Frederick Richard: Serving A Purpose Greater Than the Sport

Since making his senior debut in 2022, Frederick Richard has quickly cemented himself as a legend in men’s gymnastics in the U.S. and around the world. He’s achieved this legendary status for his accomplishments on and off the competition floor, as well as for his advocacy to grow the sport. At the World Championships in 2023, Richard’s star rose as he became the first American man to win an All-Around medal since 2010 when he won the bronze medal. The achievement put him on the path to stardom at the Paris Olympics, xwhere he helped Team USA win their first Olympic Team medal since 2008, something he sensed would happen heading into the Team Final. Richard, who is a strong believer in feeling the energy and vibes before a big competition, told us he could feel that the team was destined for success. 

“The night before winning the medal, we were just all together on the balcony in the Olympic village, and I knew there that we were going to do something big the next day,” Richard said.

Richard never lacked confidence in himself or his Olympic teammates despite a somewhat disappointing fifth place finish in the qualifications. “That was kind of the vibe, like, we have nothing to lose for the underdog,” he said. “We trust in each other and I was so comfortable going into day two, because day one didn’t go how the world expected.”

Changing the Game

Since Richard’s rise in gymnastics, he’s always had bigger goals than winning medals. Being an advocate for growing the popularity of men’s gymnastics is equally as important to him. He launched a brand named “FrederickFlips” where he has gained nearly 1 million followers on Instagram and TikTok. The brand helped him promote men’s gymnastics in different and unique ways, as well as help the sport change for the better. After reaching the height of his career at the Olympics, Richard was faced with the question: what’s next for him? He knew he wanted to compete at more Olympics and win more medals, but he also realized that he wanted to have a bigger impact on the sport he loves.

Richard remembered how growing up he never felt comfortable in a typical gymnastics uniform. He wanted to make a change for the kids that now look up to him. 

At Winter Cup in February, Richard debuted a new free-fitting uniform that could be seen as more inclusive, and resembles a basketball uniform.  “The goal is, everybody should be comfortable, confident,” he said. “I compete with confidence every time I compete. If someone looks at me and sees how I compete, they’re gonna say, ‘You’re a confident competitor. You’re always having fun, you’re always happy.’ I wanted a uniform to reflect that, and I wanted the freedom to have the uniform that would reflect that for you. So if someone else wants this old uniform to stop, they have that now.”

Richard acknowledges that the change of style was met with some criticism. Not only will Richard get deducted for wearing the uniform, he was also met with some online criticism. 

“We did a lot of research when I was making the uniform, and after Winter Cup,” Richard said. “Actually seeing the media, seeing how different groups of people responded, understanding how some groups might be offended in what way. How do we please them or tailor to them? Because we wanted to be inclusive, how do we tailor to the judges and the deductions? It’s honestly been a very fun journey of trying to unite people, or at least, satisfy as many people as possible.”

Richard worked with his team to make the necessary changes. He wants people to understand that nothing is perfect on the first try and is excited to showcase the new version of the uniform at the Xfinity U.S. Championships. He also has future plans to begin rolling out the uniform to the public and allow for younger gymnasts to have access. 

Around the Globe

Following Winter Cup, Richard took on another ambitious feat. He broke the world record for the most backflips in a 24-hour period with a total of 1,111 backflips. He live-streamed breaking the world record and gave fans the opportunity to donate to “Frederickflips Foundation” a foundation that provides gymnastics equipment for underprivileged children in Africa. Of course such a daring challenge comes with risk of injury, but Richard’s motto this year is serving a bigger purpose. 

“I could stay perfect and not do these other daring things, lock in just gymnastics and try to get some more medals,” Richard said. “Or, we could try to do things that get more eyes on the sport. This was for raising money to get equipment to kids in Uganda. I could do things that grow the sport that are bigger than just the Olympics every four years.”

