MINNEAPOLIS — The USA Gymnastics selection committee had just 25 minutes Sunday night to choose the five members of the women's team to send to the Paris Olympics.
That seems like a very short amount of time, but Alicia Sacramone Quinn said committee members ultimately didn't need all of that time.
The decision was made within 10 or 15 minutes, she said.
“Honestly, this was a pretty straightforward and easy decision,” said Quinn, who is USA Gymnastics' women's strategy lead.
Of course, when Quinn says “easy,” he means it was easy. Emotionally, like any decision that could potentially shatter an athlete's Olympic dreams, it was taxing.
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“Obviously, there's emotions involved and we all care so much about our players and are so committed to them, so it's difficult,” Quinn added, “but we acted based on what we saw in the team scenario and the numbers and I think it made sense.”
After weeks and months of predictions and calculations, two nights of competition at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Minneapolis, and the unfortunate result of three top contenders dropping out with serious injuries, the committee has found one clear answer to its Paris puzzle. The team features four veterans who competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics — Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Childs and Jade Carey — plus 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera. Jocelyn Roberson and Liane Wong will serve as alternates for the trip.
Quinn, one of three members of the selection committee, said earlier this week that the committee doesn't automatically select the top five athletes in the all-around competition, but it ended up doing so because Rivera, who placed fifth, showed strengths in events where others on the team struggled.
“Our fifth place finish was based on what we felt we were lacking as a team, and that was balance beam,” Quinn said. “Haseley put up two great scores tonight and did really well. We looked at her starting value and performance and felt she deserved to be in last place.”
At the Paris Games, which begin on July 26, the women's team competition will be held in two rounds. In the preliminaries, each country will select four out of five gymnasts to compete in the vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise, and compete for the lowest score in each event. In the finals, each country will select three gymnasts for each event, and all scores will be added up to the team competition.
Because of this format, players, coaches and selection committees more or less understood how a player's performance in a particular event would affect team composition.
For example, Carey knew she needed to score highly on floor exercise and vault, two of her strongest events, while for Rivera, balance beam and uneven bars were key.
“I definitely think balance beam is an event that I can contribute to the team,” said Rivera, who is poised to become the youngest member of the U.S. team in any sport. “When I got on balance beam, I just kind of knew I had a chance.”
U.S. officials used a computer program to determine the best men's gymnastics team, selected Saturday, while the women's team selection was left to the discretion of a committee that included Quinn, as well as Tatjana Perskaia and Jessie Desir.
Injuries to Skye Blakely, Kayla DiCello and Seri Jones further muddied the process. Blakely and DiCello, who placed second and third, respectively, at the national tournament about a month ago, both ruptured Achilles tendons this week. And while Jones technically could have made the team despite injuring her knee during warmups on Friday night, Quinn said medical staff warned her against continuing to compete.
“It probably wouldn't have been in the best interest of her health to do that,” Quinn said. “I know one of the questions she asked was, 'What if I reinforced?' And we said, well, the medical staff (recommended), yeah, your health isn't worth it.”
Quinn said the first day of trials was stressful because three U.S. hopefuls were injured, but the selection committee then met for a dry run to see what would happen if they were selected for the team after Friday's competition. “We just didn't have 25 minutes,” Quinn said.
Quinn and technical leader Chelsea Memmel didn't know exactly what events they were aiming for or what scores they were aiming for until Sunday, but as the competition went on, Quinn said the two were constantly talking and messaging each other to make sure they were on the same page.
“There were a few moments where we thought, 'Oh my gosh, this might work,' and we're just playing into different scenarios,” Quinn said. “The numbers are helpful, honestly, because if this was a projected team, the score would be X, Y and Z. So it's like the judges are giving us a little bit of direction.”
After the action ended Sunday night, the players were taken to a room in the back of Target Center to await the committee's decision, but by the time the players left the field, the decision had all but been made.
“I think preparation helped, knowing what type of results and sheets we wanted to have in front of us helped,” Quinn said.
“In the end, it worked out.”
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday or on social media @Tom_Schad.
