Sports

(NEW YORK) — Three former world record holders, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, USA’s Katie Ledecky, and Canada’s Summer McIntosh fell well short of their best times in the women’s 400 freestyle event at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday.

In contrast, none of the eight swimmers in the men’s competition on Sunday would have finished better than eighth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

World-class swimmers rarely get slower in their prime and technology constantly improves, so why aren’t we seeing records drop like usual? Can a pool really be responsible for slowing down the swimmers?

Jud Ready, a professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Material Science and Engineering, teaches a class on engineering in sports and says a pool can be slow. He spoke with ABC News’ “Start Here” about the difference in this 2024 Olympics pool compared to others.

Ready and his alma mater, Georgia Tech, know about pools. The school hosted swimming competitions in the Atlanta 1996 Games and still boasts the so-called “fastest pool in the country.”

So what makes a pool fast? According to Ready, pool engineers obsess over keeping the water calm.

“You want to not have the other swimmers impact each other,” Ready said. “So any sort of waves or wake or splashing or anything like that, you want that to not impact the body next to you.”

When you’re dog paddling, a few splashes might not make a big difference. However, elite swimmers create waves when they thrash. Some swimmers describe riding the wake of others around them. Some of those waves travel downward, and as they bounce back up, it’s like swimming through ever-so-choppy water.

And the depth of the pool plays a critical role, Ready says.

Well, it turns out that the pool in Paris isn’t very deep. The tiles on the bottom are about 2.2 meters underwater, which is about 7 feet deep. Which is not very deep, according to Ready.

According to World Aquatics, the minimum depth for long swimming must be 2 meters (6.5 feet), but a recommended depth of three meters (9.8 feet) is advised to provide the best environment.

While some experts say 3 meters is the best, others say 2.5 is ideal. But none suggest 2.2 meters.

“And if the pool is deep enough, it’s two and a half,” Ready said. “Somebody has done some calculations to determine that two and a half seems to be a magic number where that energy [of thrashing] has dissipated.”

The differences are slight, but they could explain the slightly slower times in the Paris pool. Other factors at play in pool design include gutters to keep water from ricocheting off the sides, lane dividers to dampen the effect from your neighbors, and jets that affect water movement.

“If we were to do that in an Olympic-sized pool, the current to recirculate many hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per hour would create either a current favoring you in one direction or opposing you in another direction,” Ready said.

Ready says modern pools recirculate water from the bottom, pushing swimmers upward. He also mentions that world records were once influenced by full-body swimsuits that made swimmers more buoyant and streamlined, but these swimsuits are now banned at the Olympics, much to his disappointment.

“I want materials to make everything better,” Ready said. “We’ve got technology to make better swimsuits. But some (have) there’s opposition to that. And I’m like, well, let’s go back to swimming in wool swimsuits then, if you’re worried about that.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has not yet responded to ABC News’ request for comment.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Nearly one week into the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Team USA has a breakout star.

Stephen Nedoroscik, a 25-year-old pommel horse “specialist” on the U.S. men’s gymnastics team, was crucial in helping his team bring home a bronze medal in Paris, the men’s team’s first Olympic medal in 16 years.

In the final rotation of the team competition on July 29, Nedoroscik scored high enough, 14.866, in his only rotation for the team event to put the U.S. men in third place in the final standings.

“I just stayed in the moment for the whole routine, hearing [my teammates] just cheer me on the whole time,” Nedoroscik told ABC News Tuesday of his medal-winning routine. “By the time I got to the dismount, I thought to myself …, ‘If I put this dismount up and stick the landing, we get a team medal.’ So, literally, as I’m in the air, falling to my feet, you can see the smile already coming to my face, and, man, was that a moment I’ll never forget.”

Here are four things to know about Nedoroscik:

1. He has become known as ‘Mr. Pommel Horse’

Nedoroscik’s skill on the pommel horse, a difficult event that requires extraordinary strength and coordination, has earned him nicknames including “Mr. Pommel Horse,” and “pommel horse guy.”

