They say you should run against the clock when competing, even if you are already in a quagmire. That is not a story to be told. But the story formed when you really came back despite the stumbling. And that is the story of an impressive gymnast—Brody Malone. It’s the story of an athlete who started his gymnastic journey at the age of 3 and became an essential cog in finishing top of the medal table in the Paris Olympics. Before that extraordinary story, let us look into Brody Malone’s NCAA achievements.

When three-year-old Brody Malone started his gymnasium, his aim was simple—to burn off extra energy. But the extraordinary child, by the year 2016, began to compete at the elite level. In that US National Level Competition, the sixteen-year-old Brody won the Bronze medal in the horizontal bar—marking the beginning of a journey to the stars. By 2024, before the Paris Olympics, Brody won ten NCAA titles during his Stanford University days and gold in Tokyo.

Brody Malone’s fall and rise from the debacle

And then Brody Malone fell into the quagmire in 2023 during a DBT Cup competition in Germany. That year, in March, while he was competing, Brody flung on the ground. He lost control in his final move and suffered a complex knee injury with several torn ligaments and a fracture. Brody Malone lost his walking ability, let alone his gymnasium, for a while.

Though many anticipated his retirement from athletics, Brody Malone made an incredible comeback. He excelled in his front full to double pike, a double double, and a stuck triple in the US Men’s Gymnastic Competition in 2024—the greatest comeback of the year. When this comeback happened in May this year, it was clear that the vital cog of the US National Men’s team will be seen in the Paris Olympics. And it did. Brody Malone’s comeback is something to be told.

Team USA and Brody ushered into the Olympics

In the absence of his mother on the pavilion, who suffered a dire injury, Brody Malone returned to Paris after the Tokyo Olympics was encouraging and can be heard and seen there. The spectators were clapping and shouting to him—go, Brody, go—while he stepped into the floor routine wearing the knee brace. Now, a bit of info here. Though a disastrous result in the qualifying round, Brody Malone shined in the parallel bar. Failing twice on the horizontal bar and once on the pommel horse in the qualifying, Brody’s part in the Paris Olympics to securing the bronze medal didn’t go unnoticed. The USA, as a team, shined brighter with all the effort.

With Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, Asher Hong, Frederick Richard, and Paul Juda, the US artistic gymnasts team ended their dry spell of winning Olympic medals in 2008. While the team secured the third-highest score in the horizontal bar, Fredrick Richard clinched the top-scoring performer attribute with his floor routine, parallel bar, and horizontal bar performance. With this astounding comeback of Team USA and Brody Malone, let’s hope to see them at the pinnacle in the next Olympics.