The 2016 Olympic gymnastics trials get underway on Thursday in St. Louis. The trials, held to help determine which men's and women's gymnasts will represent the United States in the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics, will consist of two days of competition for both the men and the women, with the men up first on Thursday.
Men's gymnastics at the Olympics comprises six events: floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar. The second day of the men's trials will be Sat., June 25. The competition consists of all six events on day one and all six events again on the second day.
These trials are not the final say on who makes the Olympic team as there is still a selection process. But competitors can become eligible for automatically qualifying to the Olympic team if they place first or second in the all-around and place in the top three in three of the six events. After the P&G Championships in early June, the other tournament considered when selecting the Olympic team, no competitor automatically qualifies prior to Thursday's trials.
In the end, the Olympic Selection Committee will pick a five-man squad based on these trials and the P&G Championships. This year's field includes a pool of returning Olympians including Sam Mikulak, Danell Leyva, Jake Dalton and John Orozco.
Leyva scored an all-around bronze medal in the London Olympics for the U.S., but he was the only one. No one country dominated the gold medal count in the sport last time around, with China being the only country with more than one (three, including an all-around team gold).
Thursday's event gets underway at 8 p.m. ET and is expected to last around two hours. Television coverage by NBCSN will begin at 8:30 and will run to the end. A live stream will be available via NBC Sports, beginning with the start of the event at 8 p.m.
Olympic trials men's gymnastics coverage for Thursday
Events: Floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar
Time: 8-11 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN (8:30 p.m.)
Streaming: NBC Sports