15 Jul Paris Loading! The NCAA Gymnastics Impact
Inside Gymnastics will be on the scene in Paris for the XXXIII Olympiad bringing you all of the action from the Games! Make sure you’re following our social media pages (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Threads) for all the latest and greatest in what promises to be the most epic and most-watched Olympic Games ever.
- Dates: July 27 – August 5
- Venue: Bercy Arena
- TV channels: NBC, USA Network, E!
- Streaming: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, NBC app, NBC Olympics app
TV Broadcasts + Streaming Info
- Primetime coverage featuring marquee events will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
- The complete gymnastics schedule, including the apparatus feeds for each session and TV listings, is also available on the NBC Olympics schedule page.
- Live and tape-delayed coverage of gymnastics will be shown on the following TV channels: NBC, USA Network and E!
The Schedule
Gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC, USA Network and E!, and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms starting on Saturday, July 27.
Look for previews, stars and storylines on InsideGym.com throughout the Games!
By Megan Roth, with Christy Sandmaier contributing
Prior to 2021, it was rare for U.S. Women’s Olympic gymnasts to go to college to compete in the NCAA after completing their Elite careers. Only Sam Peszek (UCLA) and Bridget Sloan (Florida) competed full NCAA careers after their silver medal winning performances in the 2008 Olympics. Similarly, team gold medalists Kyla Ross and Madision Kocian (UCLA) were the only members of the 2012 and 2016 Olympic teams to compete in college. Notably, Mohini Bhardwaj (UCLA) competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics after being a standout for the Bruins, helping the team to a silver medal finish, and Kelly Garrison competed Elite and for the University of Oklahoma en route to the 1988 Olympic team.
Now, both because of longer-lasting careers in women’s gymnastics and new name, image, and likeness (NIL) laws that allow collegiate athletes to monetize their personal brands, the majority of the 2024 U.S. Olympic team has or will compete in the NCAA. Before 2021, Elite gymnasts had to choose whether to “go pro” and take endorsements or to go compete in the NCAA. Now, athletes are able to do both, and so many are thriving because of it.
2020 and 2024 Olympic Team member Jade Carey (Oregon State) and 2020 and 2024 traveling alternate Leanne Wong (Florida) are entering their senior years and competed in the NCAA in the leadup to Paris. 2020 and 2024 Olympians Jordan Chiles (UCLA) and Suni Lee (Auburn) competed two seasons in the NCAA after Tokyo. Joscelyn Roberson, a traveling alternate for the Paris team is set to start her NCAA career at Arkansas in the fall. Both non-traveling alternates for the Paris team, Kaliya Lincoln (LSU) and Tiana Sumanasekera (UCLA), are also set to compete in the NCAA.
The only female gymnasts representing team USA who are not affiliated with an NCAA team are Simone Biles who went pro after the Rio Olympics and Hezly Rivera who has not yet committed to a university.
“I think honestly… it’s mostly because of the whole opportunity part of it,” Chiles said of her decision to do Elite and college when we interviewed her in 2022. “Like having that opportunity, why not try it? I think a lot of the girls understood what my goal was because I did say, ‘Hey guys, I think I want to go back for ’24. And so If you guys do see me training Elite skills, just know, I’m still here for the team. Nothing’s going to change,’” she said.
Following her 2023 season, Chiles returned to World Champions Centre to train full time, putting her UCLA career on hold to fully focus on what could be her final opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games.
For Wong, balancing NCAA and Elite allowed her to stay in her zone and keep calm, and not put too much pressure on herself by being hyper-focused on one goal.
“That’s something that I actually talked about with somebody – someone who works with coaches around the NCAA. I think he was saying there’s like a personality type,” she told us in March. “There’s different people who need to be focused on one thing, but then there’s others who strive and succeed with many things going on. He said, ‘that’s clearly you. If you took a test, it would show that.’ So I do think that having a lot of things going on keeps my mind going and kind of helps me balance everything.”
There are also many U.S.-based gymnasts with dual citizenship competing for other countries who are current or former NCAA gymnasts. Aleah Finnegan (LSU), Emma Malabuyo (UCLA), and Levi Jung-Ruivivar (Stanford) will compete for the Philippines. Luisa Blanco (Alabama), who finished her NCAA career earlier this year, will compete for Colombia and Lynnzee Brown (Denver) graduated in 2023 and will compete for Haiti. Brown is also the Assistant Coach for the Penn State women’s gymnastics team.
Key to the entire equation means having the right support system around the athletes – further emphasizing communication between the coaching teams at each school and their affiliated club if the athlete chooses to train in separate locations.
Blanco found an opportunity to train with Midwest’s Jess Graba as she relaunched her Elite career, and Graba continuously communicated with the Alabama staff prior to Blanco’s fifth and final year as a student-athlete.
“I’m really happy to see these girls enjoying the sport to the point where they have other options,” Graba said. “They want to take the next step and see what’s possible. I think that says something about the girls, but it also says something, hopefully, about the sport. I think the sport is evolving and being a little bit more forgiving on the athletes. Obviously, the rules are hard, but the equipment, the training methods – everything’s just been more forgiving and more rewarding. I’m happy to see that and hopefully we can capitalize and give her a really good senior season, but then also give her a good chance at a dream.”
“By embarking on a journey to compete internationally, all while balancing a NCAA career and a master’s degree program, Luisa is a beautiful example of that,” Alabama head coach Ashley Priess Johnston noted. ”She pours herself into the Tuscaloosa community by mentoring younger kids so that they, too, can feel empowered to step into, and achieve their own goals and dreams. I am so proud of Luisa for courageously pursuing her dreams, and for using her gymnastics platform to pour into others’ lives.”
