The U.S. Men’s gymnastics team broke the 16-year curse by winning team Bronze at the Paris Olympics. However, the flaws in the individual qualification events saw Team USA’s men fail to qualify for the Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar finals. Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Asher Hong, and Paul Juda failed to rank among the top eight of either event.

The men’s gymnastics team didn’t get off to a blistering start in the team qualifications finishing fifth behind Ukraine with a 253.229 total. However, the young team consisting of four Olympic debutants delivered a resurgent performance in the team all-around finals. Unfortunately, their bronze-winning effort would be their only highlight as a team.

Frederick Richard and Paul Juda gave some hope for further success at the Paris Olympics, making it to the all-around finals. However, the gymnasts fared terribly during the apparatus qualifiers. Body Malone, the only returning Olympian in the team scratched out of the Horizontal bars qualifiers. After a promising display during the U.S. Olympic trials, Malone fell during his routine.

The massive error saw him earn 12.233 on Horizontal Bars, placing the 24-year-old at the bottom of the pack. The 2022 Horizontal Bar world champion also placed behind teammates Juda and Richard. While Malone and Juda put in a valiant effort on the Parallel Bars, it just wasn’t enough to beat China and Japan’s dominance in the Paris Olympics.

Defending Parallel Bars champion Jingyuan Zou from China topped the qualification leaderboard for the apparatus. Zou’s teammate Boheng Zhang joined him in second place, followed by Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka in third. Wataru Tanigawa from Japan also finished in the top eight. However, for Team USA, only pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik qualified.

Team USA’s only specialist made his mark at the Paris Olympics

Although Frederick Richard and Paul Juda got Team USA’s hopes up, they made errors during the first rotation, sealing their fate. Ultimately, it was pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik who took just 45 seconds to secure the U.S. Men’s Gymnastics team’s only individual medal with a bronze. The Clark Kent of Pommel Horse stuck to his strengths.

The gymnast who only competes on the pommel horse performed the same routine that got him to the finals. However, he upped the difficulty, which was enough to earn him a place on the podium. Although just two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics may have painted a bleak picture for U.S. Men’s Gymnastics, this is more than what they have won in 16 years.

So despite the disappointing failures in individual events, the two medals have acted like a light at the end of the tunnel for the team. Although they have a long way to go before challenging China, Japan, or even Team GB’s dominance, the young team is fired up for LA 2028.