ST. LOUIS — Despite a record-breaking crowd at The Dome at America's Center in 2021, the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team Trials are headed to the Twin Cities.
USA Gymnastics announced the 2024 Olympic Team Trials will be held in Minneapolis after successful stops in St. Louis in 2016 and 2021.
Since 1987, Scott Cusimano has coached some of the St. Louis area’s top gymnastics talents.
“We’ve had a few elites through the years, but we’ve had a couple of national champions,” said Scott Cusimano, owner of GymQuarters Gymnastics. “We’ve had kids win the all-around at level 10.”
He’s never coached an Olympian.
“The Olympic program is a different animal,” said Cusimano.
However, his students all got the Olympic treatment when the 2021 Olympic Gymnastics Team Trials were held at The Dome.
“Our program was very involved,” said Cusimano. “Our kids got to be volunteers, and we got to see the Olympians up close and personal. They are so thrilled because that’s their heroes.”
“We sold 65,000 tickets and set the record for the all session,” said Chris Roseman, VP of the St. Louis Sports Commission. “We set the record for the single session on 20,000 people on Sunday night and NBC TV. St. Louis showed real well.”
The city may have shown well, but that’s not stopping the Olympic Committee from moving the event to Minneapolis in 2024.
“Of course, we’re a little disappointed that USA gymnastics took it to Minneapolis, but it’s all good,” said Roseman. “It’s not St. Louis losing out. We had our turn.”
“We’ve had the event four times since 2000,” said Cusimano.
While some have speculated that downtown crime drove away the US Olympic Committee, Chris Roseman with the St. Louis Sports Commission says that’s not the case.
“They like to mix it up,” said Roseman.
With that in mind, Roseman says the city is already working on bids for future events.
“USA Gymnastics has given us plenty of reason to believe that they love having events here,” said Cusimano.
“You’ve got a lot of great venues across the country, competition is tough, but we’ll have our hat in for next time,” said Roseman.
Despite missing out on the Olympic Trials Roseman told 5 On Your Side the St. Louis area already has a strong sports calendar for 2024 with the ‘Mizzou in the Lou’ series kicking off and NCAA hockey regionals at Centene Community Ice Center.
The city will also be home to the 2025 Frozen Four and NCAA basketball tournament in 2026.
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