Women’s Olympic Games Roster is Set

/ July 13, 2021

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Team Japan

With the nearly three-year qualification process for the 2020 Olympic Games finally coming to a close with the last apparatus world cup meet at the end of June, and with July 5 acting as the deadline for national Olympic committees to fill non-nominative team and individual roles, we finally have a complete list of every gymnast set to compete in Tokyo.

Women’s artistic gymnastics had a total of 98 spots available for the Tokyo Games, 48 of which were reserved for the 12 qualified teams (four members per team), while the remaining 50 were available for individual athletes. Below, we break down the rules for each team and individual qualifier as well as any updates to these rules in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we also talk through any changes and reallocations that have happened since the athletes who earned these spots were originally determined.

2018 World Championships

The top three NOCs will qualify a full four-member team based on their finish in the team final competition.

United States Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum
Russia Viktoria Listunova, Angelina Melnikova, Vladislava Urazova, 4th spot TBC*
China Lu Yufei, Ou Yushan, Tang Xijing, Zhang Jin

* Russia is still deciding between Elena Gerasimova and Lilia Akhaimova for the fourth team spot. The athlete not selected will compete individually in the spot Russia earned with the reallocation of the all-around world cup series.

2019 World Championships | Teams

The top nine NOCs that didn’t previously qualify in 2018 will qualify a full four-member team based on their team finish in qualifications.

France Marine Boyer, Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos, Aline Friess, Carolann Heduit
Canada Ellie Black, Brooklyn Moors, Shallon Olsen, Ava Stewart
Netherlands Eythora Thorsdottir, Vera van Pol, Lieke Wevers, Sanne Wevers
Great Britain Jennifer Gadirova, Jessica Gadirova, Alice Kinsella, Amelie Morgan
Italy Alice D’Amato, Asia D’Amato, Vanessa Ferrari, Martina Maggio, Giorgia Villa*
Germany Kim Bui, Pauline Schäfer, Elisabeth Seitz, Sarah Voss
Belgium Maellyse Brassart, Nina Derwael, Lisa Vaelen, Jutta Verkest
Japan Hatakeda Hitomi, Hiraiwa Yuna, Murakami Mai, Sugihara Aiko
Spain Laura Bechdejú, Marina González, Alba Petisco, Roxana Popa

* Giorgia Villa withdrew from the team on July 13 due to a foot sprain. She was replaced by Vanessa Ferrari.

2019 World Championships | Individuals

A total of 32 individual athletes will qualify nominative spots based on their finish in all-around qualifications (one per NOC) and apparatus finals (maximum of three per NOC across all apparatuses).

Note: Up to 12 athletes were eligible to qualify via apparatus finals, but in 2019, only one gymnast qualified this way, with the remaining 11 spots reallocated to all-around qualifications.

Flavia Saraiva (Brazi) Giulia Steingruber (Switzerland)
Georgia Godwin (Australia) Diana Varinska (Ukraine)
Lee Yunseo (South Korea) Zsofia Kovacs (Hungary)
Martina Dominici (Argentina) Alexa Moreno (Mexico)
Danusia Francis (Jamaica) Kim Su Jong (North Korea)*
Aneta Holasova (Czech Republic) Marcia Vidiaux (Cuba)
Maria Holbura (Romania) Elisa Hämmerle (Austria)
Anastasiya Alistratava (Belarus)* Farah Ann Abdul Hadi (Malaysia)
Mandy Mohamed (Egypt) Nazli Savranbasi (Turkey)
Barbora Mokosova (Slovakia) Filipa Martins (Portugal)
Ana Derek (Croatia) Caitlin Rooskrantz (South Africa)
Jonna Adlerteg (Sweden) Gabriela Sasnal (Poland)
Simona Castro (Chile) Lihie Raz (Israel)
Julie Erichsen (Norway) Ariana Orrego (Peru)
Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan) Ting Hua-Tien (Chinese Taipei)
Marina Nekrasova (Azerbaijan) Yeo Seojeong (South Korea)
Megan Ryan (Ireland)* Hanna Traukova (Belarus)*

* With North Korea withdrawing all athletes from the Olympic Games due to the COVID-19 situation, Kim Su Jong’s berth was reallocated to the first reserve, Megan Ryan of Ireland. Anastasiya Alistratava of Belarus withdrew her nominative spot on July 2, and it was reallocated to her teammate, Hanna Traukova, who missed qualifying at worlds in 2019 due to the one-per-NOC rule.

2018-2020 Apparatus World Cup Series

A total of four individual athletes will qualify nominative spots based on their ranking at the conclusion of the eight-meet series, beginning in November 2018 and concluding in June 2021.

Note: This series was originally supposed to conclude in March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final meet of the series was instead held in June 2021.

Vault Jade Carey (United States)
Uneven Bars Fan Yilin (China)
Balance Beam Ashikawa Urara (Japan)
Floor Exercise Lara Mori (Italy)*

* Lara Mori was the reserve for the world cup spot on floor behind teammate Vanessa Ferrari, but the spot was reallocated to Mori when Ferrari was added to Italy’s main team on July 13.

2020 All-Around World Cup Series

A total of three NOCs will qualify one individual spot apiece based on their ranking at the conclusion of the four-meet series held March–April 2020.