After completing his 40-second pommel horse routine twice in the team competition, Nedoroscik will perform it again on Saturday, where he’ll have a chance to win an individual gold medal in the pommel horse final.

Nedoroscik told the Washington Post he knew there would be criticism of him only competing in pommel horse, and not the other five apparatuses, and he was prepared.

“I was completely aware of it,” Nedoroscik said. “I really wanted to make the Olympic team, and I knew that there was going to be backlash to it. I do one event compared to these guys that are phenomenal all-arounders. And I am a phenomenal horse guy. But it’s hard to fit on a five-guy team.”

According to his USA Gymnastics biography, Nedoroscik, the current U.S. pommel horse champion, is tied for the most U.S. pommel horse titles in history, at four.

He is also a past world pommel horse champion.

2. He competes with limited vision

Nedoroscik has also gained the nickname “Clark Kent” for the way he takes his glasses off when he competes, a la Superman.

The 25-year-old has shared on TiKTok that he has an eye condition called strabismus, or crossed eyes, which is a misalignment of the eyes that can lead to vision problems, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

He has also said previously that he has coloboma, an eye condition that people are born with in which a part of the tissue that composes the eye is missing, according to the National Eye Institute.

While Nedoroscik used to wear prescription goggles when he competed, he now competes without goggles or glasses.

“I don’t think I actually use my eyes on pommel horse,” he told the Washington Post. “It’s all feeling. I see with my hands.”

3. He is a Rubik’s Cube pro

The pommel horse is not Nedoroscik’s only talent.

Nedoroscik is also a pro at completing the Rubik’s Cube.

Just before competing in the team all-around competition, Nedoroscik posted on social media that he finished a Rubik’s Cube in just over nine seconds.

After the competition, Nedoroscik showed his skill was not a fluke, completing a Rubik’s Cube again in record speed for ABC News’ Good Morning America.

“Where I go the cube go,” he commented beneath a video of the moment on Instagram.

4. Nedoroscik and his girlfriend were both gymnasts at Penn State

Nedoroscik, who originally hails from Massachusetts, graduated from Penn State University in 2020.

He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, according to his USA Gymnastics bio.

Nedoroscik’s girlfriend, Tess McCracken, was also a gymnast at Penn State, according to her Instagram account.

The couple now live in Florida.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — Giorgia Villa might be the most “grateful” athlete on the face of the planet.

And no, it isn’t just because the newly minted Italian silver medalist helped Team Italy score their first Olympic team medal in gymnastics since 1928. Villa is sponsored by cheese.

Having also won the bronze at the 2019 World Championships as well as being on gold-winning teams at the 2022 Mediterranean Games and the 2022 European Championships, she has actually been sponsored by Parmagiano Reggiano since 2021, a three-year period where she has matured as an athlete to become one of the best gymnasts in the world.

“A new face is added, as a testimonial, to the prestigious team of Parmigiano Reggiano: The young gymnast Giorgia Villa, 2018 champion of the Youth Games and one of the most promising athletes in her specialty at an international level,” Impresa e Sport, an Italian marketing agency said in 2021 when they first announced the sponsorship deal.

“The very young athlete, spearhead of the national rhythmic gymnastics team, has in fact become the brand’s new ambassador, with all the enthusiasm and freshness of her splendid age. Tenacious, determined, smiling, Giorgia proudly underlined this new role as well as once again confirming how the combination of Parmigiano Reggiano and the world of sport is indissoluble in terms of authenticity, quality and energetic value, both in sporting activity and in correct nutrition,” the statement read.

Villa first started in gymnastics at the age of 3 when her mother signed her up for gymnastics lessons due to her high energy and activity level.

“I had just started nursery school, but I immediately understood that I would love that sport with all my being,” said Villa. “I left school and, still wearing my pink apron, I couldn’t wait to enter that gym and jump and run feeling free and happy.”

Now 21, Villa has been training at the Italian Gymnastics Federation’s International Academy of Brescia, Italy, since she was just 11 years old.

