MINNEAPOLIS — Silce Jones has been ruled out of the remaining Olympic trials.
Jones injured her knee on the vault during a pre-meet warm-up on Friday night and missed all events except the uneven bars. USA Gymnastics announced that she had decided not to compete on Sunday after a re-examination on Saturday.
The five-woman team will be named after Sunday's competition.
Jones seemed to preview the announcement when she posted a photo to her Instagram Story of herself with Beacon, a therapy dog who comes to USA Gymnastics events, with the caption, “I don't know what I'd do without Beacon.”
Jones, who has won all-around medals at the past two world championships, was almost as much of a favorite as Simone Biles to make the Paris team. She competed in the qualifying rounds with a shoulder injury that kept her out of the national championships earlier this month, but her coach, Sarah Korngold, said she was ready to compete.
But during warm-ups on Friday, Jones landed on the vault and collapsed to the mat, clutching her right foot. Biles rushed over to check on her, and Jones sat on the podium for a few minutes before being helped backstage by Korngold and medical staff.
Jones was scheduled to compete on vault but withdrew after testing her knee while running down the runway. She managed to get through the uneven bars, scoring 14.675, the best score of the night on that event. She then withdrew from her remaining two events.
Gymnasts cannot apply to be on the Olympic team, but because Jones competed here she is still eligible for consideration. It's up to the committee to see if that's enough.
Losing Jones would be a big blow for the U.S. women. She has been one of the best gymnasts in the world over the past two seasons and has helped the U.S. win gold medals at the 2022 and 2023 world championships, in addition to an all-around medal. As she did at last year's world championships, she was expected to compete in all four events in the team final, where every point counted.
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But Jones' health became an issue in May after she tore the labrum in her right shoulder in 2022 and managed to weather it by being cautious in training and competing. But after finishing second to Biles at the U.S. Classic, the pain became so severe that a week before the U.S. championships she could “hardly lift my arm.”
Jones, who trains outside Seattle, traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, for the U.S. championships, where USA Gymnastics medical staff said there was no structural damage to her shoulder. But she withdrew because she didn't want to exacerbate the pain and inflammation and hoped that more rest would help her be ready in time for Paris.
“We're slowly getting back into the routine and she's doing her full routine,” Korngold said Wednesday. “Obviously we're not getting as many reps as we would like, but she's feeling good and we still feel like it was the right decision to sit out nationals.”
The injury coming so close to the Olympics has been particularly tough for Jones. She finished 10th in the 2021 Olympic trials, with the top nine athletes making the national team or competing as alternates in Tokyo. The U.S. women selected just four alternates, while the men had five.
Then in December 2021, Jones' father died after a long battle with kidney disease. The two were particularly close, with Sylvester Jones often taking Jones to gymnastics practice. Jones initially planned to retire from elite gymnastics after the Tokyo Games no matter what, but her father encouraged her to reconsider that decision before he died.
Jones, her mother and sisters returned to her hometown of Seattle, and Jones refocused on sports with the goal of going to Paris.
