The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1524451
❱ FREDERICK RICHARD LOOKS TO STAR IN PARIS GAMES Rising junior men's gymnast Frederick Richard headlines the star power Michigan is sending to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which kick off on July 26 and run through Aug. 11. Richard used a phenomenal performance at the 2024 Olympic Trials to get there, win- ning the all-around and high bar events, and finishing second on parallel bars and third on floor exercise. At 20 years old, he is the youngest men's gymnast to qualify for the games as a trials champion since 1972. The world stage is nothing new for Richard, an eight-time All-American and the 2024 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year after capturing the conference's all-around title. He took bronze in the all-around and as a team member in the 2023 World Championships and was the first American to win an all-around medal since 2010. Team USA won its first group medal since 2014. "I have higher expectations than everyone else does," Richard told Time magazine. "As a kid, I had bigger goals than the Olympics. I would envision what routines Frederick Richard could do when he's 20 years old. I was imagining doing routines where all the skills I did were invented by me. I was doing three flips and three twists instead of two flips and two twists. I was breaking the rules of physics. The way I see it, I reached for the stars and I landed on the moon, which is the Olympic level." Richard also was the conference's Freshman of the Year in 2023, winning the NCAA high bar, parallel bar and all-around national championships. He also was the runner-up in the floor exercise and won all-around and high bar events at the Big Ten level as a freshman. — Anthony Broome | PHOTO COURTESY USA GYMNASTICS 6 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2024