Gymnastics has been a sport that has played a significant role in the life of Olympian Frederick Richard. Richard first sought Gymnastics at age four after following the footsteps of his older sister who actively competed in the sport. Richard trained at the Massachusetts Elite Gymnastics Academy and attended Stoughton High School before going on to the University of Michigan, where he continued to excel in the sport.
Richard started his gymnastics career in 2019 when he competed in the National Championships. He won a bronze medal in the floor exercise and earned a spot on the junior national team. In 2020, Richard competed at the Elite Team Cup and the Winter Cup, finishing third in the latter event. The following year, he returned to the National Championships and won the junior all-around title. He was selected to compete in the Junior Pan American Championships, where he helped the U.S. team win gold. Individually, Richard won gold medals in the all-around, vault, and horizontal bar, as well as silver and bronze in other events.
In 2022, Richard competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge and the Pan American Championships, winning multiple gold medals and leading the U.S. team to victory. Additionally, he performed in senior-level competitions domestically, earning a spot on the senior national team.
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In 2023, Richard began competing for the Michigan Wolverines and represented the U.S. at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge, where his team won first place. He also competed at the World University Games and the Xfinity National Championships, earning a spot on the U.S. team for the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. There, Richard helped the U.S. team win a bronze medal and became the youngest American gymnast to win an individual world medal in the men’s all-around.
This year Richard finished second in the NCAA men’s Gymnastics Championship and the National Championships. Richard helped the U.S. win a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, which was their first medal in the team event in 16 years.
The 20-year-old has a goal to expand the sport of gymnastics and bring more recognition, he told CBS News.
“I grew up in a gym that if you’re lucky, 10% of the people in the room are male gymnasts and the rest are women,” he said. “I grew up not even wanting to tell people that I do gymnastics … It’s why I want to get as many kids into the sport as possible, as many Black kids into the sport as possible because that was another thing I struggled with growing up.”
Richard told NPR that he wants to provide more opportunities for athletes to compete at the collegiate level in the sport.
“I think we all realize this is bigger than us,” he said. “We all grew up giving everything to the sport. We want other kids to have that opportunity, to have way more colleges to select from and to get blessed with what they deserve, because the sport deserves so much more.”