“Every single day has been a personal achievement. There have been many sacrifices that I have had to face, but I have received a lot of satisfaction which time after time has given me the energy needed to face future challenges that lay ahead of me,” said Villa during an interview in 2022. “I am a person who loves to show what she can do, and then achieving important results is incomparable to any sacrifice.”

“I love gymnastics so much because it allows me to always be in motion,” Villa continued. “It is also a wonderful method to let off steam and release all the energy I have in my body, to always be in a group and in company even if gymnastics is fundamentally still an individual sport. I also love the fact that it pushes me to try to overcome my limits by improving every single skill.”

Fast forward to 2024 and Villa can be seen across social media taking pictures with the massive wheels of cheese that are produced exclusively in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the west of the Reno river, and Mantua to the east of the Po river, according to the cheesemaker.

“Since I was a child I have always loved this fantastic product, a symbol of Italian excellence and culture, and from today being able to collaborate with them makes me extremely proud and charged to face future challenges,” Villa said at the time of her sponsorship announcement.

While the cheese sponsorship might be a bonus, Villa has always been honest about her goals within the sport of gymnastics and, when asked whether the Olympic Games were always her goal and if she considered quitting during difficult moments in her career, Villa was firm in her opinion and didn’t crumble.

“The biggest objective is the Olympics, for me and I think all of us. This (medal) paid (us) back for the injuries and hard moments that we lived over the years,” she said.

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
N.Y. Yankees 6, Philadelphia Phillies 5
Minnesota Twins 8, N.Y. Mets 3
Miami Marlins 6, Tampa Bay Rays 2
St. Louis Cardinals 10, Texas Rangers 1
Houston Astros 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 4
San Francisco Giants 1, Oakland Athletics 0
Colorado Rockies 2, Los Angeles Angels 1

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore Orioles 10, Toronto Blue Jays 4
Kansas City Royals 10, Chicago White Sox 3
Boston Red Sox 3, Seattle Mariners 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 13, Cincinnati Reds 4
Atlanta Braves 6 Milwaukee Brewers 2
Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Washington Nationals 4
San Diego Padres 8, L.A. Dodgers 1

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Five-time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres felt nervous about asking her doctor if she could compete three weeks after giving birth.

Her doctor asked her to wait. She could start some light exercise tomorrow, though.

Torres, now the head coach of Boston College’s swimming and diving teams, remembers running into her doctor 10 days later at the gym.

“I don’t know if the endorphins were going, because I was at a gym and I was working out and I was feeling good,” Torres told ABC News. But she asked her doctor, “I have a meet in a week and a half. Can I swim in it?”

Torres did end up swimming in that meet. Her impressive performance there paved the way for her 2008 Olympic comeback only 16 months after giving birth.

The spotlight on elite athletes like Allyson Felix returning to competition after having a baby has contributed to increased resources for parents competing in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. However, shortfalls in research and guidance for athletes in the 12-week “postpartum” period following the birth of a child can hinder their return to competition and make it harder to achieve their peak performance.

Sparse advice for athletes post-childbirth

“There’s very little data out there about how postpartum women should progress, that’s supported by science. It’s mostly expert opinion,” said Dr. Ellen Casey, a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

This opinion is to listen to your body. “Your body’s going to tell you when you’ve pushed its limits,” said Dr. Melissa Simon, an OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine.

“Just like if you’re trying to go from the couch to running a 5K, there’s a ramp up,” Simon said. “And for an athlete, that ramp up period obviously changes depending on the particular sport or event that they’re participating in.”

Olympian Ashley Twichell got back in the pool seven weeks after delivery. “I vividly remember my first day getting back in the water,” she told ABC News. Her time was slower than she hoped for. “My training times have never really gotten back to what they were pre-pregnancy,” but her competition times are catching up.

She remembers telling herself “this might be a little bit longer of a journey and maybe a little bit harder of a journey than I expected.”

Twichell is part of USA Swimming’s Board of Directors as the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Advisory Council representative.

Torres, on the other hand, said that her joints were more flexible after giving birth, and her swim times reflected this. “My body changed, but it was for the better,” she said.

