Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos

At the start of this weekend, only a few nations that hadn’t yet named their Olympic teams remained, including Italy, the Netherlands, and France on the women’s side along with Spain on the men’s side. But with the Italian national championships, a pair of friendly meets in Madrid and Haguenau, and the final Dutch qualifier, we’re excited to announce that every Olympic spot has now been claimed!

Below, find out more about everything that went down across every competition that mattered. All teams are also included on our WAG and MAG trackers, which we’ve been keeping updated since the first NOCs qualified at world championships in 2022!

FRANCE

The French WAG program hosted a friendly meet in Haguenau on Saturday, where the hometown hopefuls competed alongside Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium in a final bid to make the team. Though Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos and Coline Devillard – both generally considered locks for Paris – ended up withdrawing, France had a strong showing with the remaining contenders, making the team picture clear.

In addition to the two above, France named Marine Boyer (also pretty much a guarantee, but sealed the deal here with the best scores on beam and floor), Morgane Osyssek, and Ming van Eijken to the squad, which made sense based on their performances throughout the season and again here, but left a bit of heartbreak as Lorette Charpy again missed out after having a miss on bars at this competition in a season that has been quite rough overall.

After Euros, I thought van Eijken had proven herself worthy of a spot on the team, but assumed that if Charpy could get back to full strength on bars, she would make it alongside De Jesus Dos Santos, Devillard, and Boyer, leaving the final spot between van Eijken – who won the bronze on vault at her senior Euros debut in May in addition to reaching the floor final – and Osyssek, a super tough choice given Osyssek’s star-making performance at worlds last year. But with Charpy only scoring an 11.35 on bars at the friendly meet following a number of 12-range scores this season including at nationals last month, her lack of readiness was unfortunately clear, especially as van Eijken outscored her on this apparatus in addition to again proving herself as a top vault and floor athlete for the program.

The other athletes to represent France here were Djenna Laroui and Julia Forestier (who made a stunning comeback this season to put herself in the Olympic mix after more than four years away from the sport), who finished first and third in the all-around with scores of 51.750 and 51.600, respectively, and I would expect to see both on the list to serve as reserve athletes.

Other Paris Olympians to compete here included Nina Derwael of Belgium, who won bars with a 14.65 and was the second-best on beam with a 13.7, Pauline Schäfer of Germany, who earned a pair of 12.85s on beam and floor, and Maellyse Brassart of Belgium, who earned a 12.1 on bars, while Olympic alternate Karina Schönmaier of Germany tied for first all-around, putting up the top score on vault and the second-best score on floor.

ITALY

Alice D’Amato

While two days of all-around competition at Italy’s national championships weren’t really necessary to tell us what we probably already knew, it was nonetheless exciting to see the team of 2024 European champions – Angela Andreoli, Alice D’Amato, Manila Esposito, and Elisa Iorio – get the nod for Paris alongside Giorgia Villa, originally named to the 2020 team but sidelined with an injury.

The ideal team would’ve also included Asia D’Amato, who was injured at Euros this year, but I think Andreoli’s combination of vault, beam, and floor is a solid enough replacement, and the team had another strong contender in 2020 Olympian Martina Maggio, back from an injury of her own but not quite back up to speed just yet. Despite defeating Andreoli by nearly a point when comparing the two-day totals, Maggio in fifth place didn’t finish in the top three on any apparatus, while Andreoli in sixth was the top performer on floor and had comparable enough scores on vault to make her the clear choice this time around.

The all-around title went to D’Amato, who also won on bars and beam, while Esposito finished second, Iorio in third, and Villa in fourth, with all three finishing in the top three on at least one apparatus apiece, rounding each other out nicely when combined with Andreoli’s floor.

Outside of the top group, the most promising choice seemed to be Chiara Barzasi, who struggled through her first day of competition but hit a 53.450 on day two to finish eighth overall, while Irene Lanza, a veteran and member of the 2018 world championships team, was seventh, winning the title on vault as the strongest competitor to show two vaults for daily average scores in addition to putting up 13+ scores on her other three apparatuses. Other vault medals went to Alessia Guicciardi with silver and Nunzia Dercenno with bronze, while junior Giulia Perotti won the bronze on beam with two excellent sets.

