Gymnast Contribution for Team USA

Now that the Paris 2024 Olympics have come to a close let's examine each gymnasts contribution to Team USA's score to bring home that gold, 1st place finish!

Team Qualifications

For the preliminary qualifying competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics Team USA scored a 172.296 with Simone Biles accounting for a little over 1/3 of the team score with 34.6% of the team score (Figure 1: Top), followed by Jordan Chiles contributing to a little under 1/3 at 32.5% of the preliminary team score, then Sunisa Lee accounting for ~1/4 at 24.4% and Jade Carey contributing only 8.5% with only her vault score counting towards the team score. Since only the top 3 scores count on each event (Figure 1: Bottom) Hezly Rivera's scores did not count for Team USA's qualification score despite her competing on uneven bars and balance beam getting a 13.9 and 12.633 respectively.

Figure 1: Team USA Qualification Scores

Breaking down the qualification score into events (Figure 1: Bottom), on vault Team USA's score was a 44.799 comprising of Biles' 15.8, Carey's 14.666, and Chiles' 14.333. Lee's score of 14.133 was dropped from the team score since it was the lowest of the four competitors. Biles and Carey made the vault finals through these scores at qualifications as well. On bars Team USA scored a 43.565 using Lee's 14.866, Biles' 14.433, and Chiles' 14.266. On this event Lee qualified for the uneven bars finals. Team USA scored 42.366 on beam using Biles' 14.733, Lee's 14.033, and Chiles' 13.6. Both Biles and Lee landed in the balance beam finals with these scores. Floor was the lowest score for Team USA at 41.566. The low score came as a surprise since Carey could not complete her usual floor routine and only scored a 10.633 compared to her average of 13.8458 for the rest of the competitions in the 2024 season prior to the Olympics (See: Scoring Potential Blog). The counting scores for Team USA's floor score were Biles' 14.6, Chiles' 13.866, and Lee's 13.1 then. If Carey scored her average instead Team USA's score would have been closer to the team's beam score.

Team Finals

For Team USA's gold medal, 1st place finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics only 3 gymnasts compete on each event with all scores counting. The winning score was slightly lower at 171.296. It is expected the team finals has a lower score due to no room for error with all gymnasts' scores counting that competed. The contribution from each gymnast for Team USA's score for team finals is similar to the preliminary competition with Biles contributing to 34.1% of the overall team score - slightly more than prelims, Chiles accounting for 32.4% - slightly lower than her contribution in qualifications, Lee 24.9% and Carey 8.6% for her vault. Rivera was not selected to compete on any event in team finals since her scores were dropped in the qualification round as her other teammates outcompeted her.

Figure 2: Team USA Team Final Scores

Examining each event (Figure 2: Bottom), team USA used Biles, Carey, and Chiles vault scores of 14.9, 14.8, and 14.4 to score a 44.1 on vault for team finals about 0.7 tenths lower than the qualification vault score from the same gymnasts. The lower score is mostly due to Biles opting out of competing the infamous Yurchenko double pike, the Biles II for a safer option. On bars Team USA scored a 43.332 using Lee's 14.566, Biles' 14.4, and Chiles' 14.366 - slightly lower than the qualification score due to Lee losing a few more tenths in finals compared to her qualifying routine. However, Chiles did 0.1 better than her qualification routine, but not enough to make up for Lee's 0.3 deficit. Beam is always a struggle for team finals as it the event that potentially has the most room for error with the immense pressure of team finals with Team USA's score dropping by a little less than 0.7 to 41.699 from the qualification score of 42.366. This score is comprised of Lee's 14.6, Biles' 14.366, and Chiles' 12.733. All fairly different than their qualification scores of 14.033, 14.733, and 13.6 respectively from above. Notably from this Lee's beam improved in team finals with a gorgeous routine that I'm sure she wishes she could have repeated for balance beam finals instead of the routine she performed, unfortunately with a dramatic fall. Team USA's floor score improved for team finals by ~0.5 tenths with a 42.165 compared to the same gymnasts' 41.566 in qualifications. Biles and Chiles put up consistent 14.666 and 13.966 similar to their preliminary scores, but Lee improved her score to a 13.533 for team finals.

Combining all the events pulled out a winning performance for Team USA placing them back on top of the podium compared to the same gymnasts' silver medal performance in Tokyo's 2020 Olympics in 2021. Go Team USA! Stay tuned for more analysis on Team USA. Here's to waiting another 4 years for the next Olympics at home in Los Angeles!