“We have various priorities to consider when we decide on which athletes to choose,” stated Dave Brubaker, national team director for women’s artistic gymnastics at Gymnastics Canada.
“One priority is the ability to win a medal, another priority is the ability to make a final. Then there’s the priority to be strong on two, preferably three events. So for those fourth and fifth spots, we’re really looking for event specialists who can help contribute to that overall team total.
When we look at our results from the World Championships in Glasgow, we were really strong on vault and bars, so I think where we can bolster the team is on floor and beam, so those are the athletes we might be looking for.”
The non-traveling alternate should be a strong all-arounder as you can’t predict which of the 5 on the team she might have to replace. (I assume the non-traveling alternate will travel to Brazil and be training at a club nearby. Four years ago the Canadian alternate in London was Jessica Savona.)
Biles, the first woman to win four-straight U.S. titles since Joan Moore Gnat in 1971-74, tallied an all-around score of 125.000 to seal the title. Two-time Olympic gold-medalist Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics, was second at 121.100, followed by MG Elite’s Laurie Hernandez of Morganville, N.J., in third with 120.500. Two-time 2012 Olympic gold-medalist Gabby Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Buckeye Gymnastics, was fourth (117.800), and Madison Kocian of Dallas/WOGA, took fifth (116.450). …
USA is leaving several potential Olympic medalists at home in order to improve their team score.
A team medal is a long shot. Bringing individual apparatus medalists would have been another strategy.
Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center), earned a berth to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after posting the highest four-day all-around total, a 362.750, at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials …
The complete men’s U.S. Olympic Team, pending United States Olympic Committee approval, is comprised of: Chris Brooks of Houston, Texas/Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center); Jake Dalton of Sparks, Nev./Team Hilton (University of Oklahoma); Mikulak; Alex Naddour of Queen Creek, Ariz./Team Hilton (USA Youth Fitness); and John Orozco of Bronx, N.Y./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Centre) …
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