Two former Crimson Tide gymnasts competed for their respective countries in the Paris Olympics. Luisa Blanco (2020-2024) competed for Team Colombia, and Shallon Olsen (2019-2023) competed for Team Canada.
Blanco
The Paris Olympics are Blanco’s first Olympic Games. She made it to the all-around finals by scoring a 51.698 on the opening day of the gymnastics qualification round. To make it to the event finals, gymnasts have to place in the top two of that event for their respective countries’ teams.
This feat made Blanco the first gymnast in Colombian history to make it to an Olympic finals.
At the finals, Blanco earned a score of 50.199. Her highest-scoring event was vault, where she scored a 13.5. From there she posted a 12.866 on the balance beam, a 12.7 on the floor and an 11.133 on the uneven bars.
Blanco’s score placed her in 23rd for the competition. While she did not win a medal, she certainly made history for Colombian artistic gymnastics and accomplished almost every athlete’s biggest goal — competing on the biggest stage in the world at the Olympics.
“You envision it [going to the Olympics] in your mind,” Blanco said. “I understand why people say they can’t put it into words. How do you take the last 16 years of your life and put it into a couple sentences?”
Olsen
As the only Alabama gymnastics alum to compete in multiple Olympics Games, Olsen came in as a veteran. The Paris Olympics mark her third time going to the Games.
Team Canada made it to the team finals after qualifications. For a country to proceed to team finals, the team must place in the top eight teams on qualification day. On top of that, Olsen made it to the vault finals after posting a 14.166 during qualifications. This marks her third consecutive Olympic vault finals.
The team finals were July 30, and it was Canada’s first time being in the finals in 12 years. At the finals, Canada took home a fifth-place finish, completing with a combined score of 162.432. Olsen helped propel Canada to the fifth-place finish by posting the highest score of the night for a Canadian gymnast while she was on vault: 14.4. She was one of only five gymnasts to reach a score at least that high.
Olsen finished eighth with a score of 13.366 at the vault finals Aug. 3. Vault final scores are different and take an average of two vault scores. Olsen’s first vault scored a 14.1, and her second scored a 12.633.
While the Alabama alumni are done competing, Olympic gymnastics is not over. The remaining events are the balance beam and floor finals, both on Aug. 5.
