U.S. men’s gymnastics ends long Olympic medal drought in dramatic fashion

When does a bronze medal feel like gold?

When you haven’t won an Olympic medal in 16 years.

The United States men’s gymnastics team celebrated like it had topped the podium in Monday’s team final at the Paris Olympics, but the jubilation was justified. The underdog Americans totaled a score of 257.793 to finish third behind Japan (259.594) and China (259.062) and capture USA’s first medal since the 2008 Beijing Games.

All five U.S. gymnasts — Brody Malone, Frederick Richard, Asher Hong, Paul Juda and Stephen Nedoroscik — did their part to keep the team’s medal hopes alive. Hong came up big with a score of 14.833 in the vault to help put USA in the lead after two rotations. Richard was clutch with a 14.8333 on the high bar to keep the team in contention.

The Americans entered the sixth and final rotation behind China and Ukraine. Their final push would take place on the pommel horse.

Juda started first and registered a score of 13.900. Malone came through with a 13.700. That set things up perfectly for Steven Nedoroscik, the team’s pommel horse specialist, for the big finish.

Nedoroscik, the 2021 world champion in the pommel, was included in the squad for that lone discipline. So he had to sit and wait during the entire competition before getting his time to shine.

Like a designated hitter batting cleanup, the 25-year-old delivered. Nedoroscik’s routine produced a 14.866 — 6.200 in difficulty and 8.666 in execution — and after his dismount, he was mobbed by his teammates as if they knew they had clinched a medal.

U.S. men’s gymnastics has long taken a backseat to the U.S. women — and with good reason. The women’s Olympic resume features three golds in team competition and six golds in the all-around, including the last five Games. They’re the favorites going into Wednesday’s women’s team final, and Simone Biles is primed to add to her Olympic legend in the all-around and individual events.

America rarely praises non-gold winners. But on Monday — with what they achieved in Monday’s team final — the U.S. men felt like champions. Their remarkable accomplishment should be applauded as such.