'Redemption tour': 4 Tokyo team members are headed to Paris Olympics

After a crowd-free Tokyo Olympics due to Covid restrictions, Biles is grateful that her husband, Jonathan Owens, will be cheering her on in Paris.

"He’ll be there, yes," she said. "For just a short little time."

Biles said the Chicago Bears are granting Owens, their safety, a couple of days off from training camps to support her at the Olympics.

"I think it's super exciting that we get to be in each other's elements and supporting each other's dreams and goals," Biles said. "It’s these memories that we make that we'll never get back. So any time we can show up for one another and support, we just get super excited because our schedules don’t align that much."

After securing her second Olympic berth, Lee told reporters that Paris will be "kind of like a redemption tour" with four Tokyo team members returning to the Games.

"I’m excited to go back out there with the girls and really just see what we bring to the table," Lee said. "I think this time around, we’re so much more mature and know what we can do and what we can’t do."

In addition to a team gold, Lee shared what's on her personal Paris wishlist. "I want to make all-around finals," she said. "I want to be in the top three for the bars final, and I really want a beam gold."

"I feel like I always make the final and then I always mess up. ... It's so annoying," Lee said, laughing.

"My why is nobody is forcing me to do it," Biles said after the trials. "I wake up every day and choose to grind in the gym and to come out here and perform for myself, just to remind myself that I can still do it."

Success to Biles, though, is "what she makes it."

"I feel like right now, I've been successful," Biles said. "Competing at Olympic Trials and making the Paris Olympic team ... it's what I make it."

Simone Biles will be joined in Paris this summer by Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.

The team was selected at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials in Minneapolis tonight after two days of competition. With four returning Tokyo Olympians, it is the oldest and most decorated U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team in history.

Biles, 27, will be the oldest female American gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 72 years.

She secured an automatic spot on the Paris team by finishing first in the all-around, flanked by Lee and Chiles. The balance beam was treacherous tonight, with falls from all three top finishers, including Biles, the reigning world champion.

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After clinching her third Olympic berth, Biles credited "being in a good mental spot" with her grand achievement.

"Seeing my therapist every Thursday is kind of religious for me, so that's why I'm here today," Biles said.

She said she "knew I wasn't done" after the Tokyo Games, when she withdrew from all but one of the event finals. But, she added, "I knew I'd be back" for the Paris games.

She said it’s important for her to be a mentor to the younger girls on the team, "because I’ve been in their exact same spot so I know exactly how they’re feeling."

In a later team interview, Biles said: "I used to call Aly [Raisman] 'Grandma,' and I’ve surpassed that … and I’m going to take care of them in Paris."

After the eighth rotation came to a close, all of the women vying for the Olympic team tonight came together for a hands-in moment to cheer on Team USA — and one another.

We officially have a women's Olympic team. Confetti and tears are falling in the Target Center.

Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong will travel to Paris as alternates. Two additional alternates will be announced later.

Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera