Men's Gymnastics Olympic Updates: Juda, Richard Conclude Olympic Run With All-Around Finals
7/27/2024 6:15:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics, Olympics
• Paris Olympics Site | U-M Olympics Coverage
Wednesday, July 31
Two days after leading Team USA to its first team medal since 2008, Wolverines Paul Juda and Fred Richard closed out their 2024 Olympic run with the all-around finals. Juda finished 14th and Richard finished 15th.
Juda opened the day on the still rings, posting a score of 13.433, while Richard started on the pommel horse (12.733). Through the first five rotations, Richard sat in 12th place with the floor exercise remaining and Juda sat in 16th place with the pommel horse for his final rotation.
Juda finished with a final score of 82.197 and Richard an 82.166. Shinnosuke Oka of Japan (86.832), Boheng Zhang of China (86.599), and Ruoteng Xiao of China (86.364) took home gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
Richard's best performance of the day was on the horizontal bar, with the junior posting a score of 14.400. Juda's best came on pommel horse and parallel bars, seeing matching scored of 13.866.
Monday, July 29
For the first time in 16 years, the United States men's gymnastics took home an Olympic medal. Led by University of Michigan gymnasts Paul Juda and Fred Richard, Team USA earned bronze in the team finals.
The pair competed in four events on the day, with Juda on floor exercise, pommel horse, vault and horizontal bar and Richard earning scores on floor, still rings, horizontal bar and parallel bars. The U.S. led through the first two rotations (86.764), holding a 0.666-point advantage over China (86.098). With one rotation left, Team USA went to the pommel horse in third (215.327). Japan claimed gold (259.594), while China earned silver (257.793). The U.S. squad finished with a score of 257.793.
Juda and Richard will conclude their Olympic competition on Wednesday (July 31) at 11:30 a.m. in the all-around finals. Richard will begin on pommel horse and Juda will begin on still rings.
Saturday, July 27
Paul Juda and Fred Richard will head to the men's gymnastics team finals on Monday, July 29, at 11:30 a.m. after Team USA finished fifth (253.229 points) in the qualifying round on Saturday (July 27). The pair also qualified for the all-around finals on Wednesday, July 31.
Team USA sat in second behind Great Britain (256.561) in the team standings after the first subdivision, while Richard (83.498) finished third and Juda (82.865) finished fourth in the all-around.
Following the conclusion of all three subdivisions, Team USA sat in fifth place behind China (263.028), Japan (260.594), Great Britain and Ukraine (253.893). Italy (249.764), Switzerland (249.662) and Canada (247.794) round out the lineup for the Team Finals.
Richard finished 10th (83.498) and Juda finished 13th (82.865) in the all-around, with the top-24 individuals advancing to the finals. Richard also sits in the third reserve spot on the high bar after finishing 11th (14.166) in the qualifying round.
Senior Lais Najjar (Syria) and former Wolverine Kevin Penev (Bulgaria) also competed in the qualifying round, with Najjar competing in four events and Penev competing in all six.
Najjar's best finish was on the vault (13.900), while Penev finished with an all-around score of 77.631.
Team USA will start on the still rings and rotate with Italy. In the all-around finals, Richard will start on the pommel horse in the second rotation and Juda will start on the still rings in rotation three.
