The Summer Olympics are just around the corner, and the Olympic Trials are in full swing! The 2016 Summer Olympics will be taking place in Rio, and the opening ceremony will be taking place on August 5th, so mark your calendars!
There are a wide variety of sports in the Olympic games, but the most popular tend to be gymnastics, swimming, diving, and volleyball, at least in the summer Olympics. My favorite event is gymnastics, so I will be focusing on the news regarding those trials.
NBC has been broadcasting live streams of the trials on their website, and have also been airing them on television. The women's gymnastics trials are currently taking place, and the reveal of the five people representing Team USA will be revealed on Sunday, July 10th, after the trials are over. The focus of most news stories about the trials are the returning Olympic champions like Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, and Simone Biles. Simone Biles is currently in the lead at the halfway point of the trials, but only by one point. Right behind her is 16-year-old Laurie Hernandez, who performed a beam routine that was said "could win Olympic gold on its own."
Hernandez seems to use the pressure of beating out the top returners to her advantage, but it has obviously gotten to Biles. She made a dreaded mistake on her vault routine when she overshot the landing and had to awkwardly spin out of it, which was very unlike her. She had been working on the skill for weeks, according to her coach.
Currently, Biles, Hernandez, and Raisman are looking good to be on the team. Also placing in the top five is McKayla Skinner with a stellar floor routine, but Gabby Douglas seems to be trailing behind, still shooting for that one routine that can land her that fifth spot on the team. So far, she has had a decent uneven bars routine that first put her on the map, but was shaky in all other events, ending with a big fall off the beam. This put her in seventh place, which could possibly allow other competitors to beat her for that No. 5 spot.
It seems that most of the pressure may be on Biles at the moment. She has not lost a meet since 2013, and is a four time National Title Winner. She herself will not accept less than the best, and with Hernandez right on her tail, it is certainly going to be a close race.
Are any of your favorites mentioned in this article? Who are your current favorites for Team USA? To catch up on all things related to the Olympic Trials, check out www.nbcolympics.com and check out your favorite events! Like I said, the gymnastics trials are currently in full swing, so catch it while you can and see who will represent the USA in Rio!
