Until last night, the U.S. Men’s gymnastics team hadn’t earned a team medal since 2008. It might not feel that long ago, until you realize the oldest competitor on this team, viral pommel horse master Stephen Nedoroscik, was only 9 years old the last time it happened. Then time, and emotion, hits you like a ton of bricks. This is the story of how a bronze medal five men shared has totally captured the zeitgeist of the 2024 Olympics (so far).
At the time of this writing, the United States has the most medals so far per country, at 20, and has already earned three gold medals in the men’s swimming 400-m relay, the 100-m women’s butterfly, which went to Torri Huske, and women’s individual foil, which went to Kiefer Lee. A lot of the big US success stories have been silver and bronze medals this year, with Luke Hobson swimming the men’s freestyle faster then he’d ever swum it and Gretchen Walsh coming in a close second behind Huske in the butterfly.
But it was the men’s all-around gymnastics events that really had me on the edge of my seat this week. Notwithstanding viral pommel horse guy, Brody Malone sticking with his journey for a second Olympics to try and win a medal for his mom, who died of cancer in 2012, really stuck with me. His teammates include the talkative and talented Fred Richard, whose goal is to grow his TikTok following and bring more eyeballs to the sport. There's Asher Hong, whose spry athletics make him one of the most identifiable of the teammates, and Paul Juda, who made sticking every routine with minimal mistakes look effortless and graceful.
The aforementioned Nedorosck was a viral meme all night, as the camera kept cutting to him sitting on the sidelines and staying calm by keeping his eyes closed leading up to his one event. He didn't wear his glasses on the pommel horse, telling the NY Times later that he needs to wear them to see normally, given his eyes are permanently dilated, but he doesn't require them when he's competing; he'd rather go in blind.
But I don’t need to see when I do pommel horse. It’s all by feel.
They were trying for a bronze. They took fewer risks than they might have, and the effort in restraint paid off: they did exactly what they needed to do to land the third place medal for the first time in 16 years. It wasn’t a gold, but it was still really, really compelling TV.
It was Frederick Richard – who runs a TikTok account called FrederickFlips – who spent a considerable amount of time during his Olympics spotlight trying to explain that it’s time the world sees men’s gymnastics as a viable sport. He noted in his interview there was a point where he was “winning all my competitions but no one knows because men's gymnastics doesn't get any attention.” His goal for the 2024 Olympics team is to use the platform to change that:
What I want to do is use my platform to grow the sport. That's what Frederick Flips is about, bringing new eyes to a sport I love and introducing it to kids who look like me.
I think they’ve managed it quite well. And as we head into more from women's gymnastics and the men's individual events, they've certainly captured my attention in a sea of viral Olympics moments from Michael Jordan, Hoda Kotb (living her best life with Tom Cruise) and more. Not bad company to be in.
The Olympics continues on NBC with performances from women’s gymnastics and the men’s individual events on the 2024 TV schedule. Here’s how to watch upcoming gymnastics.
