Olympians Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum all score perfect 10s within 24 hours in college gymnastics
While gymnasts are known for having impeccable balance, grace and attention to detail with routines that demand perfection, this weekend was an all-timer.
Three Tokyo Olympians and college gymnasts - Auburn's Suni Lee, UCLA's Jordan Chiles and Utah's Grace McCallum - all scored a perfect 10 in less than 24 hours. It was the first 10 for each young athlete.
A perfect score, for the first time, for one person is excellent. But three first-time 10s in a matter of hours? That's an unquestioned concurrence of success in athletic excellence.
First, to reach perfection were Chiles and McCallum, who were on the U.S. team that won silver at the Tokyo Olympics and were competing in the same meet against each other.
The 20-year-old Chiles is considered one of the brighter names in gymnastics. She showed as much on Friday with a relatively new floor routine.
Note the emotion, the pure delight. That's what it feels like to be one of the very best at what you do. That's what feels like to be perfect for the first time. Make no mistake: Chiles is one of the best.
Earlier in the same meet, the 19-year-old McCallum scored a 10 in the uneven bars.
What a moment.
If Chiles and McCallum being perfect on the same evening weren't enough, another accomplished U.S. gymnast did it the following afternoon.
Lee, 18, who won the 2020 all-around medal at the Tokyo Olympics, got a 10 on the uneven bars in a meet against Louisiana State.
Lee captured just the sixth perfect score in Auburn history and the first since 2004.
But should anyone be surprised? Chiles, McCallum and Lee are incredible gymnasts and premier world-class athletes at the tops of their games. Their individual, and combined, flawlessness was an inevitability.