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Torres shaved time off the 50-meter freestyle performance at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

“I was probably in the best shape of my life after I had my daughter,” said Torres.

But the scientific jury is out on how pregnancy and childbirth affect performance. According to a review of the existing studies regarding postpartum performance in athletes, most were considered low quality.

One of the few studies to examine this question looked at the 150 best female marathoners worldwide. Of the 37 who had given birth, 70% posted their best times after giving birth.

More research is needed to understand how postpartum athletes should return to competitive sports, and “we have a long ways to go,” said Pamela Geisel. Geisel, an exercise physiologist, is the director of performance and wellness services at HSS.

Regaining core strength is key

The postpartum bounceback can be hard for athletes — and anyone for that matter — for a multitude of reasons: increased metabolic demands with breastfeeding, sleep deprivation and postpartum blues or depression.

Healing the pelvic floor and abdominal wall after delivery can be a particular problem for a lot of new moms.

Torres said “my core was so mushy,” after giving birth. This “mushiness” can be due to a condition called rectus diastasis, where the connective tissue between the abs muscles is separated or torn.

“Some statistics say that 100% of pregnant women will have some degree of separation,” in this connective tissue for the baby to grow, said Casey.

For 30% to 60% of postpartum women, the tissue doesn’t go back to how it was before pregnancy, Casey continued. However, “just because it’s common does not make it normal,” she emphasized.

Pelvic floor and core strengthening exercises can reduce pain and other complications from rectus diastasis, she said. Other experts say Kegels and squats can help strengthen the pelvic floor, while planks and crunches help the core.

“Strengthening the core was pretty key for me,” Torres agreed.

New taskforce advocates for more resources

The USPOC launched the Women’s Health Taskforce in 2022, which has focused on creating plans to support the women of Team USA. Casey is a part of this 16 person panel that has generated guidelines for postpartum return.

Advocacy for parent athletes resulted in the first ever Olympic village nursery. The nursery offers a childcare center, free diapers and wipes, and private spaces for breastfeeding.

“This is probably the most parent friendly Olympics ever,” said Simon.

However, Geisel said there is still much work to be done.

“We have a group of athletes that had to choose between becoming mothers or winning gold medals,” in the past, Geisel said. “I’m excited about the future and that women no longer will have to choose one or the other.”

Sejal Parekh, M.D., is a practicing pediatrician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — An Egyptian Olympian has revealed she competed at the 2024 Olympics in Paris while seven months pregnant.

Nada Hafez, competing in her third Olympics, shared the news on Instagram Monday, captioning two photos of herself competing with the words, “7 MONTHS PREGNANT OLYMPIAN!”

“What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three! It was me, my competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!,” Hafez wrote, later adding, “This specific Olympics was different; Three times *Olympian* but this time carrying a little Olympian one!”

Hafez reached the round of 16 by defeating American Elizabeth Tartakovsky in women’s saber Monday, before falling to Jeon Hayoung of South Korea.

Hafez shared her pregnancy news publicly following her loss, writing in her Instagram post, “My baby & I had our fair share of challenges, be it both physical & emotional.”

“The rollercoaster of pregnancy is tough on its own, but having to fight to keep the balance of life & sports was nothing short of strenuous, however worth it,” she continued. “I’m writing this post to say that pride fills my being for securing my place in the round of 16!”

Hafez also thanked her husband, whom she wed in 2023, and her family for sharing their “trust” with her.

