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PROVO — The last time the United States' men's gymnastics team won an Olympic medal in the team competition, BYU coach Guard Young was just four years removed from silver medal he won as part of the team in Athens in 2004.
But 16 years later, the feeling was as strong as yesterday when one of the breakout stars of the Paris Summer Games, Stephen Nedoroscik — known as the controversial "Pommel Horse Guy" who specialized in the rare apparatus — helped Team USA regain its spot on the podium for the first time since 2008.
The feeling of representing your country and standing on the podium for an Olympic medal ceremony never completely goes away. But each time the feat is reproduced, there's always a tie that binds, Young told KSL.com.
"You instantly have a connection there because the circles are so small," said Young, a BYU alum who is entering his ninth season as head coach of the women's gymnastics program. "Stephen was a little bit of a controversial pick, the pommel guy. But they went straight analytics, and left emotion out of it; there were others who were deserving and just wasn't enough room."
Like his own medal before him, Young will never forget the moment that Nedoroscik, the 2021 world pommel horse champion who competed collegiately for Penn State, approached the apparatus, took off his thick glasses, and became Superman — or perhaps, most appropriately, Captain America.
"Boy, were the stakes set for Stephen, to have the U.S. go last on pommel horse and him being the last guy up for a meet; who writes that?" he asked rhetorically. "It wasn't planned. … I was worried for Team USA; I started doing the math, and didn't know if we could catch these other teams.
"But he took the glasses off and turned into Superman. It was great."
After two NCAA national championships on vault in 1999 and 2000, Young, a six-time All-American at BYU who was one of the last male gymnasts at BYU before the university cut the program along with wrestling, spent six seasons on staff at the University of Oklahoma from 2000-05 and again from 2011-15.
In international competition, he helped win team silver at the world championships in Ghent, Belgium, in 2001 before adding a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. After being named to the BYU Athletics hall of fame in 2010, the son of former BYU gymnast and hall-of-famer Wayne Young was named head coach of the women's gymnastics program in 2015.
Through his collegiate, international and professional career, Guard Young has seen every level of gymnastics, in both men's and women's competitions. From the highs of Olympic competition to the lows of cutting a collegiate program due to alleged geographic disparities related to BYU joining the Mountain West Conference at the time, according to the Deseret News.
"I still struggle with that decision and the ramifications of it," Young said. "It didn't just affect the current gymnasts, but future athletes who wanted to pursue gymnastics at BYU."
As recently as this past spring, only 15 colleges sponsored men's gymnastics, including three that compete outside of Division I. Only four of those schools are located west of Texas: Cal, Stanford, Oklahoma and Air Force, which all compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Olympic years have a dramatic impact on several sports that many Americans categorize as "four-year sports," or athletics that largely disappear from the public conscience between the Olympic games
Medals, though, often lead to increased media, exposure, donations and air time for many of these sports. Could they even lead to programs being revived, like BYU and men's gymnastics?
Young isn't necessarily holding his breath.
With the $2.8 billion settlement of House v. NCAA leading to revenue sharing with athletes of more than $20 million annually, he admits that the time to add a sport like men's gymnastics probably isn't the current moment.
Several college athletics administrators have openly opined that increased costs could lead to fewer programs as athletic departments seek to balance budgets.
"The world of collegiate athletics is changing so rapidly right now; I feel like every day there's something new that we have to pivot and adjust for," said Young, likening the increased expense to the average American household's expenditure increasing by $22,000 in one year. "We in college athletes don't know what's next – the rules are constantly changing."
But seeing the United States being competitive — even earning Olympic medals — won't hurt his sport's case, either.
"Now that the Olympics have hit, Team USA did a great job, and can that galvanize men's gymnastics?" he added. "The timing of this was perfect for men's gymnastics, as athletic directors and universities are being hit with huge budget obstacles – but maybe this will help give just a little bit of support in that area. Without it, it's going to be super hard to fund a team."
For now, Young's focus remains squarely on his second-year Big 12 program and the 2024-25 season, which will welcome Utah, Arizona and Arizona State to join BYU, Denver, Iowa State and West Virginia in the conference whose best days are ahead of it, Young believes.
"We've got unbelievable universities, great competition in the Big 12, and a great area of the country that is pretty awesome for gymnastics. I couldn't be more excited," he said. "The level of gymnastics in the Big 12 has definitely risen, and is a lot more challenging.
"A big goal of ours is to make it to the evening session at Big 12 championships, which will be held in Salt Lake City. How amazing is that going to be? I love it."
