The young prodigy from Massachusetts has done it! Fred Richard has effortlessly punched his ticket to the French capital after a thrilling performance at the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials. The 20-year-old has finished in the top three in three events, automatically winning the all-around competition. This will be his first Summer Games, and Fred Richard couldn’t be any more excited.

His score on the high bar was officially the highest at the event. But by bagging the third spot in the floor exercise and securing the top score on the parallel bars, Richard has officially said oui to the 2024 Paris Olympics. His dismount from the vault was perfect, and with a huge grin on his face turned to the crowd. With his parents cheering him on, Fred walked away, shaking off the cocky remarks stating, “I’m an Olympian.”

Fred Richards makes his debut in the French Capital

The 2024 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships silver medalist might not have started out as a shoe in. But he slipped past the three-time U.S. Champion Brody Malone on day 3 with a total of 170.500 points at the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials. Richard edged Brody out with a small margin of 0.2 points to clinch his victory. NBC announced the news on Twitter, captioned ““I’m an Olympian.” Frederick Richard is GOING TO PARIS! #USAGTrials24” The young wunderkind snuck past several elite gymnasts to secure the all-around title. 

But apart from wanting to put his best foot forward, the young wunderkind is also looking to raise more awareness about the sport in itself. It’s not odd to talk about elite female gymnasts when it comes to gymnastics. Fred Richard is looking to change that. The 20-year-old has amassed a large following of 66.3K followers on TikTok.

He started posting videos of his incredible skills on the platform so people would start recognizing him and several other male athletes in the sport. He expressed, “We’re in a sport where there’s not as many viewers, you know. It’s a much smaller sport, especially on the men’s side. I had a dream to let the world know what I’m doing…so I just started telling my story and people love it.” While it might take some time for the movement to pick up, punching his ticket to Paris might expedite that process.