the top four all-around finishers to the Olympic team in 2021.

The choice between prioritizing all-around standings or maximizing team score remains a point of contention, especially considering the vague selection procedures that leave room for interpretation and debate over the integrity of the process.

The method of selecting gymnasts based on different criteria can have significant implications, as seen in past Olympic teams where decisions on team composition have had a notable impact on performance and outcomes.

The differences in approaches to selecting gymnasts highlight the complexities of the process and the importance of finding a balance between individual strengths and team dynamics to achieve success at the highest level of competition.

The upcoming selection of gymnasts for the Paris Olympics will undoubtedly be a challenging and impactful process that will shape the composition and performance of the U.S. team in the pursuit of Olympic glory.