By Adam Chau
While China and Japan were the favorites for the men’s gymnastic team event, the U.S. team of Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Frederick Richard, edged out Great Britain for the 3rd place bronze medal.
One of the main stories of the night was Brody Malone who did not have a great performance in the qualifications. Some wondered how he would do in the finals. He redeemed himself along with a strong performance by Hong, who continued his stellar routines into the finals, helping give the team some of its highest scores.
On the still rings he scored a 14.533, which was higher than both Frederick Richard and Brody Malone who had both 14.033 and 14.166 respectively.
On the vault, one of Asher Hong’s best events, he put up a huge score of 14.833. In comparison Juda had a 14.666 and Malone had a 14.533. Those combined scores put the U.S. in the lead after that rotation.
On the parallel bars Hong improved his score over the qualifiers with a 14.400, very close to Frederick Richard’s 14.566 and Brody Malone’s 14.433.
For the floor exercise it was Paul Juda, Frederick Richard, and Asher Hong delivering great floor routines and scores of 14.200, 14.133, and 14.466 to get on the podium.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be perfect and we knew that qualifications technically wasn’t the day that really mattered. Today was the day that mattered. Today as the day to hit sets,” Hong said to the media after Team USA accepted their bronze medals.
On his own individual performance Hong said, “I was happy with my performance today.”
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