Paul Juda is very self aware.
During media availability after winning Team USA their first medal in men’s gymnastics in 16 years, the Michigan graduate referenced the “bronze medal” meme, where a man celebrates in three panels and then is revealed to have won only the bronze medal.
“There’s that one meme online where there’s a guy on a podium popping champagne, biting the medal, taking all the pictures, and then they zoom out, and he’s on third,” Juda said with a smile. “But that’s what it felt like today. We ended the drought 16 years in the making and couldn’t be happier.”
Alongside Juda in snapping the yearslong drought was his college teammate, junior Frederick Richard. For the past two years, the duo competed side-by-side in Ann Arbor, and now, they got their shot on the biggest stage in Paris in both the team and all-around finals.
Fans with little knowledge of the sport outside of the Olympics might see bronze as a lesser medal. But for the United States men’s gymnastics team — which hasn’t won a medal in 16 years due to the sport being so thoroughly dominated by China, Japan and Russia — a bronze medal is an immense achievement, perhaps on par with winning gold in their minds. And for Juda, who was on the verge of erasing his Olympic hopes from his now-infamous whiteboard, it’s even more sweet.
“Winning a team final medal was on there,” Juda told Scott Bregman of Olympics.com. “But I didn’t ever want to say it. But I’m really happy to check that off.”
The dream didn’t begin easily, though. The qualification round was rough at times for the men, particularly Brody Malone, who counted falls on both the high bar and the pommel horse. Juda and Richard cruised through qualification, ultimately earning themselves spots in the all-around final on July 31. But despite the team’s struggles in qualification, none of it could be found on Monday night.
“You don’t have to win every single competition,” Richard said after the finals. “You have to win the ones that matter. I knew that the day one goal was qualify in and get the nerves out. That was the goal and that’s what we accomplished and then going into day two, it was capitalize on all the hard work we’ve done.”
And capitalize they did. With Russia banned from international competition due to the war in Ukraine, the podium was open to a new contender. The U.S., Ukraine and Great Britain were the strongest contenders to medal, likely in third due to China and Japan’s dominance. In a three-up, three-count competition like the Olympics where three gymnasts compete and three scores count, every routine needed to be flawless to earn that coveted medal.
The night began well on rings, with a Wolverine leading the way. Richard led off and stuck his tuck double double landing, earning a 14.033 and getting the U.S. off to a hot start. Malone followed it up with an excellent routine and Asher Hong of Stanford sealed a spectacular first rotation with a monster 14.533 score.
The U.S. kept rolling on vault. Juda led off with a vault that earned him a huge 9.533 execution score and an overall 14.666. The best part is that he doesn’t even remember it.
“I kinda blacked out before my vault,” Juda said. “ … I was watching a lot of videos today before the competition of vaults I’ve stuck and big moments and I was like it’d be pretty cool to stick one in the meet but I’m not gonna go for it, because every time I’ve gone for it, I end up falling. I blacked out, I hit the table, and the next thing I know, I’ve just stuck a vault at the Olympics, let’s go.”
Malone, who struggled with his vault in qualifying, stuck his as well, and Hong completed the trifecta with a 14.833 to put Team USA in the lead after two rotations. They had improved their score by two whole points from qualifying, an enormous jump that gave them a huge advantage over Great Britain and Ukraine later in the meet as the scores got tighter.
On parallel bars, the U.S.’s momentum continued to build. Malone recorded another huge score — this time a 14.433. Richard surpassed him with a 14.566 and Hong stuck his tricky dismount to earn a 14.4. The U.S. fell to second as China gained, but remained ahead of Great Britain, Ukraine and Japan, which had recorded a fall on pommel horse.
Even better for Team USA, their best events were still ahead. They began the second half on Richard’s favorite event: the high bar. He’s won numerous titles on the event and proved why on Monday, catching his Liukin and numerous other intricate components and sticking his landing to earn a 14.833.
“High bar is that event,” Richard said. “I trained for the last months knowing this routine would be an important factor in us medaling and so I took it very seriously in the gym and I did so many numbers and when I slew that set I said, ‘I’ve earned this. This is my high bar final’ … I said ‘I’m one of the best high bar gymnasts in the world and I’ll show it today for my brothers, for my country.’ And that’s what I did. I felt stronger than ever and more comfortable than ever in that routine.”
The Wolverines’ excellence continued on Juda’s best event: the floor. The reigning NCAA floor champion powered through his routine, earning a 14.200, and Richard flew through his opening double double and a half, along with the rest of his routine, to earn a 14.466.
But then it was time for pommel horse, an event neither Juda nor Richard nor most of their teammates excel in. Juda was up first and despite having fallen on the event at the NCAA Championship, he had no concerns about setting the tone on men’s gymnastics’ toughest event.
“The second we heard those lineups and my name was going to be going first, I thought ‘What a privilege to be the first one to go,’ ” Juda said. “Even going into pommel horse. We were making lineups the other day and it was like ‘Alright! Who’s going on pommel?’ I raised my hand vehemently and said, ‘I wanna do it, I wanna be the guy on pommel horse when it comes down to the wire because I know it’s gonna come down to the wire.’ It was an honor and a privilege to go first.”
Juda set the exact tone needed on their toughest event, using his signature speed on the event to earn a 13.900. Malone again refused to let Saturday’s mistakes define Monday’s performance and earned a 13.700. It meant the U.S. had hit 17 of 17 routines that night. Now it was time for pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik, who had waited 2 and a half hours to close the meet for his team. Taking off his glasses, Nedoroscik approached the horse. All his teammates could do was wait.
“The anticipation, it’s like you’re on top of the world,” Richard said. “You want to be able to do something. All you can do is shout and give your energy somehow to your teammate. But it was amazing just knowing that I believed 100% the whole way in Stephen. The whole team did, and you [could] feel it and just give that energy to him and just watch him shine.”
Nedoroscik did exactly that, soaring through his routine to combine his 6.2 difficulty score with a 8.666 execution score and earn a 14.866. The U.S. had hit all 18 routines and done their absolute best. It turned out that their best was better than any U.S. team since 2008 as they secured bronze. Japan roared back from mistakes to claim gold and China, hampered by huge falls on high bar, took silver.
“I have this statistic — when everyone hits before me on horse, I hit!” Nedoroscik said to NBC after the medal ceremony.
It was a magical night for the team with their medals and their families. Juda and Richard both competed in the all-around on Wednesday as well, placing 14th and 15th, respectively. But the lack of medals there didn’t matter, because they earned a medal that was so coveted for so long by so many excellent U.S. men’s gymnasts before them. They are the ones to finally bring it home.
But they both want more. Though China and Japan still dominate, Team USA still finished closer to China’s score (a difference of 1.3 points) than fourth place Great Britain’s (a difference of 2.2 points.) The U.S. program is very much on the rise and they have four years to close the point gap between them and China and Japan.
“When we’re home in 2028, I want us to bring the gold medal home,” Richard said.
But for tonight, the two Michigan teammates can rest knowing they’ve snapped a sixteen-year drought and become Olympic champions.
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