I'm happy for Our Friend Steve's success - he truly seems like a good guy and he's not MAGA, bless - but I'm sorry that Frederick isn't getting opportunities like this
Frederick is only 20 though right? He has a lot of time to get even more famous and maybe even 2 more Olympics. I think he’s going to be the star in LA!
I agree that Frederick still has time. It’s a lot more common for male gymnasts to have longer careers and he is still really young.
For the sake of comparison, back in 2021, Stephen was 22. He finished 1st at nationals, 3rd at Olympic trials, didn’t make the Olympic team for Tokyo, and then became world champion a few months later.
I think Frederick is capable of making the Olympic team again in 2028 and medaling in LA!
According to this interview, he already has deals with Crocs, Celsius energy drink, Marriott, and Peloton so he’s already doing really well. Good for him!
Yeah, Frederick's done so much work on social media too! His TikToks are amazing. But he's still young and I'm hoping he has plenty of time to shine in LA.
fred was unfortunately never getting this kind of opportunity because while he, paul and asher were extremely consistent, they weren’t getting a look in past brody’s pathetic redemption storyline that anyone following gymnastics knew was not happening in AA or any of the event finals anyway. he peaked at just the right time to make the team, and then not only flopped when it mattered most but couldn’t even get it together as the supposed team leader. and poor paul couldn’t even get the jonathan horton treatment despite being the world’s best hype man while brody sat on his ass and sulked half the week.
i think what worked in stephen’s favor was the US once again going last up on pommel and it all coming down to their pommel specialist to clinch bronze again-plus he’s a lot more photogenic and charismatic than sasha artemev was.
fred will have his time to shine in LA along with khoi and shane hopefully.
I agree that USAG really wanted this to be Brody's redemption despite all evidence to the contrary. They really thought he was going to be the Simone of the men's team.
I also agree that Stephen being the last competitor during the team final really helped boost his popularity. I think that regardless of his performance, there still would have been memes about the glasses and having his eyes closed while the rest of the team competed, but having that anchor spot so that all eyes were on him pushed him over from another meme to the much higher level of attention that he ended up getting (which I'm fine with because, as you pointed out, he is charismatic and his interviews have been fun to watch.
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For the sake of comparison, back in 2021, Stephen was 22. He finished 1st at nationals, 3rd at Olympic trials, didn’t make the Olympic team for Tokyo, and then became world champion a few months later.
I think Frederick is capable of making the Olympic team again in 2028 and medaling in LA!
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i think what worked in stephen’s favor was the US once again going last up on pommel and it all coming down to their pommel specialist to clinch bronze again-plus he’s a lot more photogenic and charismatic than sasha artemev was.
fred will have his time to shine in LA along with khoi and shane hopefully.
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I agree that USAG really wanted this to be Brody's redemption despite all evidence to the contrary. They really thought he was going to be the Simone of the men's team.
I also agree that Stephen being the last competitor during the team final really helped boost his popularity. I think that regardless of his performance, there still would have been memes about the glasses and having his eyes closed while the rest of the team competed, but having that anchor spot so that all eyes were on him pushed him over from another meme to the much higher level of attention that he ended up getting (which I'm fine with because, as you pointed out, he is charismatic and his interviews have been fun to watch.
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