US men's gymnastics looks forward after winning bronze at Olympics, marking first medal in 16 years

The United States men's Olympic gymnastics team on Monday took home the Bronze in Paris, marking the team's first medal at the Olympics since 2008. 

The men's team finished behind Japan, who took home gold, and China, which finished with the silver. The women's team will compete on Tuesday, after finishing first in the qualifiers on Sunday.

The bronze medal comes after a nearly perfect performance during the competition, where their relatively low difficulty scores made it challenging to finish in first or second. The men's team finished in fifth during the qualifiers on Saturday, after one of the gymnasts fell once on the pommel horse, and twice on the Horizontal bars.

"There's that one meme online where there's a guy on a podium popping champagne, biting the medal, taking all the pictures. And then they zoom out, and he's on third. But that's what it felt like today," gymnast Paul Juda told NPR. "We ended the drought 16 years in the making, and I can't be happier for everybody."

Juda and his teammate Frederick Richard will be competing in the men's all-around competition on Wednesday. Only two Olympians from each country can qualify for the all-around. 

"They used to have pictures in my gym of the past Olympic teams that medaled, and I always looked at that, like, 'Man, what if I was one of those people one day?' And now we are," Richard said.

The men could also medal on one individual apparatus, after Stephen Nedoroscik tied for first during the qualifiers on the pommel horse. That event final will take place on Saturday, at 11:16 a.m. Eastern.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.