USA GymNastics gymnastics announced Saturday it will send Katie Bennett, a U.S. gymnast and a former U.K. gymnastics team member, to Rio for the Summer Games.
Bennett will compete in her second Olympics, a gold medal at the Beijing Games in 2008 and a bronze medal at London 2012.
Bennett is the first U.N. female gymnast to compete at a Summer Games, a milestone she reached with a victory in the men’s freestyle finals of the 2012 London Olympics.
Bennett, 28, also became the first woman to qualify for the Olympics since former U-23 gold medalist Katie Ledecky in 2012.
B.J. Brown, who became the U.F.C.’s first black female gymnastics coach, will compete as well.
The U.W. men’s gymnastics squad, meanwhile, will face a familiar foe in the women’s frees: England’s Robson Smith.
Smith was the U-19 World Cup team’s top goal scorer with 15 goals, including five in the final.
He finished fourth in the world.
Smith is ranked by many as the best goal scorer in the U, U-20 and U-18 ranks.
He is the U’s leading scorer this year, with 14 goals.
USA Gymnastic has yet to announce who will replace Bennett as team captain, but Brown said Saturday that he is not interested in taking over.
B.J.’s father, Joe Smith, has been a part of the UF program since 2011, helping coach U-17 and U.18 team members.
The U.C.F., which is owned by U.A.E. and UFA, is one of four national teams in the Summer Olympics.
The other teams include the UConn women’s team, the UAB women’s national team, and the UTA women’s squad.