Tragic Details About The USA Gymnastics' Paris Olympics Team

The women's and men's 2024 U.S. gymnastics teams made unforgettable, star-spangled appearances at the 2024 Paris Olympics, earning both teams the gold and bronze medals in the all-around team finals, respectively. But behind their bright smiles and perfectly flexed fingers and toes, members of both squads faced several setbacks, some even preventing them from competing in a sport where, for the majority, age is everything. While Olympic athletes facing adversity is nothing new, every four years presents a new set of obstacles for Olympic veterans and newcomers.

From crushing injuries to hidden illnesses, mental health crises, and even racism, the members of Team USA have fought their way back to becoming Olympic champions. Even "I wouldn't change anything [that has happened to me] because everything happens for a reason," eight-time Olympic Gold medalist Simon Biles once told The Cut. "And I learned a lot about myself — courage, resilience, how to say no and speak up for yourself."

During Simone Biles' rise to become the most decorated U.S. gymnast in history, the legendary athlete and former gymnasts, including Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, suffered sexual abuse from former coach Larry Nassar.

"After hearing the stories of my brave friends and other survivors, I know that this horrific experience does not define me," she posted to X (formerly known as Twitter). "...I love this sport too much and...I won't let one man, and the others that enabled him, to steal my love and joy."

The stress of the situation followed Biles into her profession, as she withdrew from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics mid-game due to focus on her mental health. She later admitted this was in part due to her trauma. "It just felt very — I wouldn't even say dehumanizing — but it felt like I held a lot of the guilt that wasn't mine to hold," she recalled to the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in 2024. "I think that was the hardest for me to process."

Biles publicly testified in the case before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2021. "I don't want another young gymnast, or Olympic athlete, or any individual to experience the horror that I and hundreds of others have endured before," she told the Committee (per NBC News). Nassar eventually pled guilty to almost two dozen counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with minors, while Biles has gone on to win a record-setting eight Olympic medals throughout her three appearances in the Games.

During her opening qualifying floor routine at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, gymnast Jade Carey took several steps out of bounds and even fell at one point, costing her valuable points and, ultimately, a medal. She also fell off of the balance beam during a separate routine. But the reason behind her fumbles had to do more with her health than her skill. "I just have not been feeling well the past few days and haven't been able to eat or anything," she told Olympics.com afterward. "I had, like, no energy today and didn't really have a sense of what was going on in my head. So, I just kind of wanted people to know that so, they know that there's actually something wrong."

After the shocking performance, Carey's mother provided an update on her daughter's health. "She's doing much better today," Danielle Greenberg told TODAY. "Trying to hydrate, get some food in, ready to go." Carey, who won a gold medal for her floor routine during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, also reassured her fans by posting on X (formerly known as Twitter). "I gave it everything I had ... Thank you for all the support I have received. I'm so grateful." But not all was lost – Carey earned an all-around gold medal at the 2024 Games alongside teammates Simone Biles, Sunisa "Suni" Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Hezly Rivera.

Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles faced difficult family odds on her way to the 2024 Paris Olympics. After seeing her mother go to prison following her daughter's first Olympics appearance in 2021, Chiles also lost two additional family members in 2023. That year, both her aunt, Crystal Oliver, and her grandfather, Gene Velasquez, passed away. "They always believed in me before they passed, that if I could do [one Olympics], I could do another," Chiles shared with AP.

On top of her family strife, the athlete was also struggling with a series of performance-related issues, from missing the cut for the world championship team in 2022 to various injuries that prevented her from competing at several events. But Chiles persevered and worked her way back to Olympic glory, winning an all-around god medal alongside her Team USA teammates. She also honored her family in a special way, with a tattoo dedicated to her late grandfather adorning her left arm that reads, "Where you are, I have been. Where I am, you will be." "I did dedicate my life to this," she told AP. "I did sacrifice a lot of things for myself. I did do all these things. And at the end of the day, when it's finally done it over with, I can finally I can look at myself in the mirror and be like, 'You did everything that you said you (would).'"

After her first victorious Olympics appearance in Tokyo in 2021, Sunisa "Suni" Lee was making moves as a team gymnast at Auburn University when a health scare suddenly halted everything. The star athlete announced in 2023 that she would be leaving behind her university athletics career to resume her elite training and to take care of an ongoing kidney issue that had prevented her from competing at the collegiate level. "For my safety, the [university] medical team did not clear me to train and compete over the last few weeks," she shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) in 2023. "... My focus at this time is my health and recovery. It's been challenging to end my Auburn career early, but I am thankful for all the love [and] support."

