"Men's gymnastics is so underrated, arguably the most athletic athletes" - Gabby Thomas hails Fred Richard on bronze medal at World Championships

Olympic silver medalist Gabby Thomas recently praised USA’s Fred Richard for earning a bronze medal in the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on October 5.

The 19-year-old American gymnast created history by becoming the first American man since 2010 to win a World Gymnastics Championships all-around medal. He did so by taking third place on Thursday night.

Richard won the bronze medal with 84.332 points. It was the Massachusetts boy’s debut on the world stage and he made it memorable by becoming the first American man to win the bronze since Jonathan Horton in 2010.

Previously, he was the 2021 US junior all-around champion and was also the gold medalist in the said category at the 2021 Junior Pan American Championships.

So, admiring Richard’s historic achievements at the ongoing world championship, American track and field star Gabby Thomas congratulated the young man, She also urged the nation to focus more on men’s gymnastics.

On her X (previously known as Twitter) profile, she shared a post by USA Gymnastics that highlighted the milestones touched by the young gymnast. Along with the post, Thomas wrote:

"Men's gymnastics is so underrated...arguably the most athletic athletes," Thomas wrote.

Moreover, besides his individual medal at the world championships, he also boasts of another bronze medal in the team event. He won it with men’s Team USA, which also included Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Yul Moldauer, and Khoi Young.

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Fred Richard revealed that he manifested his goals every day

Fred Richard at 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships - Day Three

After winning the gold medal in the all-around category, Richard shared his feelings with Gymnastics Now.

The young gymnast explained that the universe worked in a weird way to make him achieve the medal. He believed that the universe wanted the world to see his hard work before he got the medal at the world championship.

Furthermore, Fred Richard shared that he would manifest his goal every day.

"[Manifesting my goals] has been very important. I mean, when you're going along this super hard journey, every second of your life, you're thinking about these goals. You might as well have a positive, happy attitude about it, you know."

He explained that he always went to the gym with a happy feeling as he knew he was working to achieve medals. He was glad that his hard work resulted in the greatest way possible.

Above all, he was happy with the journey he witnessed throughout and kept him committed to his goal.

Besides bronze medallist Fred Richard, Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto defended his gold medal and Ukraine’s Ilia Kovtun won the silver medal in the event.