In addition to the Paris Olympics, Hafez also competed in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The Paris Olympics is perhaps the most family friendly Olympics in history thanks to a nursery that gives athlete parents a space to spend time with their children during the Games.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
N.Y. Yankees 7, Philadelphia Phillies 6
N.Y. Mets 2, Minnesota Twins 0
Tampa Bay Rays 9, Miami Marlins 3
St. Louis Cardinals 8, Texas Rangers 1
Pittsburgh Pirates 6, Houston Astros 2
Oakland Athletics 5, San Francisco Giants 2
Colorado Rockies 7, Los Angeles Angels 10

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore Orioles 6, Toronto Blue Jays 2
Cleveland Guardians 5, Detroit Tigers 0
Seattle Mariners 10, Boston Red Sox 6
Kansas City Royals 4, Chicago White Sox 3

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Cincinnati Reds 6, Chicago Cubs 3
Atlanta Braves 5 Milwaukee Brewers 1
L.A. Dodgers 5, San Diego Padres 6
Washington Nationals 0, Arizona Diamondbacks 17

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(PARIS) — Team USA stars Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey carried the U.S. to gold in the team event in Paris on Tuesday, returning to the top of the podium after Biles dropped out of the event in Tokyo.

Team USA finished with a score of 171.296, nearly six points more than second place.

in winning gold, Biles also became the most-decorated American gymnast in history with eight medals. She broke a tie with the great Shannon Miller for most overall medals.

Italy earned the silver medal with 165.494 points and Brazil took home bronze with 164.497.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team adds a fourth gold medal to its collection after previously landing in the top spot on the podium in 2016 at the Rio Games. The team has medaled at every Olympics since 1992 in Barcelona.

Italy landed on the podium for the first time since 1928, while Brazil — led by star Rebeca Andrade — claimed its first medal in the women’s team event.

US women’s gymnastics win gold medal in team finals

Rotation 1: Vault

The Americans started with vault, putting up 44.100 in a strong performance to give them the lead over China, which started with the uneven bars, after the first rotation. Chiles, Carey and Biles performed on vault with Biles posting a team-high score of 14.900.

Carey was narrowly behind Biles with a 14.800 and Chiles posted a 14.400.

Rotation 2: Uneven Bars

Chiles led off the uneven bars for Team USA with a near stuck landing, posting a score of 14.366, which Biles followed up with a 14.400. In Lee’s first rotation of the day, the Tokyo bronze medalist in this event, subsequently scored 14.566 after her feet tapped the ground, which accounted for a five-tenth deduction.

The U.S. led Italy by 3.102 at the end of the second rotation heading into balance beam.

Rotation 3: Balance Beam

Chiles had a difficult start for the U.S. on the beam with a fall on her entry to the first skill, but recovered to post a score of 12.733.

Lee started strong with a straddle mount and her solid routine with a gainer full dismount earned a 14.600 for the U.S.

Biles, a two-time Olympic balance beam bronze medalist, had a flawless flight series in her routine and posted a 14.366.

Through the third rotation, Team USA led Great Britain by 4.967 with a total score of 129.131.

Rotation 4: Floor Exercise

Suni Lee kicked off Team USA’s first of three floor routines set to music from Lindsey Stirling, the same artist she competed to in Tokyo, and notched a 13.533.

Chiles impressed with a “fire” routine, as Lee told her teammate, upon finishing to an uproar of cheers throughout the arena that resulted in 13.966.

Biles capped off the final rotation and notched the last score of 14.666.

US women’s gymnastics team final in Paris Olympics

This marks the first team in Olympics history for men’s or women’s to field two Olympic all-around gold medalists with veterans Biles, who won in 2016, and Lee, who won in Tokyo three years ago.

The team took home the silver medal in the team finals in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games and will look to best their result in hopes of gold in Paris.

While Hezly Rivera, just 16 years old, is also part of the U.S. team, she did not compete in any of the four apparatuses in the team event. Rivera was prepped and ready to go, but is just as much a part of the team and will get a gold medal for the team’s win.

Scoring on each apparatus is broken up by execution and difficulty to give final combined scores.

The U.S. women have medaled at every team event in the Olympics since 1992.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — The men’s triathlon at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris has been postponed after tests carried out in the Seine “revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,” officials said.

Originally scheduled to take place at 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the event has now been postponed and is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. following the completion of the Women’s Triathlon competition, subject to forthcoming water tests complying with the established World Triathlon thresholds for swimming.

