“Had Me Screaming”: After Ending America’s Podium Drought Rising Gymnast Gets Hero’s Welcome After World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023

US Men’s Gymnastics anchored a record milestone at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Belgium. Last week America ended its longest podium slump since a stretch from 1984 to 2001 since the first team medal at an Olympics or Worlds in 2014. The men’s team improved from double fifth finishes in the Worlds last year and the Tokyo Olympics. Just nine months away from the Paris Olympics, the podium finish was secured by a nineteen-year-old gymnast.

Americans had loads to celebrate with women’s and men’s teams syncing victory in ages. Showing the nation still harbored a burning desire to be a part of the world event, the gymnast recently shared how he broke a 20-year run as the competition came to a conclusion.

Gymnastics spotlight on American teen

At the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships, the American team entered with national championships with top finishers 19-year-olds Asher Hong, Fred Richard, and 20-year-old Khoi. Among the trio, Fredrick Richard, a University of Michigan sophomore student, became the nation’s youngest male medalist in the individual competition. Three days after creating history, Richard shared an Instagram post captioned, “Can I deliver” with a doubtful emoji.

The video showed him perform a compilation of all six apparatus which started off with the voiceover, “We needed near perfection to medal for USA.” The horizontal bars routine was the deciding factor for the individual event. He added captions; “I can hear my teammates cheering,” “last event up,” “I needed to stay on for the medal” and “I cannot disappoint,” among other thoughts. Richard was second until the fifth exercise, added another 13.300 points getting 84.332 on AA finals, earning a bronze medal.

A tribe of newbies graced the U.S. men’s gymnastics team this year, Paul Juda from the University of Michigan, Fred, Khoi Young, and Asher Hong from Stanford University, with the only Olympian 27-year-old Yul Moldauer. Hong led the team with 15.1 points on the vault and was followed by Moldauer, the oldest American to take home a medal in two decades. Richard won an overall podium result at the youngest age. After he shared the fun video, fans rallied to drop their reactions under his post.

Gymnastics star showered with appreciation

Breaking the draught seemed harder than the flawless performance in the video. But Richard’s clip did help better understand the mounted pressure on the athlete. Cheering for his artistic display, a fan wrote, “Those releases on the high bar had me screaming yo lol.” The USA Gymnastics team said, “A MOMENT WE’LL NEVER FORGET.” Yul commented, “Delivery accepted” in response to Richard’s caption.

Another fan shared, “Watching was like, “c’mon, talk yourself through, one skill at a time, you got this and YOU DID I THAT !!!”

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Someone played along saying, “Signed, sealed, Delivert!!” Another praise read, “Mad respect for your diligence! Your country holds you all in very high esteem. Stay healthy you all! Mind ‚Body and spirit!”

A close observer shared, “The fact that you got a 14.5 (highest score of the day on H.Bar) even with a little error made me wonder what would’ve happened if you had qualified for EF”

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