Current:Home > reviewsBrody Malone, Fred Richard highlight 2024 U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team -Thrive Financial Network
Brody Malone, Fred Richard highlight 2024 U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team
View
Date:2025-04-26 07:53:59
The U.S. men's gymnastics team for the 2024 Paris Olympics has been set.
After four sessions of competition across the national championships in Texas last month and the Olympic trials in Minnesota this week, five athletes distinguished themselves to the selection committee − and scoring algorithm − as the group with the best chance of earning an Olympic medal about a month from now. The U.S. last reached the podium at the Summer Games in 2008, when it won bronze.
Here is the full team, as unveiled by USA Gymnastics shortly after the end of trials Saturday afternoon.
Brody Malone
Age: 24
Height: 5' 5"
Hometown: Summerville, Georgia
Best event(s): High bar, parallel bars
Malone was all but a lock after his sterling performance at nationals, where he won his third U.S. title in four years. The Stanford University product finished fourth at the 2022 world championships and is probably the Americans' most polished all-around gymnast, capable of putting up world-class scores on high bar (he won the world championship in the event in 2022) and being solid to above-average on every other apparatus. The only real question mark for Malone was whether he would be healthy enough for Paris after suffering a gruesome knee injury a little more than a year ago. But his performances over the past month have silenced those doubts, and he will enter his second Olympics with a very realstic shot of earning an individual medal.
Frederick Richard
Age: 20
Hometown: Stoughton, Massachusetts
Best event(s): Floor exercise, vault
A rising junior at the University of Michigan, Richard automatically locked his spot on the team by winning the Olympic trials and placing inside the top three in three different events. He is one of Team USA's most talented gymnasts and arguably its brightest young star. At 19, he became the youngest American man to win a medal at the world championships, and his all-around bronze was only the fourth in that event by a U.S. man. Like Malone, Richard doesn't have many holes in his game, which makes him valuable in a team setting. But he is particularly dynamic on floor exercise, where he is among the best in the world.
Asher Hong
Age: 20
Height: 5' 1"
Hometown: Tomball, Texas
Best event(s): Still rings, vault
Hong was the 2023 national champion and a member of the team that won bronze at the world championships that year, but a rough showing at nationals left him on the outside of the Olympic picture looking in. That all changed this week in Minneapolis. The rising junior at Stanford put up the best score of trials on still rings and proved that he can add a ton of value on vault, squeezing himself back onto the team with a tremendous performance Saturday afternoon.
Paul Juda
Age: 22
Height: 5' 4"
Hometown: Deerfield, Illinois
Best event(s): Floor exercise, pommel horse
Juda, who competed alongside Richard at Michigan, was one of several gymnasts who were on the Olympic fringes entering trials. He earned his spot on this team not because of his all-around scores, which were good but not great, but instead by providing value in key events − specifically floor exercise and pommel horse. For the U.S. to medal in Paris, it needs to shore up some of its weaknesses, and Juda's ability to score in those two events should help do just that. A member of last year's world championship team, he is also well-rounded enough that he could fill in on other apparatuses in a pinch, in case of injury or illness.
Stephen Nedoroscik
Age: 25
Height: 5' 5"
Hometown: Worcester, Massachusetts
Best event(s): Pommel horse
Nedoroscik only competes in one event: Pommel horse. But he has won a world title and four national championships on that apparatus, and it just so happens to be the Americans' greatest weakness − and that's why he's on this team. The U.S. team selection procedures are more systematic than the women's, calculating the top team using scores from nationals and Olympic trials. It's a math equation, basically. And because Nedoroscik thrives in an area where so many other gymnasts struggled, he will soon be off to Paris.
Alternates
- Khoi Young (Bowie, Maryland / Stanford University)
- Shane Wiskus (Spring Park, Minnesota / EVO Gymnastics)
veryGood! (92)
Related
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- 12 most creative Taylor Swift signs seen at NFL games
- US condemns ban on Venezuelan opposition leader’s candidacy and puts sanctions relief under review
- The Boeing 737 Max 9 takes off again, but the company faces more turbulence ahead
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Got FAFSA errors? Here are some tips on how to avoid the most common ones.
- Iowa vs. Nebraska highlights: Caitlin Clark drops 38 in Hawkeyes women's basketball win
- T.J. Otzelberger 'angry' over 'ludicrous rumors' Iowa State spied on Kansas State huddles
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Haitians suffering gang violence are desperate after Kenyan court blocks police force deployment
Ranking
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- A suburban Florida castle with fairy-tale flair: Go inside this distinct $1.22M home
- Got FAFSA errors? Here are some tips on how to avoid the most common ones.
- Haitians suffering gang violence are desperate after Kenyan court blocks police force deployment
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Aryna Sabalenka beats Zheng Qinwen to win back-to-back Australian Open titles
- NBA commissioner Adam Silver reaches long-term deal to remain in role through end of decade
- Biden offers fresh assurances he would shut down border ‘right now’ if Congress sends him a deal
Recommendation
The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
'Buffalo Fluffalo' has had enuffalo in this kids' bookalo
Virgin Galactic launches 4 space tourists to the edge of space and back
Who was St. Brigid and why is she inspiring many 1,500 years after her death?
Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
After LA police raid home of Black Lives Matter attorney, a judge orders photographs destroyed
The Boeing 737 Max 9 takes off again, but the company faces more turbulence ahead
New Hampshire vet admits he faked wheelchair use for 20 years, falsely claiming $660,000 in benefits