York County gymnast Addison Fatta to compete in U.S. Olympic Team Trials this weekend

This weekend, Addison Fatta will complete a childhood dream.

The 16-year-old York County gymnast will participate in the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Team Trials in St. Louis, Missouri, for a chance to earn a spot on Team USA for the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics. The men will compete on Thursday and Saturday, while the women take the floor on Friday and Sunday.

Fatta earned a berth to this weekend's competition at the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships earlier this month. She finished 16th at the event and recorded a 106.650 all-around score.

That performance also earned her a place on the 2021 Senior Elite National Team.

Born in Lancaster, Fatta's family now lives in Wrightsville. She has been a member of the Prestige Gymnastics Club in Lancaster County all her life. Her parents and coaches, Tony and Jen, own the facility. Fatta attends Commonwealth Charter Academy, a cyber charter school which has its headquarters in Harrisburg.

Fatta could have been joined at the U.S. trials by fellow York County gymnast Trinity Thomas if not for injuries. Thomas hurt her ankles during the NCAA season in March and decided to skip Olympic qualifying and prioritize rest and recovery ahead of her senior season at the University of Florida.

Thomas and Fatta were teammates at Prestige before Thomas left for Florida. While she's not able to perform herself, Thomas is rooting for her friend, Fatta, ahead of the event.

“Just to see her go out there and do her thing and make it to Olympic Trials is absolutely amazing,” Thomas said. “Right now I'm kind of living through her, so it's kind of cool. I called her and talked to her after and she's super excited. She's such a sweetheart and I'm so proud of her.”

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Four women will earn spots on the Olympic Team. The top two finishers at Olympic Trials will receive spots and the second two will be decided by the selection committee based on the results of team trials and the U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

Olympic Team Trials will be broadcast on NBC. Fatta and the other U.S. women begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Reach Rob Rose at rrose@yorkdispatch.com.