U.S. Gymnastics Trials: The men’s Olympic team has been named (2024)

Meet the gymnasts representing the U.S. in Paris

The men’s U.S. Olympic gymnastics team is favored to win its first Olympic medal since 2008.

The men’s team was named at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials in Minneapolis on Saturday: Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong and Stephen Nedoroscik are going to Paris.

The Olympic alternates are Shane Wiskus and Khoi Young. They barely missed the official team, but are still considered Olympians by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Read the full story here.

Brett McClure, the high performance director for the men’s team, has done wonders for the U.S. men's gymnastics program since Tokyo, leading it to a team bronze medal at last year's world championships.

He and the athletes collaborated to implement the Olympic selection procedures, which prioritized a mathematical approach. Still, he said the process of making and breaking Olympic dreams is “never easy.”

“There are so many things that could factor in,” McClure said on Saturday. “Inquantifiables, intangibles, leadership and things that you can’t really measure.”

The Paris team has a lot of “great personalities,” he said. “We have an opportunity to make a splash in Paris.”

After clinching his first Olympic berth, Richard said the time between now and Paris is sure to be scary and filled with a lot of training, but he's "just taking it in."

"I'm on this journey every kid dreams of, and I dreamed of, so I'm grateful," he told reporters following today's round of trials.

Juda said he started to cry when he heard the first syllable of his name announced while backstage.

"My phone’s blowing up and I’m thinking about how I’m going to hug my mom and dad," he said of making his first Olympic team. "Every time I think about the word Olympian ... it's just a lot. Yeah, I can't even put it into words."

"It was kind of nerve-racking because they announced my name last," Malone said after the meet. "So it kind of scared me a little bit. ... I’m over the moon and just ready to get back in the gym and start getting ready to go over to Paris."

Malone acknowledged how the U.S. men's team's place on the world stage has shifted since his Olympic debut in Tokyo.

"We have a chance to win a medal, and that’s what we’re going to do," Malone said.

Nedoroscik will perform just one event at the Paris Olympics —pommel horse — but he knew he nailed it.

"I had a good feeling I made this team," he said after being named to his first Olympic squad.

Khoi Young and Shane Wiskus barely missed the official team, but are still considered Olympians by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong and Stephen Nedoroscik are going to Paris.

Olympic medalists Bart Conner and Paul Hamm announced the team.

The U.S. gymnasts who won the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics took the stage ahead of the 2024 Olympic team announcement.

Bart Conner, Peter Vidmar, Scott Johnson, Mitch Gaylord, Jim Hartung and Tim Daggett were on that team 40 years ago.

Shilese Jones, a front-runner for the women's team, has withdrawn from the Olympic trials after suffering an injury during vault warmups yesterday.

The six-time world medalist appeared to be a lock for the Olympic team for the past two years. USA Gymnastics announced during the men's competition today that Jones is out after receiving additional medical evaluation.

Read the full story here.

After a spectacular performance at these trials, Frederick Richard is officially an Olympian.

He clinched an automatic spot on the Paris Olympic team today by finishing first in the all-around and top three on three events. It's a waiting game for the rest of these athletes, whose fates lie with the selection committee.

Shane Wiskus is not just beloved in Minnesota, but in the gymnastics community worldwide. Now, he may be on his way back to the Olympic Games.

Wiskus' crisp parallel bar routine is emblematic of a polished performance throughout these trials.

After a stellar showing on his other events today, Asher Hong came off the pommel horse.

He scored a 11.750, but this is not a key event for Hong. Not good, but not catastrophic either.

Khoi Young’s Olympic dreams seemed out of reach on Thursday, after a devastating two-fall routine on pommel horse. The winds may be changing for him today after he scored a 14.250 on the event — a pivotal showing.

Nobody here has flirted with Olympic glory more times than Donnell Whittenburg. He fell short in 2012, 2016 and 2020 despite competing at the Olympic trials.

He just scored 14.850 on floor, which keeps him in the conversation. Unfortunately, his stumbles on Thursday could keep his Olympic dreams at bay for a fourth time.

Paris appears to be within grasp for Asher Hong, a member of the bronze medal-winning team at last year's world championships. His performance in Minneapolis today has helped redeem a disappointing outing at the U.S. Championships, where he finished 10th.

He is one of many athletes representing Stanford University at these trials.

Nedoroscik owned the pommel horse under Olympic-level pressure today after a clunky routine on Day 1.

His score, a 14.850, will mathematically put him on the highest-scoring team, so Nedoroscik's Olympic dreams may come true today.

Stephen Nedoroscik will do just one routine today: the pommel horse.

It is a notoriously difficult apparatus and Team USA could use some help on the event. Nedoroscik could make the Olympic Team for this one event. Taking an athlete to Paris who can only perform one of the six events is a risk, but Nedoroscik is a world champion on the pommel horse.

