On Friday night, an hour before the first of two days of competition that will determine the U. Olympic gymnastics team, the athletes have taken the floor to warm up. The Target Center is already filled with young fans holding signs and wearing shirts bearing their favorite gymnasts' names.
They've been on the long journey to this moment every step of the way. They know the routines by heart. They cheer every big skill. And they know what's at stake this weekend. Two-time world champion Shilese Jones, 21, cuts a striking image in a red, white and blue leotard as she stretches near the floor on the far side of the arena. The tape on her right shoulder, visible beneath sparkling sleeves, is a reminder of an injury she has battled for two years. When she was 12, Jones' parents moved her family across the country to support her dream of being an Olympian.
Nearly a decade later, this is her final shot at fulfilling that dream. Leanne Wong, the NCAA uneven bars champion, sticks the landing on a double-layout dismount on bars and fist-bumps her coach. Wong, 20, was an alternate on the Olympic team but didn't experience the Olympics.
Now, having exchanged the orange and blue of the University of Florida Gators for a red, white and blue leo, she is exploring a new path for gymnasts to the Olympics through college. Fans of Joscelyn Roberson hold their breath as the year-old sprints down the vault runway for the first time tonight. They clap excitedly when she sticks her landing. It's been eight months since Roberson landed short on a vault during warmups at world championships and tore ligaments in her left ankle.
If her body holds up, it is her vaulting skills that will get her to Paris. Sunisa Lee draws eyes to the balance beam as she warms up one of the most difficult, elegant beam routines in the world. Her performance on the apparatus in Tokyo helped her to become the first Asian American gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title, although she says most days she still feels like an imposter. Making the Paris team will give Lee, 21, the chance to prove her success in was no fluke -- to herself as much as anyone.