Richard’s world record live stream helped raise 50,000 dollars for children in Uganda. After raising the funds, Richard visited the kids in Uganda. “I ended up hosting an event in Uganda,” Richard said. “Over 1000 people showed up in person. This happened two weeks after deciding to host it. Over 1000 people are coming in person.” 

While in Africa, Richard got the chance to experience the kids’ training environment and help inspire them. He ultimately left feeling inspired by the children who love the sport despite not having the proper equipment. 

“It was amazing to see it just shows it’s more than a sport,” Richard said. “Gymnastics is actually something much broader, bigger and more complicated, and you just respect it much stronger.”

Before Richard traveled to Africa, he also  had the opportunity to train in both China and Japan alongside their national teams. He spent two weeks in each country and this time, it was Richard receiving new opportunities and experiences. 

“I went to China and Japan to learn from people that have more opportunity, more resources in their sport of gymnastics, to have these training facilities that they have, that they dedicate their whole life to, and I got to see exactly what they’re doing that makes them so much better than the guys in the U.S.,” he said. “I take a lot from them. My whole training style is very different now, when I came back than it was before. I’m hoping that gets me to the next level, where I can be getting these gold medals on the world stage, Olympic stage.”

Richard witnessed the amount of hours both National teams train in a day and realized that he could also be safely training more. He was able to take in the strategy these teams have in order to train smarter and longer, and is applying these procedures to his own training. 

“It’s kind of like a formula,” Richard said. “I’m back here doing the same training plan, and I believe and trust in it, because they did it. So even if one week is hard, my body’s really tired, I’m struggling. I know it’s possible, so I push through and I’m staying healthy, and it’s going to get me, hopefully, to that same moment.”

Champions At Last

In April, Richard accomplished another top goal as a gymnast: winning an NCAA Team Title for Michigan. While everything he has accomplished in his sport is special to him, winning the NCAA title with his brothers is difficult to compare. 

“Actually getting to be with a team again, your brothers who trust you, who want the NCAA championship as badly as the Olympic team wanted the Olympics. You’re realizing, wait a second, winning NCAAs is as important as winning the Olympics. This is the same high-pressure situation my team has known for the last three years. We would give anything for this championship, for this medal to be in the history of our college.”

As the accolades continue to build for Richard, so does “FrederickFlips.” The success of his brand has opened the door for new opportunities, such as collabs with other major content creators which Richard is excited to reveal in the future. 

“Number one, I’m proud of myself,”  he said. “Having started this three years ago. It’s easy to just do gymnastics, and everybody around you tells you ‘just do gymnastics.’ If you start creating content, you’re getting distracted from just doing gymnastics. What if you don’t make the Olympics? You’ve got school, too. How are you going to balance all these things? Oh, now you’re doing bigger and bigger things. I had to kind of push against all of those things, because I had a feeling we could build something, and now the world is kind of seeing that is being built, and kind of believing also.”

Eyes On the Prize

While Richard has enjoyed each aspect of life outside of competition and training, he’s still extremely committed to success in Elite gymnastics in 2025 and beyond. He’s  been back and training and is ready to showcase changes to his routines at the Xfinity U.S. National Championships. 

“Training has been going really well,” he said. “There’s a lot of small things I’ve been improving that I’m hoping will make that jump to get to that gold medal-level. I’m really looking forward to peaking at World Championships, U.S. Championships—my goals look great. Still win [at Championships] but World Championships is where I’m supposed to peak and actually go after those medals. And then I have some things planned outside of the competition, every routine will be different than at NCAA Championships. At NCAA’s  I was very sharp, but I didn’t have massive difficulty. I was actually trying to go stay healthy. I had some shoulder pain. Now I’m healthier. There’s a couple upgrades I’m pushing on each event, and the goal is to show that at Championships.”

One thing is certain, Richard brings the show each time he steps onto the competition floor, and the lights in New Orleans for the U.S. Championships will be ready to shine.

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