His Olympic hopes hinge on this routine.

Wiskus, Paul Juda and Asher Hong rounded out the top five. Thursday night was all redemption for Hong after a disappointing 10th-place finish at the U.S. Championships.

Khoi Young, who was also a member of the bronze medal-winning team last year, topped the standings on the vault for the night with a 14.950, but fell twice on the ever-fickle pommel horse.

Yul Moldauer also climbed back from a fall on the pommel horse, scoring a world-class 15.050 on the high bar.

Shane Wiskus kicked off his floor routine with the same two tumbling passes as Malone. Both hit their skills so well that the announcers said Wiskus' runs looked like they were made "like a Xerox machine."

The Minnesota native scored a 14.600 on the event.

No, the sound system isn't broken. Unlike female gymnasts, male gymnasts tumble sans music on the floor exercise. There is no dancing allowed in their routines either, only acrobatics.

The men tumble in silence, punctuated only by the roar of the crowd at each stuck landing.

After a rare miss on the high bar in the first rotation, Brody Malone recovered well on the floor exercise. Despite the large brace strapped to his leg, every tumbling landing was clean and confident.

He improved his score from Thursday, scoring a 14.350 to regain the second spot in the all-around behind Richard.

Malone led for the first half of the competition on Thursday but finished half a point behind Richard.

Malone is on track to make his second Olympic team after having battled a serious knee injury last year. He started off Thursday night with a stuck landing on the vaultand hit his best event, the high bar, on which he won a world title in 2022.

Richard kicked off his afternoon on the parallel bars, where he scored a 14.800. He looks poised to repeat his stellar all-around performance on Thursday.

The reigning U.S. national all-around champion, Brody Malone, fell on his best event in the first rotation, the high bar.

His spot on the Paris team should be safe, but it's not the tone he wanted to set tonight.

Official routines have begun. Donnell Whittenburg put two difficult vaults to his feet after falling on Day 1.

Whittenburg, who is eyeing his first Olympic berth, has been a crowd favorite for three Olympic cycles now. He is the oldest competitor here at 29.

Unlike the women's gymnastics team, the men's team competing in Paris will be determined almost exclusively by numbers.

Scores from four days of competitions – both days of U.S. Championships and both days of Olympic Trials – will factor into Olympic selection. The lowest score on each apparatus will be dropped for each athlete and the remaining scores averaged.

“It’s going to be a combination of the best scores on each apparatus,” High-performance director Brett McClure said Wednesday. “There’s going to be some strategy to discuss strengths and weaknesses and also what the rest of the world is doing.”

The athletes who produce the highest potential score in a Team Final format will likely become the Olympic team.

The U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trialskicked off in Minneapolis on Thursday, with reigning world all-aroundbronze medalistFrederick Richardleading the men’s competition.

Richard, 20, a Massachusetts native, is not only a star on the floor exercise, but he also has a dedicated following on TikTok, where hedocuments his journeyas an Olympic hopeful. He placed first on floor and high bar and third on parallel bars.

The gymnasts in contention for the U.S. Olympic team are entering the Target Center to compete in the final day of men's trials. Each gymnast is individually announced ahead of competition, which kicks off in about 20 minutes.

Frederick “Flips” Richard has been captivating audiences on social media for years and has big plans for the sport’s future.

Now a rising junior at the University of Michigan, where he trains and competes, he’s on the precipice of fulfilling a dream shared by many young athletes.

“I want to enter the Olympics with the whole country knowing, like, that’s Frederick Richard, like this man is going to do it,” he said.

Read the full profile of Richard here.

Simone Biles is four routines away from making her third Olympic team.

She led her Olympic and club teammate Jordan Chiles by 2.5 points after the first day of the women's competition at the Olympic trials. Reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee rounded out the top three.

The women’s gymnastics team competing in Paris will benamed on Sunday, but the selection committee will have to go back to the drawing board after three front-runners were injured in the lead-up to Friday’s competition.

Read the full story here.

In the qualification round at the Olympics, four gymnasts from each five-member team compete on each apparatus, with the three highest scores counting toward the team total.

The top eight teams in qualifications advance to the finals, where three athletes from each team compete on each apparatus and all scores count.

The five-member men’s Olympic team will compete on six apparatuses in Paris, while the women will compete on four. The top all-around finisher in the women’s competition automatically makes the team, but the men will be required to finish first in the all-around and in the top three on at least three events.

No male gymnast did that at the U.S. Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, but Richard did Thursday. If he repeats that Saturday, he won’t need the selection committee to decide his fate.

The selection committee will consider the top team-scoring scenarios using both days of trials, as well as the U.S. Championships.

The U.S. is eyeing its first Olympic medal in men’s gymnastics since 2008 this summer. By the end of today, a five-member team will beselected to go to Parisfrom one of the most talented pools of American gymnasts in years.