Years of planning and preparation will soon culminate at Bercy Arena, where artistic gymnastics — one of the most followed sports at the Olympic Games — will take center stage.

The competition begins Saturday, Aug. 27, with men’s qualifications and wraps up Monday, Aug. 3, with the third and final day of event finals. 

Here is a breakdown of the top teams, potential breakout stars and the biggest storylines to watch in Paris.

Although medals are not awarded on the first two days of competition, the qualification rounds are arguably one of the most important days of the competition. 

Here’s what's on the line: 

• The top eight teams for both the men and women will advance to the team final. 
• The top 24 individual gymnasts will qualify for the all-around finals, with a maximum of two gymnasts per country. 
• The top eight individual gymnasts will qualify for the event finals, with a maximum of two gymnasts per country. 

There are three subdivisions for men and five for women, so athletes who compete early will face the challenge of waiting to see how the rest of the competition unfolds before learning their fate.

Expect a fierce battle between Japan and China on the men’s side. As a team, Japan has a slight edge with the higher level of difficulty, but China has extraordinary experience.

“The strengths and weaknesses are fairly balanced,” three-time Olympic medalist and eight-time world medalist Xiao Ruoteng said of the rivalry between the two teams. “The Japanese team is younger and may have better stamina, but we have more experience.”

Indeed, they do. Joining Ruoteng in Paris are Tokyo Olympic rings champion and two-time rings world champion Liu Yang, Tokyo Olympic parallel bars champion and three-time parallel bars world champion Zou Jingyuan, and 2021 World all-around champion Zhang Boheng, who will make his Olympic debut after controversially being left off the Chinese Olympic team in 2021. However, Japan returns three members from its silver medal-winning Tokyo Olympic team, including all-around and high bar Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto. Both teams will be hungry for gold, and anything can happen. Japan last won a team gold in 2016. China hasn't won team gold since 2012. 

The all-around final could very well be another showdown between Japan and China, with Boheng and Hashimoto going head to head. As long as both are healthy, expect an intense battle for gold.

The U.S. women are favored to return to the top of the medal podium after winning a silver medal in Tokyo. Three of those women — Simone Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles (along with Jade Carey who competed in Tokyo as an individual) — are back for what they call a “redemption tour.” While their primary goal in Paris is a team gold medal, there are several individual medal opportunities as well. Biles, who withdrew from several events in Tokyo due to the twisties, should be in contention for a handful of individual gold medals, including the all-around title. Carey will seek a medal in the vault final (an event where she is a two-time world medalist and a world champion from 2022) after an uncharacteristic mistake took her out of medal contention in Tokyo. Lee could win individual medals on uneven bars and balance beam. Although she won a bronze medal on bars in Tokyo, she did not medal on beam.

"I really want a beam gold,” Lee said at Trials after making the team. “Like, I need a beam gold because I feel like I always make the final and then I always mess up."

The returning Olympians are joined by Hezly Rivera, the youngest member of Team USA across all sports in Paris.

For the U.S. men, a team bronze medal is a real possibility, assuming Japan and China perform as expected. The U.S. men have not brought home a team medal at the Olympics since winning bronze in 2008. After finishing third at the 2023 World Championships — the team’s first world medal since 2014 — the outlook has improved. The team is led by Tokyo Olympian Brody Malone, who won his third all-around national title just 15 months after re-learning how to walk following a bad knee injury. With Malone, along with world team bronze medalists Frederick Richard (who also won a bronze medal in the all-around), Asher Hong, Paul Juda, and 2021 world pommel horse champion Stephen Nedoroscik, the U.S. appears poised to contend.

The U.S. men did not win any medals in Tokyo but are out to change that in Paris. Richard and Malone could also make a push for the all-around podium, a place the U.S. men haven't landed on since 2012. Malone has a shot at a high bar medal, Hong could factor into the vault medals with his highly difficulty, and Nedoroscik could be in the mix on pommel horse. 

The pommel horse is not only one of the hardest events in which to win a medal, but it might be the hardest final to qualify into. Be on the lookout for Tokyo Olympic pommel horse champion Max Whitlock of Great Britain, who is planning to perform a routine with a difficulty score in the 6.7 to 6.9 range. If Whitlock wins the gold, he would become the first gymnast to win an individual event title three times in a row. Two-time world champion Rhys McLenaghan of Ireland will also be a strong contender. He performed a 6.6 routine in podium training but has some upgrades up his sleeves that could raise his difficulty value. Then, of course, there is Nedoroscik, who won the United States’ first world gold medal on the event back in 2021. Nedoroscik hasn’t competed his full difficulty this year, but intends to compete a routine with a 6.5 difficulty score in the qualification round with room for upgrades that could raise him to a 6.8 for the team or event finals. 