Lee eventually revealed that she was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, for which there is currently no cure. But she has not let that stop her from pursuing her dreams. Not only did she make the bid to the 2024 Paris Olympics, she won both a gold all-around medal with her team, and a bronze all-around individual medal. "We didn't think that I would be here," she told SELF. " We didn't know what was possible. We didn't know what was wrong with me. And here I am on the big stage, competing."

Olympic bronze medalist Asher Hong wasn't sure he was going to make the 2024 Paris Games after he fell during a key routine at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Minneapolis earlier that year. "[I just told myself] reset and forget about the fall," he shared with NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. "In the collegiate space, you don't want to fall a second time for your team. So, I was just saying reset, finish the routine small, and move on to rings. I didn't want to let it affect my last event, and I wanted to use that anger and frustration on rings, and I did so. I am proud of that."

This wasn't the first time Hong had made a costly error. He had previously slipped out of the championship ranks after a fall on the pommel horse at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championship. But his perseverance paid off, and he not only made the 2024 men's Olympic team but also helped them secure the Bronze all-around team medal – the nation's first men's gymnastics medal in almost two decades. "I mean, it feels unreal," Hong told the same outlet in a separate interview after the big win. "Just the whole journey that I've been through to come to this moment and to finally win an Olympic medal for my country and represent them, it feels amazing."

After a massive showing at the 2022 NCAA gymnastics championship, athlete Paul Juda was ready to continue taking the sports world by storm until a knee injury sidelined him from competing for an extended period. Juda hyperextended his knee during warm-ups at another competition, preventing him from participating at that meet and subsequent major events, including the U.S. Championship. Even after rehabbing the injury, he was named a "non-traveling alternate" as he worked his way back to full health. "You know, you think you're all good with the injuries and you're excited to get back after being sidelined for so many months, and it just hits ya," Juda told Inside Gymnastics Magazine. "That's gymnastics!"

But the athlete didn't let the injury (or demotion) derail his purpose; instead, he used the time to focus on sharpening his skills all around. "It kind of forced me to look at the areas in my gymnastics that I wasn't giving as much attention to," he told the outlet. "I was really able to get more done on parallel bars, pommel horse and high bar ... It took a hefty chunk of time but when it was right, it felt right, and I didn't want to rush it by any means!" By the time he reached full health, Juda joined his fellow U.S. Olympic teammates in securing the bronze all-around medal.

Championship gymnast Brody Malone was another athlete whose career faced derailment after knee and leg injuries led to multiple surgeries and a full year of bedrest. "I felt my knee go out, just like a lot of pressure, and kind of like a bang," he told NBC (per TODAY). "It was catastrophic ... I was like, 'I don't know if I'm going to be able to make a comeback.'"

Malone was able to return to training after a setback year, but the incident nonetheless altered his training on the way to the 2024 Paris Olympics. "My approach on floor and vault is looking a little bit different," he shared with Team USA (per TODAY). "I'm not trying to get as much difficulty on those events. I'm trying to just do a little bit easier routine and just hit and be clean. It just feels amazing with everything I've gone through to make a comeback like I have." The gymnast's return to form not only made a splash in his return to competition, but also helped secure his team's all-around Bronze medal at the 2024 Games. "You got to have confidence in yourself that you can do it," Malone shared with the media after returning to the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Championships (per Olympics.com). "...I came in with the mindset of, I just need to do my gymnastics and let the scores fall where they do. I'm not coming in thinking, 'Oh gosh, I gotta win this'."

2024 U.S. bronze medalist (and instant viral sensation) Stephen Nedoroscik caught the attention of the world after his stunning pommel horse routine that helped edge the men's gymnastics team to their first medal in nearly 20 years. However, the glasses-wearing athlete, who sometimes wore sports goggles when competing, revealed there is a reason behind the Clark Kent-like appearance. "Basically, I'm cross-sighted and I can switch my dominant eye on command with both eyes open," he revealed in a TikTok in 2022.

The medical term for his condition is "strabismus," which "caus[es] the eyes to not line up properly and point in different directions" (per American Academy of Opthalmology). He also revealed on his TikTok account that he has coloboma, which makes him sensitive to light. Despite his seeming setbacks, Nedoroscik affirms that it ironically helps him compete better. "When I go up on the pommel horse, it's all about feeling the equipment," he told TODAY. "I don't even really see when I'm doing my gymnastics. It's all in the hands — I can feel everything." As for the goggles he wears when he competes? It's all part of the "magic," he told WPSU: "They are simply for fun, kind of my trademark. I like to have fun out there."