PARIS, France — The U.S. women's gymnastics team made their first appearance at the Paris Olympics early Sunday morning with two local stars, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, competing in their second Olympic Games.
Chiles finished third in the all-around during early qualifying. However, she will miss the all-around final due to rules that limit countries to entering two athletes per competition. Though, there is a chance Chiles could make the floor exercise final, if she finishes in the top eight.
With a heartbreaking fall in her floor routine, Carey will not have the chance to defend her title as the reigning gold medalist on floor from the 2021 Tokyo Games. Following the qualifier, Carey posted on X "I haven't been feeling the best the past few days but I gave it everything I had today."
Carey will have her chance at redemption in the vault final with teammate Simone Biles. Carey boasted an average of 14.433 on vault in the qualifier, currently placing her second behind Biles with a score of 15.300.
The U.S. was a part of subdivision two, which began play at 2:40 a.m. PST on Sunday. The other two members of subdivision two were Italy and China.
Collectively, Team USA finished at 172.296, more than five points above Italy's score of 166.861 through two of five subdivisions.
Center stage of Team USA was Biles, who made her much-anticipated return to the Olympics after withdrawing from the competition in 2021 due to the "twisties."
Despite suffering a calf injury during warm-ups, Biles still dominated in the qualifier performing highly technical and challenging routines. At the end of the second subdivision, Biles left in the top spot with a score of 59.566.
Biles and teammate Sunisa Lee are set to make Olympic history in the all-around final. It is the first time that two gold medalist all-around athletes will go head-to-head in the final from any country.
Lee, who won gold in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, edged out Chiles from the all-around final by a mere 0.067 points. The two had boosted very close scores during the Olympic trials.
The USA will look to get back to the top of women's gymnastics after placing second in Tokyo. Luckily for them, the winners of the 2021 Games was Russia, who was disqualified due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The team final is set to take place Tuesday and the all-around final on Thursday.
How to watch
What: 2024 Paris Olympics, women's artistic gymnastics team final
When: Thursday, August 1, beginning at 9:15 a.m. PST
TV: NBC
Streaming: Peacock
