The image is stunning: five young women, including two African-Americans and one Puerto Rican, have made the U.S. Olympics Gymnastics Team. This majority-minority squad (meaning black and brown girls compose more than half of the team) is the favorite to win gold in Rio, but they’ve already won our love based off inspiration alone.
Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez have too many accolades to name. Biles, the three-time all-around world champion, is the most decorated U.S. gymnast at 19 years old. And we all know Douglas, who made history in the 2012 London Olympic Games when she became the first U.S. athlete to win both team and all-around gold medals. She is also the first black gymnast to win an individual Olympic gold medal. Gabby was looking mad shaky during the trials, but she stepped it up and clenched her spot.
Newcomer Hernandez, 16, is a first-year senior, the first Puerto Rican woman to make the U.S. Team, and the first U.S.-born Latina to go to the Olympics with the U.S. gymnastics team in two decades. Rounding out the squad are Kocian and Raisman, who returns after winning team and individual golds at the London Games.
The last go-round, Raisman and Douglas were part of the team known as the “Fierce Five.” We’ll see next month what this squad gets donned, but for now they’re a beautiful sight to see.
And here’s Hernandez, giving a taste of what to expect: