They closed the gap.
Three years ago, at the Tokyo Olympics, the U.S. men walked into the Ariake Gymnastics Centre at a six-point deficit before competition even began and ultimately finished fifth. Three years later, they are Olympic bronze medalists for the first time since 2008.
Japan won gold by 0.532 points over its longtime rival, China. It was Japan's eighth team gold and first since the Rio Games in 2016. China scored 259.062, and the U.S. finished less than two points behind Japan's 259.594 with a 257.793, proof it is catching the top teams in the world.
"I just stopped crying, so I can speak," high performance director Brett McClure, a member of the 2004 U.S. silver medal team, said after the meet. "I can't even describe it. Every single routine kept getting better and better. Everyone did their job. They absolutely earned it tonight."
Before Monday night, it had been 16 years since the U.S. men's team finished on the podium in Olympic competition. That 2008 team was similarly filled with young, first-time Olympians who struggled on day one of competition and rebounded in thrilling fashion in the team final to take bronze. Brody Malone, the only returning Olympian on this team and its de facto leader, said the key in Monday's success was having short-term memories for what happened during Saturday's qualification, where he suffered uncharacteristic falls on pommel horse and high bar and the team qualified fifth.
"We had a meeting before the meet and told each other, 'We're just going to treat this like NCAA championships,'" Malone said, a bronze medal draped around his neck. "We all come from NCAA backgrounds and know what it's like to compete for a team, compete for a brotherhood, and it's very easy to translate that to Team USA. That was our approach going into today and it worked out."
From their opening rotation on rings to event specialist Stephen Nedoroscik's clutch, closeout performance on pommel horse, this team was captivating. The gymnasts fought for every landing and hit 18-for-18, the only country in the meet that didn't count a fall. Japan won despite a fall from reigning Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto on pommel horse. China took second while counting falls on vault and high bar. In a three-up, three-count format, that's a testament to the difficulty of their routines, something the U.S. has worked hard to increase over the past three years.
"We're trending in the right direction," McClure said. "Japan and China are still in another category. If we want to get better and push for first place in L.A. [in 2028], this is going to be extremely motivating."
In the mix after their first rotation, the Americans' momentum really picked up during vault, where a largely pro-USA crowd punctuated every stuck landing with chants of "USA! USA!" that ricocheted around Bercy Arena. "I did not expect that," said Paul Juda, who led off the lineups on four of six rotations. "The first 'USA!' I was like, 'Oh my god, this is awesome.' But I thought maybe it would fade. But it kept growing and growing and as we went deeper into the competition, the crowd got even louder. When you hear, 'USA! USA!' you get goosebumps. It's the greatest feeling in the world."
This team gave its fans a lot to cheer about. Frederick Richard, who will compete alongside Juda in the all-around final on Wednesday, performed one of the best high bar routines of his career to raucous applause. Asher Hong stuck one of the most difficult vaults of the competition and then celebrated with so much enthusiasm, the photos of his reaction were trending online before the end of the meet. And when they weren't competing, all five members of Team USA became the loudest cheerleaders in the arena. Part of that was unbridled enthusiasm. Part of it was strategy to keep them in their bubble and focused on themselves.
"We made it very clear from the get-go that we weren't going to watch other teams. We weren't going to watch anyone else's gymnastics or worry about scores," Malone said. "That helps you stay in the moment. We had a team huddle after every event just to re-center ourselves. I was telling the guys, 'It's not over yet. We still have a lot more to do. Stay in our bubble and keep moving forward.'"
That's a good philosophy to keep heading into the next quadrennium, too.