The women’s gymnastics team had made several winning strides over the years. Even when USA’s most decorated Simone Biles was on a hiatus, her worthy teammates carried the legacy forward. But 2023 was special for the US men’s gymnastics team. The long awaited medal drought ending moment finally rolled in. But, did they get the deserved appreciation?

At the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, the US men gymnasts secured the team bronze with 252.428. The last time they won a team medal at Worlds or in Olympics was in 2014. And this time, legends Fred Richard and Khoi Young anchored their team’s performance and accelerated their own as well. But there’s not much celebration for them.

FIG sidelined the US men’s gymnastics team

International Gymnastics Federation, aka FIG, has taken to their X handle to look at the most phenomenal Worlds meet of 2023. Captioning the post as “So many key moments to choose from in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics at the #ARTWorlds2023. Look back on the magnificent meet.” In the video, starting from Japan’s Hashimoto Daiki to German’s Lukas Dauser, everyone received individual shout outs from the federation. But there was no mention of the US gymnastic men.

The 1 min 28 secs video included clips of Daiki’s “second consecutive world all-around title” and Japan’s “team gold for the first time since 2015.”  Following, Artem Dolgopyat’s Worlds floor title, Rhys McClenaghan’s pommel horse title, Jake Jarman’s first vault title, everything appeared. But Khoi Young’s double silver, or Fred Richard’s all-around bronze clips didn’t surface.

However disappointing this may have been for the hardworking men, they never stopped believing in themselves. Especially, the Michigan Wolverines’ gymnast with a bronze around his neck.

Fred Richard credits the universe for making it work

A wobble on the high bar could have been the reason of a serious dismay for Richard. But when Kenta Chiba of Japan faced a similar tumble during his routine, the 19-year-old breathed. It was his winning moment, but he believes that the universe may have worked its magic. He had said on his X post, “The Universe has a weird way of working it out to give me this medal. I think they wanted to show the world how hard I’ve worked this year, and I guess I get to show it now, so I’m really excited about that.”

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With 2024 Paris Olympics less than 220 days away, he has his eyes set on his immediate goal. “[Manifesting and self-belief are] very important. I mean, when you’re going along this super hard journey, every second of your life you’re thinking about these goals,” he had said.

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