Members of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team pose with their bronze medals after the men’s team finals on Monday. This is the first Olympic medal the United States has won in this event since 2008.
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PARIS — The moment Stefan Nedorosik’s feet touched the floor — one last perfect landing in the night’s final event — the U.S. men’s gymnastics team erupted in joy.
It doesn’t matter that the medal is bronze rather than gold. Still, the achievement was monumental: It was the U.S. men’s gymnastics team’s first team medal at the Olympics since 2008.
The United States was nearly flawless in Monday’s team final at the Stade Bercy in Paris in front of nearly 15,000 spectators.
This performance was a win after a disappointing fifth place finish in Saturday’s qualifying round. Team members themselves admitted that they fell short of expectations.
Brodie Malone, the team’s only returning Olympian, had his worst performance Saturday. He fell once on the pommel horse and twice on the bars. These painful mistakes ultimately cost him a chance to compete for an individual all-around medal.
U.S. athlete Brody Malone competes on the rings during the men’s gymnastics team final at the Paris Summer Olympics on Monday at Stade Bercy.
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“It wasn’t the best day,” Malone said after Saturday’s game. “We left a lot behind – well, I left a lot behind.”
On Monday, Malone was a hero. He, like the rest of the team, made no major mistakes all night. His improvement alone adds about 2.5 points to Team USA.
Joining Nedoroscik and Malone in bronze medals were Asher Hong, Paul Juda and 20-year-old TikTok star Frederick Richard. The Japanese team won the gold medal and the Chinese team won the silver medal.
It’s been a long journey for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team back on the podium. In order to compete on the international stage, the men’s team’s approach to routines, which are scored based on the difficulty of the attempt and the gymnast’s ability to execute, needs to be completely changed.
“We’re way behind on the hard stuff,” men’s high performance director Brett McClure said last week. “I believe the legacy of this team is being able to close the gap in such a short period of time.”
The program’s long-term strategy looks further into the future, to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
McClure was a member of the 2004 Olympic team in Athens, where the U.S. men’s team won a silver medal. At the next Olympics in Beijing in 2008, the men’s team won a bronze medal, their last team medal for 16 years.
Frederick Richard of the United States competes on the floor exercise during the men’s gymnastics team finals at the Paris Summer Olympics on Monday.
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Two U.S. gymnasts, Richard and Judah, will compete in the men’s individual all-around finals on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The only member of the team to qualify for the individual finals is Nedoroscik, who tied for the highest score in the event with 15.2 points in the qualifying round and will compete in Saturday’s pommel horse finals.
