U.S men might not be in shadow of women during gymnastics competition in Paris
When it comes to the gymnastics competition at the Olympics, of late the U.S. women’s team has rightfully gotten most of the attention and spotlight.
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That should be the case, given the U.S. women’s squad has won a medal in the team competition at every Olympics since 1992 and has produced the last five all-around individual Olympic champions.
But in addition to Simone Biles showing she might be back in peak form at the right time for the women’s team, last weekend’s U.S. gymnastics championships also gave a preview that this summer’s Olympics could be a big one for the men’s squad.
The American men won the team bronze medal at last year’s world championships, and it looks like they’ll be sending their best team to the Olympics in a long time, if not ever.
Brody Malone — who won the all-around competition at the U.S. championships — Shane Wiskus and Yul Moldauer all competed in Tokyo and head to the U.S. Olympic trials later this month in good form to make the team again.
Fred Richard won the bronze medal in the all-around at last year’s world championships and was second to Malone last weekend, while Khoi Young was third.
Assuming none of those five suffers a collapse or serious injury at Olympic trials, they should form the backbone of a strong U.S. men’s team that possesses talent and experience.
The U.S. men didn’t win a medal (team or individual) in Tokyo and has won just two team competition medals at an Olympics since 1988, with those coming in 2004 (silver) and 2008 (bronze).
Final qualifying coming up for Olympic hopefuls in cycling, beach volleyball
More athletes will be punching their tickets to Paris in a couple of sports in the coming days.
Monday will mark the end of the qualification for beach volleyball athletes, although the two women teams that the U.S. is allowed to send have already been determined.
The teams of Kelly Cheng and Sarah Hughes, and Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss, have already qualified.
One American men’s team has also qualified, that being the tandem of Andy Benesh and Miles Partain. The Americans will send another team that will be determined next week.
Between now and June 20 will be the final qualifying period for U.S. cyclists. At the Olympics, there are competitions for road cycling, track cycling, BMX racing and BMX freestyle.
U.S. women’s 3X3 basketball team chosen
While the roster for the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team won’t be finalized until the end of the month, the four-player roster for the women’s 3X3 basketball team was announced on Wednesday.
The players chosen for the team are Cameron Brink, Cierra Burdick, Rhyne Howard and Hailey Van Lith.
Brink, Burdick and Van Lith were on the the U.S. team that won the FIBA World Cup last year.
The foursome will try and follow in the footsteps of Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, who guided the U.S. to the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Tokyo games were the first Olympics that featured 3X3 basketball. The Americans didn’t qualify a men’s team for Tokyo, but did for Paris.
Jimmer Fredette, Canyon Barry, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis make up the U.S. men’s roster.