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Plano’s Asher Hong helps keep gymnastic medal hopes alive, but U.S. men are in tough spot

Hong and others stepped up after Brody Malone flopped on two of the six apparatuses.

PARIS — On a day when the U.S. men’s most decorated gymnast and unquestioned leader flamed out in the all-around, the littlest and least members came up big in qualifying Saturday, preserving their medal hopes a couple more days, anyway.

Plano native Asher Hong, tiny even for a gymnast at 5-1, and Paul Juda, another Olympic newbie, joined Frederick Richard and pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik in picking up the pieces after Brody Malone flopped on two of the six apparatuses.

Consolation prize: The U.S. men got an audience afterward with Jill Biden, so they had that going for them.

“That was pretty sick,” said Richard, who, along with Juda, qualified for Monday’s all-around titles. “I mean, I did not expect today that I would meet the first lady, but I’m very thankful for the opportunity, and I’m glad they’re watching.”

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By “they” he meant Olympic legends Bart Conner, Brian Boitano and Dawn Staley, now coach of South Carolina’s women’s basketball team.

Richard — a crowd favorite who goes by Frederick Flip on TikTok — said he wished he’d given the celebrities a better show on his floor routine, but otherwise he was happy with his performance.

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Malone? Not so much. Coming off his third national all-around title in Fort Worth last month, he looked more like the gymnast still rehabbing from a horrific knee/leg injury last year that required three surgeries. He misfired once on the pommel horse Saturday and needed three starts on the high bar, his specialty.

Praised by his teammates for his unflappable nature, he nevertheless apologized to them after the U.S. finished second in its subdivision Saturday to Great Britain, 256.561 to 253.229.

Here’s why that’s problematic: China, with its 13 world championships and bronze from Tokyo, and Japan, defending silver medalist and last year’s world champs, are overwhelming favorites for the top two spots in Monday’s finals. Third place is probably up for grabs between the U.S. and Great Britain, which took third and fourth, respectively, at last year’s worlds.

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The U.S. men will need a rebound by Malone to have any shot at their first medal since 2008.

Hong is counting on it.

“Some days you’re gonna be off and some days you’re gonna be on,” said Hong, who grew up in Plano and now lives outside Houston. “But, I mean, you know, Brody’s a dog and a competitor, so I know he’s gonna give it his all in the team finals.”

Like Richards, Juda and Nedoroscik, top scorer of the subdivision in the pommel horse, Hong didn’t hold back. His scores led the U.S. in rings (14.633), floor (14.100) and vault (14.566, his average on the two attempts required of contenders for the vault finals). He’s third overall in rings, fifth on vault and sixth on floor.

Because Nedoroscik competes on the pommel horse in Hong’s place, the latter is ineligible for the all-around, which requires points from all six events.

Hong said he tried to treat the qualifier as if it were any old meet, but it was hard to tell by his results and reactions. During Richard’s floor routine, you could hear Hong’s screams in the upper regions of Bercy Arena.

“I wanted to tone it down a little bit because it’s not team finals,” he said. “And, you know, it’s not a marathon, it’s a sprint.

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“We’ve got a long week ahead of us.”

Malone made it a little bit longer Saturday. Brett McClure, the men’s high-performance director, said he was “surprised” by the two-time Olympian’s day. He conceded they must get him right for Monday in order to have a shot at a team medal. Finishing fifth, as they have in the last three Olympics, is getting a little stale. They’d looked ready for something better after finishing third at the World Championships, when McClure called the goal of a medal “attainable.”

They can still win one, but it looks harder from here.

“We can’t hold anything back in the team finals,” McClure said Saturday. “Great Britain looks amazing.”

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Just like the future looks for Hong, only 20. His family — father, Rick; mother, Karen; and brothers Xander, 18, and Kiefer, 16 — got a close-up view of his Olympic coming-out party Saturday, though Asher couldn’t exactly pinpoint where they were. He thought he could hear his mother, which is saying something, given the racket the crowd made for the Americans.

Pretty soon the family will take its act on the road, when Xander joins Asher this fall at Stanford. He’ll get to see his big brother as BMOC.

Not a little ironic, too, seeing as how both Xander and Kiefer are each at least a head taller. Asked if they give him a hard time about being the shortest of the Brothers Hong, Asher smiled and said, “Sometimes.”

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He said it over his shoulder, as a team official whisked him off to a meeting with the first lady. Not a bad day at all. They’ll just need a better one Monday.

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

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