Paul Juda and Fred Richard are finally home.
In the course of four months, Juda, a graduate gymnast on the Michigan men’s gymnastics team, and Richard, a junior, traveled from Columbus to Texas to Minnesota and finally to Paris. During their travels, they placed second at the national championship where they also won individual accolades, competed at the U.S. National Championships, qualified for the Olympic Trials, made the Olympic team and won the U.S.’s first team medal in men’s gymnastics in sixteen years.
“Light work,” Juda jokingly told The Michigan Daily.
They’re now back in Ann Arbor after a summer and fall full of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Richard took time after the Olympics to see Paris and travel, while Juda met two of his golf idols, Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark. The two met plenty of other high-profile athletes, a trend which only continued on their next stop: the Gold Over America Tour. From September to November, the two traveled the country performing in front of adoring crowds alongside their Olympic teammates and women’s gymnastics counterparts. Richard and Juda acknowledged that the crowds were mostly there for Simone Biles. But plenty showed up for the newly popular men’s team, which was exactly the kind of visibility the duo hoped their performance would bring to their sport.
“I don’t want it to be the climax, because I think we have so much more to do, so much more (to) show how amazing the sport is,” Richard told The Daily. “But it’s been an amazing start, seeing how many people recognize you on the street, how many people are inspired by the journey. They said watching our competition was the most inspirational show of what America is. So that was really cool to hear.”
Juda echoed Richard’s sentiment, emphasizing his hope that their performance had impacted younger generations.
“The best part is that for the younger kids that got to watch, specifically the boys, is that they got to watch triumph from guys that may or may not look like them,” Juda added. “We came from all different backgrounds … And then that it wasn’t in a sport just like basketball or football. … They got to see victory and success in another sport.”
Now, finally, they’re home. Back in Michigan and back to a normal routine full of gymnastic practices as they prepare for one last shot at a national championship together. But on a team full of seniors aiming to reach the mountaintop, Juda is just one of many — even amid newfound stardom.
“Personally, I would trade every single thing that I’ve won individually for a team championship,” Juda said. “I want everyone to feel what Fred and I have on the elite level side. And when everybody gets to go home with a national championship plaque, that’s pretty darn awesome.”
Michigan’s season doesn’t lay an easy path there. The Wolverines will be away for five of eight meets this season, but the most important meet — the national championship — will be at home for the first time since 2014. For both Richard and Juda, who have reached the pinnacle of the sport, it’s the next step after that Olympic success. And their fellow Wolverines have risen to the new standard they’ve set.
“The standard has risen, whether consciously or unconsciously,” Richard said. “It’s not just a college gym anymore. We breed Olympians. We breed the highest level of gymnastics. There’s no excuse to settle for anything less. And so everybody’s mindset, whether they know it or not — I could feel it, because I’ve been here the other years. We just have this slightly higher standard, and that’s what it takes to get to the next level.”
They still keep in touch with their teammates from the national team, all of them still processing the magnitude of what they accomplished this summer. But for now, Juda and Richard are back at home — and ready to win it all there.
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