The U.S. men’s gymnastics team was named ahead of the Paris Olympics kicking off later this month. Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong and Stephen Nedoroscik were selected after competing in the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials in Minneapolis on June 29. They will be joined by Shane Wiskus and Khoi Young, who will serve as Olympic alternates. Although they didn’t make the official team, they are still considered Olympians. Their role is to act as a replacement for a sick or injured gymnast.
The team is hoping to win an Olympic medal, which would be the first since 2008. Brett McClure, the high-performance director for the men’s team, said he overhauled the U.S. men’s program since the Tokyo Olympics and that the team is hoping to “make a splash in Paris.”
“There are so many things that could factor in,” he said, according to NBC News. “Inquantifiables, intangibles, leadership and things that you can’t really measure.”
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Frederick Richard
The 20-year-old gymnast from Massachusetts came in first during the all-around standings, with a total score of 170.500. He also finished in the top three in three of the six events.
“I’m flipping to Paris, let’s go!” Richard said, according to the Olympics. “I think tonight was all about gratitude and gratefulness, remembering my younger self and how proud he would be for me to be in this position today. I just felt like today was a celebration, party and just all about gratitude.”
Richard won the individual all-around bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships. He became the youngest American to take home an individual all-around medal, as well as the first American man to make such an achievement in 13 years.
A senior at the University of Michigan, Richard will be making his debut at the Games this year. Gymnastics has always been an obvious choice for him.
“My sister was in gymnastics and I always ran on the floor and tumbled when we picked her up,” Richard said about his debut in the sport, according to USA Gymnastics. “I was also doing handstands in my crib very early which gave my parents a hint that they should get me in gymnastics.”
Outside of sports, his favorite school subject is science. He loves rap music, the X-Men series and parfaits.
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Khoi Young
The 21-year-old gymnast from Maryland finished with a top score of 30.05 on the vault, according to The Baltimore Banner. He did not finish in the top 5 on any other apparatus and was not among the top 10 all-around scorers. Young will be traveling to Paris this month to serve as an alternate on Team USA.
A junior at Stanford University, he is an NCAA champion. Among his many accolades, he was the team champion in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Young was a vault silver medalist in 2022 and an all-around champion, pommel horse and parallel bars silver medalist, as well as a vault bronze medalist in 2024.
Khoi Young’s parents went through about every emotion watching him at Olympic Trials. 😅 #USAGTrials24 pic.twitter.com/Ptp4KEJM42
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) June 29, 2024
“My parents involved me in multiple sports like swimming, karate and basketball. However, when my parents enrolled me in tumbling it led me to the gymnastics team and I enjoyed and excelled at it so much that I decided to pursue it,” he told USA Gymnastics about his debut in the sport.
Outside of gymnastics, Young enjoys listening to Prince, plays the piano and his favorite food is pizza. He also loves the book Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes.