Brody Malone went from being the best U.S. male gymnast in 2021 and 2022 to, as he said, pretty much relearning how to walk after three surgeries in 2023.
This week, Malone is expected to return to full, all-around competition for the first time since a high bar dismount fall 14 months ago.
The Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, will include the last two national all-around champions (Malone and Asher Hong), plus world all-around bronze medalist Frederick Richard.
They’re all looking to make the five-man Olympic team for Paris, which will be named after trials from June 27-30 in Minneapolis.
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At trials, the men’s all-around winner makes the team if he is also among the top three on three of the six apparatuses. A committee picks the rest of the roster, focusing heavily on results at nationals and trials.
In an interview last fall, Malone vividly remembered what happened on March 18, 2023 on the high bar, his best event, at a competition in Stuttgart, Germany.
His left hand inadvertently peeled off the bar early for his dismount. It sent him flying in the air at a different trajectory than he planned. He landed backward, awkwardly twisting his right leg.
“I wouldn’t say it was super, super painful when it happened,” he said. “I remember the feeling. It was kind of gross. Just felt like a lot of pressure, and I could feel my knee like dislocate.”
Malone grabbed it and waved for help. He lay on the floor as medical personnel tended to him, took the bar grips off his hands and asked a question — “What did I score?” (a 12.666)
Malone suffered a right tibial plateau fracture, meniscus tear, a partially torn PCL and a fully torn LCL, though it took weeks to learn the full extent of the injuries.
He underwent a first surgery in Germany, then flew direct from Frankfurt to San Francisco with an external fixator sticking out of the leg.
Upon returning to his college home of Stanford, he had a second surgery, inserting nine screws and two plates. Then a third procedure last June.
“Once I found out about what ligaments were torn and kind of like the timeline of recovery, I knew I was going to be able to come back on at least four (out of six) events,” with floor exercise and vault being the unknowns, Malone said earlier this year.
He was bedridden for a month last year, cared for by his dad, John, and then his girlfriend (now fiancée), Serena. They passed time watching “Daisy Jones & The Six.”
He also followed the world championships in October. They brought a mix of pride and motivation.
Malone was pumped to see the U.S. men finish third without him — their first team medal in nine years — and driven by watching Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto win the high bar title.
At 2022 Worlds, Malone edged Hashimoto, the Olympic all-around champion, by one tenth of a point for high bar gold. In 2021, Malone missed an Olympic high bar medal by one spot. Hashimoto won that one.
Malone once printed out a photo of Hashimoto and affixed it to the high bar in his practice gym.
“I’ve got to remind myself every day that’s who I’m trying to beat,” said Malone, who was also fourth in the 2022 Worlds all-around won by Hashimoto.
There is a history of U.S. gymnasts returning from major injury to make an Olympic team.
John Roethlisberger tore his right ACL at the 1998 Nationals, went a year before feeling comfortable tumbling and vaulting at full effort and made his third Olympic team in 2000 at age 30.
Blaine Wilson tore his left biceps at the February 2004 American Cup. He was given a four-to-seven-month timetable and still made the team for his third Olympics that August, also at 30.
Malone, 24, originally planned to return to competition this spring. But the recovery and training has gone well, pushing up the timeline.
His first meet back was in January, when he performed on pommel horse and still rings. He added a third event, parallel bars, at Winter Cup in February.
He has since worked on re-adding floor, vault and high bar to his competition lineup. He doesn’t need to do the all-around to be considered for an Olympic spot, but it would help his chances.
If he makes it to Paris, they could be his final Games.
Malone’s wedding is scheduled for next May. In recent interviews, he said he has yet to decide between competing beyond this summer and putting his Stanford degree in management science and engineering to use.
For now, Malone’s priority in the gym is to help the U.S. men win their first Olympic team medal since 2008.
“You never know how bad you really want something until it gets taken away from you,” he said of gymnastics. “Of course, before my injury, I was like, yeah, I want to go to the Olympics. But now when I had that opportunity kind of taken away, it made me realize, wow, I really do want to go, so that’s kind of what has been pushing me now.”
NBC Olympic research contributed to this report.