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Brody Malone, Fred Richard highlight 2024 U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team
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- Brody Malone, Fred Richard highlight 2024 U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team
Editor's note: The U.S. men's gymnastics team won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics , their first Olympic medal since 2008.
The U.S. men's gymnastics team for the 2024 Paris Olympics has been set.
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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.
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Here is the full team, as unveiled by USA Gymnastics shortly after the end of trials Saturday afternoon.
Brody Malone competes on the high bar.
Brody Malone
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Age:24
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Height:5' 5"
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Hometown:Summerville, Georgia
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Best event(s):High bar, parallel bars
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What to know: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
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Age:20
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Hometown:Stoughton, Massachusetts
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Best event(s):Floor exercise, vault
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What to know: 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.
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Asher Hong
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Age:20
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Height:5' 1"
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Hometown:Tomball, Texas
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Best event(s):Still rings, vault
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What to know: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
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Age:22
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Height:5' 4"
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Hometown:Deerfield, Illinois
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Best event(s):Floor exercise, pommel horse
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What to know: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
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Age:25
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Height:5' 5"
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Hometown:Worcester, Massachusetts
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Best event(s):Pommel horse
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What to know: 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
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Khoi Young (Bowie, Maryland / Stanford University)
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Shane Wiskus (Spring Park, Minnesota / EVO Gymnastics)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US men's gymnastics team is set for Olympics: Here's who's on it