Note: The all-around world cup series was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the three nations were instead selected based on team rankings in qualifications at the 2019 world championships.

United States MyKayla Skinner
China Guan Chenchen
Russia Lilia Akhaimova or Elena Gerasimova*

* Russia is still deciding between Elena Gerasimova and Lilia Akhaimova for the fourth team spot. The athlete not selected will compete individually in the spot Russia earned with the reallocation of the all-around world cup series.

2020 Continental Championships

A total of nine spots will be awarded to an individual on a nominative basis if the individual’s NOC didn’t qualify a full team to the Games, or on a non-nominative basis to the NOC if the individual’s NOC has already qualified a full team.

Note: The 2020 continental championships meets were all postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

African Championships Zeina Ibrahim (Egypt) Naveen Daries (South Africa)
Pan American Championships Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) Luciana Alvarado (Costa Rica)
Asian Championships* Milka Gehani (Sri Lanka) Pranati Nayak (India)
European Championships Larisa Iordache (Romania) Anastasia Iliankova (Russia)**
Oceania Championships Emily Whitehead (Australia)

* The 2021 Asian Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Asia’s two continental berths were instead awarded to the top two gymnasts from Asian NOCs that had not previously qualified athletes to the Olympic Games based on all-around qualifications at 2019 world championships.

** Russia earned a non-nominative spot due to previously qualifying a full team at world championships in 2018. The NOC later named Anastasia Iliankova as the athlete who would take this spot.

Host Country & Tripartite Invitations

The host country is guaranteed one spot if not qualified through other criteria, and one nominative tripartite commission invitation spot is available to an athlete meeting eligibility criteria.

Tan Sze En (Singapore)* Raegan Rutty (Cayman Islands)**

* Since Japan qualified a full team to the Olympic Games, the host country’s berth was reallocated to the next highest-ranked all-around athlete based on qualifications at world championships in 2019.

** NOCs eligible for the tripartite invitation that had athletes competing at world championships in 2019 included Sri Lanka and the Cayman Islands.

Article by Lauren Hopkins

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27 thoughts on “Women’s Olympic Games Roster is Set”

    • She is still waiting for her appeal…the FIG still lists her on their Olympic roster with no updates as of today, but Argentina doesn’t have her included on their list of 174 athletes going to Tokyo across all sports…I’m waiting for the FIG to officially reallocate her spot to Abigail Magistrati before I do, though.

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  2. What happened to Alistratava? Was it an injury? It’s a shame because she was a promising gymnast for Belarus with great form on bars.

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  4. Now that Ferrari is on the team, is she planning on doing more than floor? She looked in great form at Euros but am imagining she’s going to want to put the majority of her focus on the floor finals.

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    • I’m wondering about this as well. I think they’ll need her to contribute on at least beam in qualifications and the team final in addition to floor, and they may need her to do AA in qualifications as well, but I’m thinking they could just put her at the end of the lineup on each event that way if everyone hits, she won’t have to compete, but they’ll still have her if they need her.

      If she DOES compete AA in QFs and makes it ahead of the others, I highly doubt she will compete in the AA final. In the team final, I think she’ll do BB + FX, but don’t think the team needs her on the other three, considering they all consistently outscore her on UB, and Vanessa won’t add THAT much more on vault than Martina could get with her 1.5. A few tenths but I doubt they’ll be in the running for a team medal anyway, so not worth the risk.

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  5. Do you know any rules about how the individual (non team) athletes compete with the team athletes? I know the non-team members rotate with the team, but is there a pre-set order for where in the lineup all non-team members compete? Is it set up to where those who qualified as individuals all go first on each event, then the 4-member team lineup competes? Or does the head coach of each country get to determine the lineup order of all the country’s athletes.
    For example, if the Italians are on floor, does Lara Mori automatically go before all the team members (or after), of can the Italian coach put her 3rd or 4th or whatever if he wishes?

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    • I believe that the rules are that non-team athletes have to be in a different leotard, and they have to compete at the end of the rotation after the team athletes compete. It has to be very clearly separate, from what I’ve read, so there’s no strategy on part of the team in regards to where they put the individual athletes.

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  6. Pingback: Men’s Olympic Games Roster Set | The Gymternet

  7. «Note: Up to 12 athletes were eligible to qualify via apparatus finals, but in 2019, only one gymnast qualified this way, with the remaining 11 spots reallocated to all-around qualifications.» WHO IS THE GYMNAST WHO QUALIFIED THROUGH APPARTUS FINALS IN 2019?

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    • Thank you! I’d be fine with world championships and continental championships, but I also like the test event because it’s much closer to the Games and athletes who are more ready than they would have been at worlds are able to qualify (and gymnasts who turn 16 that year could qualify as well).

      I also wish more specialists could qualify, so I’d want to open up worlds (or the test event or whatever) to the top three non-team or non-individual qualifiers regardless of whether they make finals or not. Maybe top three specialists who finish in the top 25 or something? So many apparatus finals are dominated by gymnasts from power countries in WAG, so with the current system it means gymnasts who aren’t from a top 12 country or who aren’t top all-arounders have absolutely no chance at qualifying, which is why only one vaulter made it in 2019. This way someone like Chuso wouldn’t have to push herself beyond what she feels is typically healthy for her to do the AA just once…she could have just done vault and beam like she generally prefers, and would have qualified on vault!

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