U.S. earns shocking medal in men's team gymnastics final

The U. S. men qualified for the event in fifth place and weren't expected to seriously contend for a medal. But against the odds, each of the five athletes — Brody Malone, Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Frederick Richard and Stephen Nedoroscik — bettered their qualification scores and shot up the rankings.

Nedoroscik, a pommel horse specialist, delivered the decisive routine of the night. He waited the full length of the meet, nearly three hours, before putting his nerves aside and executing a 14.800 performance in the final routine of the meet.

The U. S. men finished behind Japan, whose legendary leader Daiki Hashimoto bounced back from a poor qualifying performance to deliver Japan its eighth team all-around gold medal. It also finished behind China, which bounced back from a rough high bar rotation to clinch the silver by a small margin.

The U. S. men will return to competition in the individual events later this week. Juda and Richard will compete in the all-around on Wednesday, July 31 while Nedoroscik will compete in the pommel horse final on Saturday, Aug. 3.