Meet The 2024 USA Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team

We all know that the USA Women's Gymnastics team is one of the best in the world, and they're determined to bring back team gold after winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. From veterans like Simone Biles and Suni Lee to 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera, all five of these women are excellent examples of American values like hard work and perseverance, making them perfect role models for young girls, and we can't wait to watch them dominate the competition.

Here's a breakdown of all five women on the team and some of their accomplishments.

Simone Biles

Unless you've been living under a rock since the Rio Olympics in 2016, you're already familiar with Simone Biles. She's the world's most decorated gymnast (meaning she has the most medals in both national and international competitions) and is widely considered to be the greatest gymnast of all time.

She made history at the Rio Olympics by winning gold in the team final, individual all-around, vault, and floor exercise, and a bronze medal in balance beam. She became an international star, but that didn't make her immune from struggles.

In 2018, she announced that she was one of the hundreds of gymnasts (more than 500 women came forward) who were sexually abused by the former team doctor, Larry Nassar. This was one of the many things that took a negative toll on her mental health before the Tokyo Olympics.

While she did well in the qualifying rounds in Tokyo, she underperformed during her vault at the team competition, and she dropped out of the meet due to a “mental block” known as the twisties. The twisties are when the brain and body become disconnected due to stress, causing gymnasts to be unaware of their position in the air. This can lead to gymnasts landing in a dangerous position, possibly causing severe injuries like paralyzation or death.

She didn't leave Tokyo empty-handed, though, as she won the silver medal for the team final and the bronze medal for the balance beam. She took a break from gymnastics after Tokyo to focus on her mental health.

In an April 2024 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Simone got candid on what happened in Tokyo. She told her teammates that she was “fighting demons” with her mental health struggles and that her first thought when she landed the vault at the team competition was that people back in America would hate her. “As soon as I landed, I thought, ‘America hates me, the world is gonna hate me, and I can only see what they're saying on Twitter right now.’ That was my first thought.”

She's spent the past few years going to therapy and focusing on her mental health. She started training again in 2023 and took her time in deciding whether or not she'd return to the Olympics. Embracing taking it slow was not only beneficial for her mental and physical health, but helped her become a better gymnast. No matter how she performs in Paris, we're so glad to see her come back.

Sunisa “Suni” Lee

Suni reached international fame when she became the fifth American woman in a row to win the individual all-around gold in Tokyo, but she's had a tough road since then. Less than a month after becoming an Olympic champion, she started college at Auburn University and excelled on their gymnastics team, but left the team at the end of her sophomore season in 2023 when she was diagnosed with two rare kidney diseases.

She took a pause to focus on her health but started training a few months after the initial diagnosis. In an Instagram post, she wrote, "This was so much more than my return to elite gymnastics. It was me proving to myself that I can overcome hard things, and to hopefully inspire others to never let life’s setbacks stop you from going after your dreams.”

Unfortunately, she got sick again shortly after coming back but got clearance to resume training in January 2024. Her comeback wasn't easy, as she explained to Hoda Kotb on the TODAY Show shortly after she made the Olympic team. She said, "There were so many times where I thought about quitting and just giving up because I was so sick, and it was just so hard to stay motivated, watching everybody get better, and I’m just like, I can’t even get back into the gym and constantly doubting myself.”

She continued, "We didn’t think I would be here. So getting through all of those events and...everything that we had to go through this week to get to where we are right now, it was just such a hard, incredible journey.” 

Suni's strongest event is the uneven bars, which won her a bronze medal in Tokyo. She is expected to perform well in Paris.

Jordan Chiles

While she didn't win an individual medal at the Tokyo Olympics, she won the hearts of America with her spunky personality and hilarious friendship with Simone Biles. She was recently profiled by Teen Vogue, where she discussed how she has struggled with her body image (she once had a coach who put her on a diet of only 800 calories a day) and mental health due to the pressures of the sport, but she refuses to let that stop her. She’s going into the Paris Olympics with more confidence than the Tokyo Olympics because she already knows that she can do it. 

She told Teen Vogue, “I’ve been through that cycle once before. My brain now is like, ‘Okay, you’ve done it, so let’s do it again. You don’t have anything to prove.’ I’m going out there for myself…because at the end of the day, I’ll always be proud.”

She continued, “I didn’t know how consistent I was or how trustworthy I was until Tokyo, and me being able to step in for such an amazing person, stepping into some huge shoes, it definitely gave me more confidence in knowing that, ‘Okay, no matter what’s thrown at me, I will be able to be trusted.’ Now I can relax and not get too much in my head because I know I can go up and hit a routine or go up there and be me.”

Since Tokyo, Jordan has entered several international competitions and competed on UCLA's gymnastics team. She excels at the floor exercise and vault and has won international medals for both. Hopefully, she can add more hardware to her collection after the Paris Olympics.

Jade Carey

Jade competed as an individual instead of on the team with Simone, Suni, and Jordan at the 2020 Olympics, but that didn't stop her from winning gold on the floor exercise. Now an official member of Team USA, she's ready to defend her title in Paris.

Similar to Suni and Jordan, making the Olympics for the second time wasn't an easy feat, especially after a tough season last year, where she placed 15th overall at the US National Championships individual all-around event. She told Elle, “It was scary and stressful to have that happen the year before the Olympics when you want to be wrapping up and getting to your peak.”

With the help of her lifelong coach (who just happens to be her dad and one of the coaches for her collegiate team, the Oregon State Beavers), she was able to dominate the Olympic Trials, and she can't wait to compete for Team USA and help bring home the gold medal for the team competition. She knows that it won't be easy, but she's ready for the challenge, as she told Elle, “Winning team gold would mean a lot to us girls who do make the team because we want to show that we’re stronger than we were before. It’s not always easy to just come together and be a team right away, because we’re from all different gyms around the whole country. But we’ve seen each other enough at camps and have competed against each other at competitions. We all have a common goal.”

Her best events are the floor exercise and vault, and she's considered to be one of the best in the world at both.

Hezly Rivera

At 16, Hezly isn't just the youngest on the gymnastics squad but the youngest member of Team USA as a whole. Originally from New Jersey, she trains at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, Texas, where she is coached by Valeri Liukin, a gold medalist from the 1988 Olympics and father to Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin.

Despite her short career, she's already accomplished things most gymnasts can only dream of by competing in international competitions, winning the silver medal in both the team finals and floor exercise at the 2023 World Junior Championships. She placed sixth overall at the 2024 National Championships, which landed her a coveted spot at the Olympic Trials, where she placed fifth in all-around, tied for first on balance beam, fourth on uneven bars, and eighth on floor exercise. 

She started competing in gymnastics when she was 5 years old, and she's dedicated her life to gymnastics since then. According to her father, Henry Rivera, her hero is the late Kobe Bryant, and she succeeds by embracing his famous “mamba mentality.” Her father told the New York Post, “Her ticket was always outworking everyone. Her mentality was almost that ‘mamba mentality.’ If you want something – you go for it. It’s never going to be handed to you.”

Hezly is close to her family, calling her dad her rock. At the Olympic Trials, she said, “He always pushes me to be my best, but he’s also comforting when things get rough.”

Her strongest events are the balance beam and uneven bars, and she's prepared to shine at both during the Paris Olympics.

Closing Thoughts

The USA Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team has been one of the best in the world for decades, but this team might be the best yet. 

Interested in watching? The women's gymnastics team will start the competition with qualifying rounds on July 28, team finals on July 30, all-around finals on August 1, vault finals on August 3, uneven bars finals on August 4, and balance beam and floor exercise finals on August 5. All events will air on NBC and will be available for streaming on Peacock.

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