Stanford's Asher Hong and Brody Malone Help USA Win First Men's Team medal in 16 Years

Dylan Grausz | Aug 9, 2024

Jul 29, 2024; Paris, France; (From left to right) Stephen Nedoroscik, Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda, and Asher Hong hold their bronze medals after the men’s team final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Bercy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

It has been 16 years since the United States Men’s Gymnastics team won a medal in a team event, last doing so in Beijing in 2008. However, that all changed this year as Stanford legends Asher Hong and Brody Malone helped the team to a bronze medal in Paris, the team’s first such medal since those ‘08 games.

Finishing behind both Japan and China, two countries that both medaled in the previous four Olympics, the journey to a medal was a long and grueling one for the members of this year’s squad. In getting to bring a medal home for the nation and add themselves to the list of legendary American teams makes the moment that much sweeter.

“It’s been unreal,” Hong said in an interview with NBC 5 Dallas Fort-Worth's Laura Harris. “The whole journey that I’ve been through to just come to this moment and finally win an Olympic medal for my country and represent them, it feels amazing.”

Hong played a major role in the triumph, delivering an impressive vault during the team all-around second rotation, scoring a 14.833 that helped the US gain even more ground and put them firmly in a spot to get on the podium, crediting the training that he had back home in Texas to help him feel confident going into the routine.

“I have done a lot of numbers with this vault and I attribute it to my coaches back in Houston,” Hong said. “They have trained me so well for that vault and you know, it’s just another routine that I need to nail for the team… I see it as just another vault for me, another routine for me.”

Also playing a major role on the team, Malone, who dominated on the rings and the parallel bars to help the team earn the podium spot, proved vital as a leader as well, leading team huddles before events to keep the guys calm and get them in the right mindset to go out and compete, emphasizing staying focused on themselves as a big theme.

“After every event, we did a huddle to just remind ourselves to stay in our bubble,” Malone said on a Today Show interview in Paris. “We made it a big point to not watch any of the other teams and only focus on what we could control and that’s our gymnastics. So we tried to not even look at the scores.”

Most teams that are in the Olympics have to establish that chemistry as some, if not most of them, are not used to being on a team or being on a team together, but this year’s gymnastics squad gave off a much different vibe. Building a fast camaraderie and being able to come together in cohesion quickly, something that Hong attributes to a majority of the squad being college gymnasts, with the NCAA being notable for being very team-oriented.

“It makes a world of a difference,” Hong said in that same interview. “We all come from the NCAA and the NCAA really is all about the team and it’s more than just yourself, you’re competing for your brothers, and we just wanted to go out there and compete for each other and just have a lot of fun with each other and show off our gymnastics. The crowd was also going crazy, shouting U.S.A. It was amazing.”

For the rest of their lives, this moment will always be remembered and after all the blood, sweat and tears put into achieving this very goal, being able to leave Paris not only with a medal, but as American heroes, is something that will forever go down in history.

“This is something that we’ve worked for for our entire careers,” Malone said. “And it all came down to that moment, that competition and to come out with a medal around our neck is just incredible.”