PARIS – Their posters were on the wall of every gym he trained at as a kid – the 2008 U.S. men’s gymnastics team that won Olympic bronze in Beijing and the 2004 team that took silver in Athens. And whenever Frederick Richard walked into one of those gyms and looked at the pictures, he wondered what it would be like to be on one himself one day.
‘I’d always look at that like, ‘Man, what if I was one of those people who made it?’ ‘ Richard said. ‘And now we are. It’s crazy.’
Richard delivered team-best performances in the floor, parallel bars and horizontal bar Monday – three of the four events he competed in – to lead Team USA to a bronze medal in the men’s team competition at the Paris Olympics.
The medal is the U.S.’ first since 2008, and gave the 20-year-old Richard and teammates Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone and Stephen Nedoroscik a start on their goal to boost the perception of men’s gymnastics in this country.
Japan edged China for the team gold Monday.
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‘You look at these guys, you’re like, ‘Wow, these guys are amazing,’ ‘ Richard said of past U.S. medal-winning teams. ‘When I watch their routines back, it looks like they all came together on a day and just did perfect routines and you’re like, how is that possible? How did they all come together on a day and just do amazing?
‘It seems really hard when you compete so many times a year and (it doesn’t always) go the way you want it, but we just all felt something today. We could see it, we could all feel it through each other and we did exactly what I did not doubt was possible, was just all come together on one day and shine.’
Richard, a junior at Michigan, started Team USA’s opening rotation on the rings with a score of 14.033 and scored 14.4 or better in his other three events.
Jordan Gaarenstroom, an assistant with Team USA and Michigan, said Richard added difficulty to his rings and high bar routines Monday and plans to perform the same routines when competition in the individual all-around begins Wednesday.
‘High bar is that event I trained for the last months knowing this routine will be an important factor in us medaling, and so I took it very seriously in the gym,’ Richard said. ‘ … I said, ‘I’m one of the best high-bar gymnasts in the world. I’m going to show it today for my brothers, for my country,’ and that’s what I did.’
Richard’s 14.833 score on the bar was the highest of any gymnast Monday.
Gaarenstroom said he would not be surprised if Richard, a bronze medalist in the all-around at last year’s world championships, scored a personal best in the event Wednesday. No men’s gymnast has medaled in the all-around for Team USA since Danell Leyva took bronze in 2012.
‘He’s said that he wants to be the best in the world and he’s putting in the work to back it up,’ Gaarenstroom said. ‘This kid lives in the gym. He’s got shoes in the gym that he keeps in the gym. He sleeps in the gym. It’s crazy, so Fred is, he’s a rock star. He dedicates his whole life to what he’s doing in front of you today and sky’s the limit.’
On Monday, when he bowed his head to accept his first Olympic medal with a mega-watt smile on his face, then raised both hands and turned to the crowd, Richard said it felt that way.
“We’re told all our lives the American dream, you have a dream and you give everything every day towards it and eventually it comes true,’ Richard said. ‘And we all are always waiting to see if that’s really true, but I’m standing here with a medal around my neck after going to the gym every day, hours and hours and giving everything. It’s like the universe paid you back, so I’m living the American dream. That’s what it feels like.’
