Grace under pressure? U.S. gymnasts show lots of nerves at Olympic Trials

In her mind, Martha Karolyi already had a pretty good idea who would be chosen for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team the day before the Olympic Trials began. But, as always, the national team coordinator still wanted to see who could perform in the competition that most closely resembles the Summer Games and the pits it can put in one’s stomach.

You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to show you can handle the pressure of the mentally draining Olympic spotlight.

What Karolyi witnessed on Friday at SAP Center had to be somewhat troubling. She saw more nerves than grace. Lots of nerves.

Ashton Locklear, in contention for an Olympic team spot, fell off the balance beam. So did Gabby Douglas, the gold medalist in the all-around at the London Games. Even three-time world champion Simone Biles, usually the picture of perfection, was off her game.

After Sunday’s second and final competition, Karolyi and her selection committee will choose four gymnasts who’ll represent the U.S. next month in Rio de Janeiro with Biles, who’s already a lock for the team. But Thursday’s subpar performances may have produced more questions than answers.

“Even with some mistakes here and there, you look for the potential,” Karolyi explained. “You see what is good and what you were able to do in the past.”

“Some girls would maybe freak out,” she said of the multiple mistakes made. “But they handled it well. I was pleased with that.”

Biles, not surprisingly, still topped the all-around scores with 61.850 points. Lauren Hernandez, the revelation of the night, stood in second (60.850), while Raisman, hoping to make her second straight Olympic team, was third (59.950).

Douglas’ fall on the beam was the night’s biggest shock. It resulted in a score of 13.700 that dropped her all the way to seventh in the all-around standings. But she also surprised everyone by not having her longtime coach Kittia Carpenter by her side. Instead, Christian Gallardo, another coach at Buckeye Gymnastics where Douglas trains in Ohio, was on the floor with her.

Karolyi supported the switch, although Douglas said afterward that it wasn’t officially a coaching change. “I personally feel that the chemistry between the gymnast and coach is very important, from my experience – you need to connect,” Karolyi said.

After she completed her beam routine, a disappointed Douglas took a few minutes to collect herself. The 20-year-old thought it would be easier going through the process of making an Olympic team again.

“I think everybody was a little bit nervous,” Douglas said. “Everyone had mistakes here and there. But you know what, we’re all going to go into training and clean it up and fix those little details heading into Sunday.”

Raisman, the 22-year-old nicknamed “Grandma” for being the oldest of the competitors trying to make the Olympic team, gave another pep talk to the group before Thursday’s competition. Her objective was to convince everyone that this was just another meet. But deep down, she knew it wasn’t.

“I think it was hard because everywhere you look it says ‘Olympic Trials,’ and with the big introductions we all kind of got a little bit emotional just thinking about how we can’t believe we actually got here,” Raisman said. “I told the girls just to enjoy it because you’ve been dreaming about this ever since you were a little girl. There’s thousands and thousands, maybe millions of little girls that would die to be here. We are very lucky. We work so hard that we might as well enjoy it.”