ANN ARBOR, Mich. — USA Gymnastics announced the names of the male gymnasts who will be representing the United States in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Among the names are two men who are students at the University of Michigan.
The first, Paul Juda is a graduate student at the university. His hometown is Deerfield, Illinois. On his team bio on the USA Gymnastics website, he said he got involved in gymnastics at a young age because he was an energetic kid.
"I would always either be upside down or jumping around my house. People suggested that I join gymnastics and ever since I began I fell in love with the sport," he said.
Juda landed fourth (168.850) in the all-around competition at the trials.
Juda's career highlights include the 2024 NCAA floor exercise champion and team & vault silver medalist (Michigan), the 2023 World team bronze medalist, 2023 U.S. floor exercise champion and 2023 Nissen-Emery Award winner. You can find a list of his accomplishments and more information about him in his bio on the USA Gymnastics website.
The second, Frederick Richard is just a sophomore at the school but is already very accomplished himself. He is the youngest individual World medalist in U.S. history. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He said in his team bio that he got involved in gymnastics as a child because his sister was in gymnastics.
"I always ran on the floor and tumbled when we picked her up. I was also doing handstands in my crib very early which gave my parents a hint that they should get me in gymnastics," he said.
Richard led the all-around (170.500) on both days of competition at the Olympic Trials in Minneapolis. He also claimed the top spot on high bar (29.850), second on parallel bars (29.850) and third on floor exercise (28.700). These achievements at the trials are what locked his spot on the team.
Richard has achieved throughout his career the 2024 U.S. floor exercise champion and all-around & high bar silver medalist, 2024 NCAA team, all-around & still rings silver medalist (Michigan) and 2023 World team & all-around bronze medalist. You can find a list of his accomplishments and more information about him in his bio on the USA Gymnastics website.
On the team with Juda and Richards are also Asher Hong, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, Khoi Young and Shane Wiskus.
The artistic gymnastics competition at the 2024 Summer Games will run from July 27 to Aug. 5. For more information about Team USA's gymnastics action at the Games you can visit usagym.org/paris2024.
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