Internationally, many Canadian Elite gymnasts compete in the NCAA. Shallon Olsen competed for five years at the University of Alabama, while simultaneously training and competing at Elite competitions. Olympic team members Aurélie Tran and Cassie Lee will enter their freshman seasons at Iowa in the fall and Ava Stewart will start at Minnesota after the Games.
Hungary’s Csenge Bacskay competed for two seasons at Nebraska and transferred to Georgia to finish her last two upcoming years.
NCAA allows women’s gymnasts to compete in an atmosphere that is completely different from the more individualistic, structured Elite environment they were brought up in. In NCAA, gymnasts train with and compete for a team, with their main goal being the team’s success. In Elite, gymnasts compete for themselves, which can feel isolating.
NCAA also uses the perfect 10 system, so gymnasts are competing easier routines with the goal of being perfect. At the Olympics, gymnasts will compete much harder routines, trying to balance difficulty and execution. Athletes who balance NCAA and Elite have explained that being so detail oriented in NCAA has helped them improve aspects of their gymnastics like their landings, handstands on bars, and performance quality.
Because more and more Elite gymnasts in the U.S. are competing in the NCAA, careers in the U.S. are getting longer. It was very common for U.S. gymnasts who did not go to NCAA to retire at around 18-years-old (or younger!) and gymnasts who went to college would retire after the conclusion of their NCAA careers. Athletes like Blanco, Brown, and Olsen are now competing in Elite competitions after their NCAA eligibility has ended. Similarly, Olympians who are still in college or who are just starting their NCAA careers are not ruling out continuing their careers after NCAA. In May, Levi Jung-Ruivivar told Inside Gymnastics she hopes to continue competing at Elite competitions through her NCAA career, leading up to the 2028 Olympics.
In men’s gymnastics, NCAA and Elite are a lot more interconnected. Both have the same scoring system and NCAA meets even serve as qualifiers for U.S. Elite meets. Unlike in women’s gymnastics, men’s gymnasts in the U.S. have historically had longer careers. NCAA has served as a path for men’s gymnasts to get to the Olympics and men’s gymnasts have peaked after the conclusion of their NCAA careers rather than before they’ve even started.
19 of the 20 competitors at Olympic Trials on the men’s side are current or former NCAA gymnasts and all five of the U.S. men’s Olympic Team members are past or current gymnasts at an NCAA program. Paul Juda and Frederick Richard are current gymnasts at the University of Michigan. Stephen Nedoroscik graduated from Penn State in 2020. Asher Hong is entering his Junior year at Stanford and Brody Malone graduated from Stanford in 2023.
U.S.-based Olympians Kevin Penev, who represents Bulgaria, competed at Michigan and Lais Najjar, who represents Syria, is entering his senior year at Michigan.
Canadian Olympian Sam Zakutney graduated from Penn State in 2020 and Emre Dodanlı, who represents Turkey, is entering his senior year at Oklahoma.
In the past few years, many NCAA men’s gymnastics programs have been cut because of budget issues. In 2021, Iowa Men’s gymnastics was discontinued and in 2020, the University of Minnesota cut the men’s gymnastics program, home to Olympians John Roethlisberger and Shane Wiskus. GymACT allows gymnastics to continue at universities that have cut men’s gymnastics. Minnesota has competed the past few seasons in GymACT, but the University announced this year that they will be turning Cooke Hall, the team’s practice facility for 80 years, into a diving facility.
Men’s NCAA gymnastics is extremely important for men’s gymnasts in the U.S. building up to the Olympics. Now that the U.S. won its first team medal since 2014 at 2023 worlds and has a good chance at winning its first Olympic team medal since 2008, it’s extremely important for the gymnastics community to support men’s NCAA programs, as they are vital to the international success of the U.S. men’s gymnastics program.
Across Team USA, 65% of athletes are past, current, or incoming NCAA athletes. Stanford has the most 2024 Olympians across all sports, but in Artistic Gymnastics, Michigan has the most NCAA athletes, having four current or former men’s gymnasts. Stanford takes second place in gymnastics, with three athletes.
On and off the floor it’s one big balancing act, but presumably the athletes wouldn’t want it any other way. Thousands of gymnasts before them have dreamed of having the best of both worlds and now they’re living that dream – and inspiring the next generation. “I just want to be able to show everyone, especially all the athletes here, that we can be light and have fun and cheer each other on… But still do the best gymnastics in the world because we’re supposed to be having fun and loving what we do,” Carey said.
For more:
Dualing Dreams! Dual Citizenship Fulfills Long-Awaited Olympic Dreams
Paris-Bound for Colombia, Luisa Blanco’s Dream Is More Than She Ever Imagined
USA,Biles, and Japan Headline Team Competition in Paris
5 Athletes and One Team Who Could Surprise In Paris
Sunique! 2020 Olympic All-Around Championship Suni Lee Readies for Paris
All That Glitters! GK Elite and USA Gymnastics unveil Olympic leotards
Shannon Miller Says! Dear Athletes…
Bring on Brazil! Andrade and Team Brazil eye gold
2024 Olympics Schedule + How to Watch
For Paul Juda, the title of ‘Olympian’ is everything
Simone Biles Leads Team USA Redemption Tour
Frederick Richard and Brody Malone Lead Team USA Men
Carly Patterson’s New Role with Team USA
Road to Paris Gets Real – Olympic Draw
5 Key Takeaways from Winter Cup
Photo credits: Lloyd Smith and Ricardo Bufolin for Inside Gymnastics
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