This week, the U.S. has officially announced our Women’s Gymnastic’s Team for the Olympics in Rio! The team is comprised of five incredibly talented women and we couldn’t be more excited. In order to get you just as jazzed about this as we are, we compiled all the things you need to know about each of these rock-star athletes.
Here they are: @Simone_Biles, @lzhernandez02, @Aly_Raisman, @gabrielledoug and @MadisonKocian! #RioReadypic.twitter.com/AVOjI3ItJM
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) July 11, 2016
Aly Raisman, 22
Name look familiar? That’s become Raisman is no stranger to the Olympics. She competed in the 2012 London Olympics and left the competition with three medals. Like many of the girls on her team, Raisman is extremely decorated when it comes to winning competitions. She was on the gold medal-winning team at the World Championships last year and came in second all-around at Nationals this year. According to the Huffington Post, Raisman’s greatest strengths are vault and floor. In fact, she even used her talent when she competed on Dancing With The Stars this past year where she came in at fourth place. Overall, it is already known that she is going to kick serious butt in Rio.
Gabby Douglas, 20
Douglas is another name that should sound familiar as she was also on the winning team at the 2012 Olympics. She also made history that year when she became the first black gymnast to win an all-around Olympic gold—yas. When she isn’t doing gymnastics, she's starring in her new reality TV show on Oxygen, called Douglas Family Gold. Last year, she also competed with Raisman at the World Gymnastics Championships and she took silver all-around. She also came in fourth all-around at Nationals this year, the Huffington Post reports. Basically, she’s awesome. Oh, and did we mention that she wrote a memoir?
Simone Biles, 19
Where do we even start with Biles? Let's first put it out there that she is incredible. Just incredible. Huffington Post reports that she has been the world champion for the last three years (“the only woman ever to pull that off”), and the national champion for four years in a row. The latter is especially impressive because she is the first American woman in 42 years who's done that. So overall, she has won a total of 14 world championship medals, which is more than any U.S. athlete in history. Let’s all just bow down to Biles right now.
Madison Kocian, 19
Although people may not be familiar with Kocian, she is one of the strongest additions to the U.S. team. She is currently the world bar champion, according to Huffington Post, which is apparently where the U.S. is lacking, Cosmopolitan notes. So having Kocian on the team gives the U.S. team an even greater chance of winning gold all around.
Laurie Hernandez, 16
Yeah, you read that right: 16. Years. Old. Hernandez is the youngest person the team and one of the youngest people who will be competing this year in Rio, according to Marie Claire. One of the things that makes Hernandez so great is that she is pretty amazing at everything. Although she has some incredible experience on the floor, she is also extremely good on the uneven bars and balance beam, Cosmopolitan reports. Huffington Post also adds that people are calling her the “human emoji” because of how cute she is. Well, that’s one compliment we haven’t heard before.
Overall, these women are ready to kick butt at Rio and we couldn’t be more excited. With every single one of them having a different strength, it is seriously a power house team. Let’s go USA!