SAN JOSE, Calif. — Simone Biles wouldn't let herself believe it. Not until she heard from national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, even if the Olympic dream she had been chasing for most of her life was locked down long ago.

So the three-time world champion waited for Karolyi to call her name late Sunday night at the end of an emotionally draining women's Olympic gymnastics trials. It didn't matter that Biles' spot was secure after capturing the all-around, extending a long streak that shows no signs of ending. Biles needed to hear Karolyi say the words.

“It's very unreal,” Biles said. “I'm sure it will hit me.”

The 19-year-old pegged as the next “It Girl” when the Rio Games begin next month has about three weeks to deal. It shouldn't be a problem. Modesty aside, she has been prepping for this moment since she turned her first back handspring.

Besides, after what she and the rest of the five-woman team endured over the weekend, Rio doesn't seem so tough.

“A lot of athletes say the Olympic trials is the hardest part and once you get to the Olympics it's autopilot,” Biles said. “You turn on a switch and you go.”

Karolyi is counting on this. She relied on equal parts experience and potential while putting together a squad expected to come home with copious amounts of hardware.

Biles will be joined by defending Olympic champion Gabby Douglas, three-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and newcomers Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez to form a team that will arrive in Brazil as the gymnastics equivalent of the Dream Team that Michael Jordan led to basketball gold 24 years ago, long before any members of Team USA were born.

Ashton Locklear, Ragan Smith and MyKayla Skinner will be the alternates after getting through what Karolyi called one of the most difficult selection processes of her remarkable career.

Karolyi jotted down a list when the process began months ago, the same one she presented on Sunday night. While there was temptation to change it — particularly as Douglas struggled to regain the form that made her a champion in London — she never did.

“When you really put everything, you put down what lineup you have for the team and what will be [in the finals] we still felt, all of us on the selection committee, that this is the best combination,” Karolyi said.

The combination includes Douglas, who hopped off beam during both rounds at trials and has openly talked about her sagging confidence. The 20-year-old adjusted her coaching staff between last month's national championships and the trials, a move Karolyi said caused “confusion” in Douglas' training.

There will be no confusion when Douglas arrives to work out with the national team in Texas later this week. Karolyi will be in charge and she will expect Douglas to respond as she did last fall, when she shook off sluggish preparations to capture silver at the 2015 world championships behind Biles.

“If we put Gabby in regimented training with daily planning and daily assignments and training plans, she'll see improvement just like we did last year,” Karolyi said. “That's why she made the team even with the mistakes she had in the competition.”

Ultimately it was the event that first helped Douglas first catch Karolyi's eye years ago — the uneven bars — that made her the first Olympic champion to return for the next games since Romania's Nadia Comaneci in 1980.