“Unfortunately, meteorological events beyond our control, such as the rain which fell over Paris on 26 and 27 July, can alter water quality and compel us to reschedule the event for health reasons,” Olympic officials said in a statement early Tuesday morning. “Despite the improvement of water quality levels over the last hours, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits.”

Olympic organizers said that updated information regarding tickets and broadcast of the events on Wednesday will be shared in the next hours.

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, swam in the Seine on July 17 in a showcase intended to show how clean the river was for the outdoor swimming events at the Olympics, even after the Seine’s water quality remained questionable and had repeatedly failed tests in advance of the 33rd Olympiad.

“On the eve of the Games, when the Seine will play a key role, this event represents the demonstration of the efforts made by the city and the state to improve the quality of the Seine’s waters and the ecological state of the river,” Hidalgo’s office said in a statement on before her swim.

Even that swim had been postponed from when it was originally scheduled to take place in June but river samples at the time were deemed to be too unhealthy for her to swim in.

During heavy rains, sewage can overflow into the river. For example, on June 18, after several days of rain, E. coli levels in the Seine River jumped to roughly 10,000 Colony Forming Units per milliliter, more than 10 times the safety limit.

According to findings published by Paris City Hall earlier this month, the last week of June saw four days when the water was clean enough to swim in, according to European standards, but no days when it was clean enough to swim in according to U.S. standards.

Paris Olympics officials initially insisted there would be “no plan B,” but organizers revealed their contingency plans on July 5, saying that open-water swimming might take place in the Marne River instead. In addition, officials said they could delay the triathlon event or, in the worst-case scenario, eliminate the swimming portion of the competition altogether.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The U.S. men’s gymnastics team took a thrilling bronze in the team event in Paris on Monday, earning the first team medal for the American men since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

With razor sharp performances in all six rotations — rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, floor exercise and pommel horse — Brody Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong, Frederick Richard and Stephen Nedoroscik earned a spot on the podium at Bercy Arena behind gold medal winner Japan and silver medalist China.

Richard, Malone and Hong started the team off strong with 42.732 points for their rings performance.

Juda and Malone impressed in the second rotation with nearly perfect back-to-back vault routines, earning 14.666 and 14.533 respectively, which was rounded out by Hong’s 14.833 for a combined total of 44.032.

Malone, Richard and Hong posted 43.399 points total on parallel bars, the team’s third rotation.

Malone scored 14.166 in his signature event, the high bar, including a beautiful dismount with two twists, two flips laid out and stuck landing.

Team USA fell just short of Japan in the floor exercise. Juda, Hong and Richard’s performances earned 42.799 combined points.

In the final rotation, Team USA seemingly saved the best for last with the 25-year-old pommel horse “specialist” Nedoroscik, who scored 14.866 with a stuck landing in his only rotation for the team event during the 2024 Paris Games.

His impressive finish combined with Brody and Juda’s routines in that rotation earned 42.466 total, which put Team USA in the bronze medal spot.

Meet the men behind USA’s first team men’s gymnastics medal in 16 years

Brody Malone

The 24-year-old Stanford University graduate made his Olympics debut at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games. His next appearance will be Wednesday for the men’s all-around final.

Frederick Richard

The 20-year-old first-time Olympian received advice to improve his run for vault from Team USA track and field star Noah Lyles, who posted about their shared conversation on Instagram. Richard was the 2023 world championships all-around bronze medallist.

Paul Juda

The 23-year-old son of two Polish immigrants is making his Olympic debut in Paris alongside University of Michigan teammate Richard, after previously failing to qualify for Tokyo 2020. Juda helped Team USA earn a bronze medal at the 2023 world championships in Antwerp, Belgium.

Asher Hong

The 20-year-old from Texas is exactly one month younger than Richard and making his Olympics debut in Paris with a bronze medal from the 2023 world championships under his belt.

Stephen Nedoroscik

The bespectacled 25-year-old from Massachusetts only competes in one discipline — the pommel horse. In 2021, the former Penn State Nittany Lion became the first gymnast from the USA to win a gold medal on pommel horse at the world championships.

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