On Sunday evening, after two evenings of official trials and seven months of intense qualifying observation, Team USA announced its five-woman Olympic squad.
And everyone cried! After finishing their final routines, all the potential competitors hugged each other weeping. According to ESPN, the normally steely 74-year-old program head Martha Karolyi cried while announcing the team. The women chosen didn’t stop crying while onstage. I didn’t talk while watching them accept their new jobs because I would have sobbed too and been ashamed—I think I probably haven’t worked nearly as hard as they did so I wanted to let them have their moment.
The team is chosen through a mixture of scores and opinions—the winner of the Olympic trials (Simone Biles) automatically gets a spot, while the remaining four members (and three alternates) are chosen by a selection committee. This year, for instance, Gabby Douglas placed sixth overall in the trials but was still invited to compete in Rio de Janeiro—in the 2012 Olympics in London, she became the first black woman to win all-around gold.
Zip off your track suit and honor these five extraordinary women, who have muscles in places I didn’t know existed.
Simone Biles
Many think the 19-year-old from Spring, Texas is the greatest female gymnast of all time. She’s been world champion three years in a row (and is, according to the Huffington Post, the first American woman to do that in 42 years), and has won world championship medals 14 medals total. She will do well.
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