TTo understand the relationship between Frederick Richard and Paul Juda, the latter likes to tell the following story: when the two went to compete in the World Cup in Antwerp, Belgium, Last year, Juda commented how cool it was to be in the competition and compete for Richard’s answer from the USA? And the coolest thing: winning a medal.
They both won bronze medals in the team event, and Richard also took home bronze in the all-around competition – even cooler.
Juda followed Richard’s example in Paris at his first Olympics and perhaps even overshadowed him a little. After Brody Malone, widely expected to compete in the all-around competition on July 31 along with Richard, fell twice from the high bars and stumbled on the floor routine during the qualifying round, it was Juda and Richard who scored enough points to qualify and move on to the all-around final. “Today would have been one of those things where I could say I did an all-around at the Olympics,” Juda said of competing in all six men’s gymnastics events during the qualifying round. “But getting to an all-around final, I think that’s the coolest thing.”
See more information: What are ‘the Twisties’ in gymnastics?
Training and teammates helped the Americans win bronze in the team event at Bercy Arena on July 29, the first time the Americans have reached the podium in that event in nearly 20 years. Both are at the University of Michigan; Richard will be a junior in the fall and Juda is a graduate student and co-captain of the men’s gymnastics team. In Paris, the two are staying together, but will compete against each other in the men’s all-around.
But it’s a friendly rivalry. “It means a lot,” Richard said of competing with his training partner. “We were both in the gym, pushing each other, training, and it shows. It’s going to be a lot of fun because we’re going to have another teammate competition, and having my closest teammate by my side is just exciting.”
Richard is a world medalist in the individual all-around and Juda knows his difficulty scores may not be high enough to get him onto the podium in Paris, which will likely be dominated by Chinese and Japanese gymnasts. But the opportunity to compete in the event is one of the items Juda listed on his whiteboard of goals. “A few months ago, maybe even a few years ago, I don’t think I would have been able to do this,” Juda said of his solid performance in the pressured environment of the qualifying round. He has been working on the mental side of competition, which has given him the confidence to be the first member of the North American team on most apparatus in the Paris sessions so far. He maintained this firmness in the team event and won his first Olympic medal.
Juda and Richard feed off their different personalities – while Richard is bolder and seemingly confident, Juda is more introspective. But they shared an early propensity for the difficult skills and fearlessness required in gymnastics. Richard was doing cartwheels and handstands in his crib. “[His sister] He used to call me to tell me what Frederick was doing when he turned his crib: ‘Mommy, come and see what Frederick is doing,‘” says Richard’s mother, Anne-Marie. Juda was equally active as a boy, enough to make his parents apologize to his first coaches when he fidgeted so much before a competition. “I see my Paul is under the chair and over the chair and next to the chair and moving the body in all directions”, says Ewa Bacher.
Both Juda and Richard started fitness classes when they were young; Richard was probably too young because he wanted to run under all the apparatus and his first coach, Tom Fontecchio, asked his parents to bring him back when he was a little older and could follow instructions better. But for both boys, gymnastics was the perfect option, with its challenging skills and discipline. And they equally dedicated themselves to the long hours in the gym necessary to reach the highest level in the sport.
“People ask me what encouragement I was giving him; I didn’t need it,” says Bacher. She remembers once seeing her youngest son so tired from juggling school and gymnastics that she gently suggested he might miss a practice or two. “He said, ‘What are you talking about, I’m fine, I have so many things to do,’” she says of his reaction. “I learned my lesson.”
Richard would stay behind during family holidays so as not to miss training, living with the coach or neighbors. “He would give up anything for gymnastics,” says his sister Alexandra.
See more information: How to see 4 sports and 5 gold medals in 8 hours at the Paris Olympics
Richard is balancing classes and becoming a rising social media star and budding entrepreneur; he opened a clothing company, Frederico turns, whose logo is a silhouette of him doing a backflip. He created an exclusive series of videos that pit his abilities against other elite athletes in a range of different skills, such as who can jump the highest or furthest and who has the best dexterity. Juda is already establishing a reputation as a coach, working with young gymnasts to continue to develop the sport and advocating for maintaining men’s gymnastics programs at the college level at a time when many universities are getting rid of them.
“It’s great chemistry, it’s always good to have a teammate with you, it helps you push each other to achieve [a] specific goal,” says Richard’s father, Carl.
Richard is also committed to developing men’s gymnastics and providing more opportunities for people of color in the sport. And he agrees with Juda that maintaining the collegial system is a big part of achieving that. “I feel like I became a better man and a better person” by participating in college gymnastics, he said. “The character building I went through the last two years at the NCAA at the University of Michigan was huge.”
It’s Juda and Richard’s first Olympic experience, and it doesn’t matter if they don’t win a second medal. What matters is that they have to do the next cool thing.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