“It’s sometimes like, ‘Is it worth the risk?’ I’ve been killing the 6.5 right now … but sometimes on Night 1 you just want to be like, ‘Let's get a guaranteed hit. Let’s downgrade it a little bit – you can get a pretty similar score anyways,'” Nedoroscik said of his strategy. “It’s all up in the air.” 

Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Kaya Kazuma of Japan is also expected to factor into the medal picture, as is Ahmad Abu Al-Soud, who became the first gymnast from Jordan to win a world medal in 2023 when he won bronze.

On the men’s side, McClenaghan and Abu Al Soud will look to win the first gymnastics medals for their respective nations on pommel horse, while Tang Chia-Hung could win Chinese Taipei's first gymnastics gold medal, likely on high bar. On floor and vault, Carlos Yulo could win the first-ever Olympic gymnastics medal for the Philippines.

As a team, the Ukrainian men could win their first medal since taking home the silver in 2000. The Italian men could win their first team medal since grabbing the bronze in 1960.

Hashimoto could win Japan's fourth consecutive men's all-around title, which would mark the first time any nation has won four consecutive gold medals in that event.

On the women’s side, the French-born Kaylia Nemour could become the first gymnastics medalist for Algeria. Nemour performs one of the most difficult uneven bar routines in the world, which led her to an historic silver medal on the event at the 2023 World Championships. 

Brazil, which won a historic silver medal at the 2023 World Championships, will be looking for its first Olympic medal in the women's team event. The team is led by Rebeca Andrade, who could also win the nation's first Olympic all-around gold medal if she can pull off an upset over Biles. 

France, which won a bronze at worlds in 2023, could win its first-ever Olympic medal in the women's team event. France has only won one women's gymnastics medal in history, which belongs to Emilie Le Pennec, who won uneven bars gold at the 2004 Athens Games. 

Italy could win its first Olympic medal in the women's team event since bringing home silver at the 1928 Amsterdam Games. 

Lastly, if Canada were to wind up on any medal podium, it would be a first. Although the team isn’t favored to win a medal in Paris, the team - led by three-time world medalist Ellie Black - won its first world bronze medal in 2022. 

For the Americans, Biles has a long list of records she can beat in Paris (see below) including the ability to surpass Shannon Miller to become the most decorated American Olympic gymnast in history. Biles can do that with one medal of any color in Paris. Seven medals is the current record, which Biles shares with Miller.  

Many of the athletes who won gold medals in Tokyo will compete in Paris with a shot to defend their title. 

• Artem Dolgopyat (Israel): Floor
• Zou Jingyuan (China): Parallel bars 
• Liu Yang (China): Rings
• Max Whitlock (Great Britain): Pommel horse
• Daiki Hashimoto (Japan): High bar and all-around 
• Suni Lee (United States): All-around
• Rebeca Andrade (Brazil): Vault
• Nina Derwael (Belgium): Uneven bars 
• Jade Carey (United States): Floor 

The highly-anticipated Yurchenko triple twist on vault could become a reality in Paris 2024 thanks to Andrade. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic vault champion has submitted the element for inclusion in the Code of Points, and it could be the first skill named after her if she successfully performs it in competition.

The Yurchenko triple consists of a roundoff onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the vaulting table, and a backflip with three twists before landing. It would be the most difficult variation of the Yurchenko vault, which involves a roundoff and back handspring entry. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has awarded it a difficulty value of 6.0.

On the floor, Dutch gymnasts Naomi Visser and Lieke Wevers have both submitted a triple turn with the leg at horizontal for naming. This element is rated E on a scale from A to J, making it worth 0.5 in difficulty.

Two other gymnasts attempted the same element at the 2023 World Championships but were unable to complete the turn successfully. Wevers also tried to have the skill named after her at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics but was not successful.

Biles summited a new skill on the uneven bars - a Weiler 1.5 - which is a clear hip circle forward with 1.5 turns. Biles currently competes a Weiler half, which is the very first skill in her routine. The FIG awarded the skill a difficulty value of E on a scale of A to J, giving her 0.5 in difficulty. Biles already has five skills named after her (two vaults, a beam dismount and two floor skills), so if she successfully performs the skill in Paris, it would become her sixth eponymous skill and the first named after her on the uneven bars.