COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — It’s a sport that’s about artistry just as much as it’s about strength, where power and finesse intersect and where controversy is just a judge’s score away.

Gymnastics will once again command attention at the Paris Olympics with athletes from around the world looking to make the podium in three disciplines. While the artistic form of gymnastics usually grabs the most headlines, medals are also at stake in rhythmic and trampoline.

The U.S. will be represented in each sport with the Americans’ best medal hopes pinned on the women competing in artistic gymnastics. Here’s what you need to know about all three disciplines at the Paris Olympics:

The basics

  • Artistic gymnastics: women’s vault, women’s floor exercise, women’s uneven bars, women’s balance beam, men’s vault, men’s floor exercise, men’s pommel horse, men’s rings, men’s high bar, men’s parallel bars, men’s and women’s team final, men’s and women’s all-around final
  • Trampoline: men’s and women’s individual finals
  • Rhythmic gymnastics: individual and group all-around finals
  • Venues: Bercy Arena (artistic gymnastics and trampoline), Porte de la Chapelle Arena (rhythmic gymnastics)
  • Dates: July 27-Aug. 1 and Aug. 3-5 (artistic gymnastics), Aug. 2 (trampoline), Aug 8-10 (rhythmic gymnastics)

Veterans headline U.S. women’s squad

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – JUNE 30: (L-R) Suni Lee, Simone Biles, Hezly Rivera, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey pose after being selected for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team on Day Four of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Gymnastics Trials at Target Center on June 30, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

For Team USA, age is merely just a number. The Americans are led once again by Simone Biles, back for her third Olympics. The 27-year-old has put the Tokyo Games — where she struggled with a case of the twisties yet managed to win a team silver and individual bronze — in the rear view mirror. Her performances at the U.S. championships and Olympic trials indicate that she’s actually better than ever.

Alongside her are other seasoned veterans of the sport, including defending Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee, floor exercise gold medalist Jade Carey and team silver medalist Jordan Chiles. The lone fresh face on the squad is 16-year-old Hezly Rivera, who won silver twice at last year’s world junior championships.

But there are plenty of international gymnasts looking to challenge the United States for gold. China’s Qiu Qiyuan beat Biles on the uneven bars at last year’s world championships while her teammate Zhou Yaqin is a contender on the balance beam. The Brazilian women, led by Tokyo all-around silver medalist Rebeca Andrade, won a world team silver in 2023 and has sights set on the podium. And the home crowd will have Melanie de Jesus dos Santos to cheer on after the 24-year-old won her fourth national all-around title this year.

American men seek a return to the podium

The U.S. hasn’t won a medal in men’s artistic gymnastics since bringing home a team bronze at the Beijing 2008 Games. The likes of Fred Richard and Brody Malone look to end the drought.

Malone is the only returning gymnast from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and is making a comeback after suffering a gruesome knee injury a little more than a year ago. Three surgeries later, the 24-year-old from Summerville, Georgia, just won his third U.S. national title in four years.

Meanwhile, Richard has a shot at making the podium in the individual all-around after winning bronze in the event at last year’s world championships. The rising junior at Michigan is particularly strong on floor exercise but can contribute in practically any apparatus.

Combined with fellow Wolverines teammate Paul Juda, as well as Stanford’s Asher Hong and pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik, the U.S. has its best chance at a medal in over a decade. But Japan figures to be strong yet again, led by defending all-around champion Daiki Hasimoto, while Great Britain’s Max Whitlock looks to make history by becoming the first gymnast to win four medals on the same apparatus when he competes on pommel horse.

Trampoline

TOKYO, JAPAN – JULY 31: Ivan Litvinovich of Team Belarus competes as judges look on during the Men’s Qualification on day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 31, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Part of the Games’ program since 2000 in Sydney, trampoline awards medals in men’s and women’s individual events. Athletes bounce over 26 feet into the air on a trampoline, performing a series of twists, bounces and somersaults. Routines are composed of ten elements that are scored based on degree of difficulty, execution and time spent in the air.

China has won the most medals in Olympic competition with 14 medals, four of them gold. Zhu Xueying looks to become just the second win to successfully defend her Olympic title after winning gold in Tokyo but Great Britain’s Bryony Page could spoil her bid after winning the last two world titles. China’s Yan Langyu and Wang Zisai are contenders to win the men’s competition.

The United States will send Tokyo Olympian Aliaksei Shostak for the men’s event while Jessica Stevens will make her Olympic debut for the U.S. in the women’s competition.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

SANTIAGO, CHILE – NOVEMBER 04: Evita Griskenas of Team United States competes on Rhythmic Gymnastics – Individual Ribbon Final on Day 15 of Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games on November 04, 2023 in Santiago, Chile. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only discipline and made its debut at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. Medals are awarded in two events: the individual all-around and the group event. Athletes in the individual event perform four routines with different apparatuses: ribbon, hoop, ball and clubs.

After a qualifying round, the top 10 gymnasts will perform with all four apparatuses again in the final. The group event sees athletes perform two routines: one with five ribbons and another with a combination of three sets of clubs and two hoops.

The U.S. will have just one representative in rhythmic gymnastics. Evita Griskenas is making her second Olympic appearance after placing 12th in the individual event in Tokyo. The Russians have been a powerhouse in the sport, but with Russia and Belarus banned from competing, Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev and Italy’s Sofia Raffaeli look to fill the void in the individual competition. Bulgaria is the reigning champion in the group event, while China, Italy and France can contend for medals as well.

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