Current:Home > InvestBrody Malone, Fred Richard highlight 2024 U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team -FutureWise Finance
Brody Malone, Fred Richard highlight 2024 U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team
View
Date:2025-04-17 04:33:09
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! (51)
Related
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- How can Catholic priests bless same-sex unions?
- Would-be weed merchants hit a 'grass ceiling'
- Did America get 'ripped off'? UFO disclosure bill derided for lack of transparency.
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- What if George Bailey wasn't the hero of 'It's a Wonderful Life'? In defense of a new ending.
- What's the best Christmas cookie? Google shares popular 2023 holiday searches by state
- Australian jury records first conviction of foreign interference against a Chinese agent
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Minimum wage hikes will take effect in 2024 for 25 U.S. states. Here's who is getting a raise.
Ranking
- A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
- Fifth Harmony's Ally Brooke Is Engaged to Will Bracey
- The terms people Googled most in 2023
- Mold free: Tomatoes lost for 8 months on space station are missing something in NASA photo
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- Actor Jonathan Majors receives mixed verdict in criminal domestic violence trial
- Dozens of migrants missing after boat sinks of Libyan coast, U.N. agency says
- Cyprus says a joint operation with Mossad has foiled a suspected Iranian plot to kill Israelis
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Greek consulate in New York removes pink flag artwork against domestic violence, sparking dispute
Princess Diana's star-covered velvet dress sells for record $1.1 million at auction
Illegal crossings surge in remote areas as Congress, White House weigh major asylum limits
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
North Korea test launches apparent long-range missile designed to carry nuclear warhead, hit U.S. mainland
Doctor who treated freed Hamas hostages describes physical, sexual and psychological abuse
Charlotte Hornets' Miles Bridges denied entry to Canada over legal situation, per report