In the men’s field, Lorenzo Casali, Mario Macchiati, and Yumin Abbadini topped the all-around podium to secure spots on the team after the first day of competition, with floor and vault standout Nicola Bartolini and high bar specialist Carlo Macchini, who also has a usable pommel horse set, added following apparatus finals on day two.

It was definitely a surprise to see the program leave Marco Lodadio at home after rings has been such a staple for this team, and I do feel like Lodadio’s expected mid-14 on rings in addition to a high-level vault is more of a “guarantee” than Macchini’s scores on either of his events. I was also slightly surprised they went with Macchini over a fourth all-arounder who could add some additional balance throughout the team competition, as they did with Matteo Levantesi in 2023 and at Euros this year, where Lodadio was also present. But I do think the Italian men are still a bit behind in the hunt for a team medal, and Macchini could be more of an individual threat on high bar than Lodadio is on rings, so I see and support the vision.

Bartolini won the floor title here, while Macchini won high bar and Lodadio won rings, each putting up a 14.65 to take the gold. Additionally, Edoardo de Rosa won the gold on pommel horse with a massive 15.3, while Steven Matteo had the top two-vault average with a 14.625, and Lay Giannini won parallel bars with a 14.7.

NETHERLANDS

Vera van Pol

At the final Dutch Olympic trial competition held on Saturday, Lieke Wevers won the meet with a 53.132, ahead of Vera van Pol with a 51.966 and Naomi Visser with a 51.366, confirming all three for the Olympic team alongside bars standout Sanna Veerman and beam legend Sanne Wevers.

The results weren’t that surprising compared to the standings at nationals, where van Pol stood atop the podium with a 53.625 ahead of Visser with a 53.517 and Wevers with a 51.709, while Veerman was fourth with a 51.625, led by her 14.533 on bars. At the trial meet, Visser had a fall on beam, but showed the strongest performance on bars with a 14.3, while van Pol had the strongest vault score with a 13.833, S. Wevers topped beam with a 14.066, and L. Wevers was the best on floor with a 13.233.

I was hoping for an Elisabeth Geurts appearance on this year’s team, but an injury on floor forced her to withdraw from the preliminary competition at nationals, and at trials, she was only able to compete on two apparatuses. Geurts scored a 13.133 on vault but then just a 10.3 on bars, where she had a fall, leaving her on the outside for either a team or reserve spot. Floor Slooff, sixth at nationals, and veteran Tisha Volleman, who was seventh, were instead confirmed as replacement athletes, with Volleman, a mainstay on the national team since her senior debut in 2015, sadly just missing the team on her third Olympic attempt.

SPAIN

Joel Plata (center) with Rayderley Zapata, Nicolau Mir, Adria Vera, and Thierno Diallo

On Saturday, the Spanish men’s team hosted the Swiss men’s team in a friendly match in Madrid. Switzerland’s already-named Olympic team got a bit of practice in, winning the team competition with a 249.099 led by top all-arounders Matteo Giubellini and Florian Langenegger.

But the big news here was the naming of Spain’s Olympic team, which includes veterans Nestor Abad, Thierno Diallo, Nicolau Mir, Joel Plata, and Rayderley Zapata, all of whom competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, with the former four on the team while Zapata appeared as an individual athlete.

As with many veteran-heavy teams we’re seeing this year, this wasn’t much of a surprise, especially as the all-around competition here saw Plata (third with an 81.865) and Mir (fifth with a 78.233) as the strongest for the program, ahead of the young Daniel Carrion, a standout at Euros as a junior in 2022 who finished sixth here with a 77.733, showing his strongest work on parallel bars with a 13.633. I was also looking at fellow 19-year-old Unai Baigorri as a potential specialist after showing impressive world cup results on floor and vault earlier this year, but while both men showed tons of promise here and look like they’ll be top picks in the future, the veteran squad ultimately made the most sense.

Also competing here was the exciting young Colombian athlete Angel Barajas, who qualified via the world cups this year thanks to his brilliant performances on parallel bars. A standout on both that apparatus and on high bar, he wasn’t at full strength here competing on just these two events, but he still managed the top parallel bars score in the field with a 14.433.

Article by Lauren Hopkins