History making Team USA gymnast Fred Richard: Meet the Stoughton man

STOUGHTON — Stoughton’s very own Frederick (Fred) Richard has his sights set on the 2024 Paris Olympics after becoming the youngest U.S. male gymnast to earn an individual medal at the 2023 Gymnastics World Championships earlier this month. At just 19 years old, Richard won bronze in the all-around competition, becoming the U.S.’s first men’s all-around finalist since 2010.

Now a sophomore at the University of Michigan with a full scholarship for gymnastics, Richard has his sights set on gold at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

While he’s traveled the world competing on the sport’s biggest stages, he hasn’t forgotten about his hometown of Stoughton, Mass. “I'm thankful for everybody in the Stoughton community. I couldn't have gotten here without them,” said Richard.

More on Fred Richard: This NCAA champion from Stoughton has a huge social-media following

Here's everything you need to know about Stoughton’s Olympic hopeful.

Where did Fred Richard get his start?

It all started in Stoughton, when Richard, just 2 years old at the time, toddled into Somersault Gymnastics (now called Premier Gymnastics) to watch his older sister’s practice.

“After watching these kids doing these crazy skills, I’d go home and be flipping on my parent’s bed, landing on my head,” said Richard. “My parents saw that, number one, I was going to kill myself and two, they better put me in the sport too.”

How old was Fred Richard when he started gymnastics?

At 2 years old, Richard started at Somersault Gymnastics.

“I had a lot of energy, and I wasn't really listening at all. I was that kid running all over the place,” said Richard. “So, they asked me to come back when I was a little older and more mature."

At 4 years old, Richard returned to the gym and never looked back. “That’s when I started for real,” he said.

Where did Fred Richard train?

Richard trained at Somersault Gymnastics, which was just two minutes up the road from his house in Stoughton, from ages 4 through 14. But as Richard advanced and it became clear he would be training for the Olympic level, his coach at Somersault Gymnastics encouraged him to transfer to the Massachusetts Elite Gymnastics Academy (MEGA) in Millis.

“He told me I had outgrown the gym. There were certain things I just couldn’t learn, dangerous skills, that needed a different facility,” said Richard.

Who were Fred Richard’s coaches?

Richard’s first coach at Somersault Gymnastics was Tom Fontecchio. “My coach Tom was the first person to see my potential. He went out of his way to get me to that next level. If our gym didn’t have the right equipment, he would take me to other gyms on Saturdays so I could use theirs,” said Richard.

In 2014, Fontecchio spoke to Wicked Local about Richard’s potential. “I have coached over 40 years and have had over 100 scholarship gymnasts... but have never had such a talented gymnast at his age,” he said. “If he stays healthy, he should be a very good college gymnast, or maybe go further.”

When Richard was 14, he began training with Levon Karakhanyan, the owner and founder of MEGA and the Boy’s Competitive Head Coach.

Both Fontecchio and Karakhanyan were in the audience to watch Richard earn an all-around bronze medal at the world championships in Belgium.

At The University of Michigan, Richard trains with Yuan Xiao, Jordan Gaarenstroom, and Juha Tanskanen.

Where did Fred Richard go to school?

Despite a rigorous and time-consuming training schedule, Richard went through the Stoughton Public School system — Dawe Elementary School, O’Donnell Middle School, and Stoughton High School. But balancing schoolwork, a social life, and gymnastics practice wasn’t always easy.

“The dedication to the sport did take up most of my time, but I loved every second of it,” he said.

COVID-19 hit during Richard’s sophomore year at Stoughton High School, moving learning online. When the school opened its doors again, Richard decided to stick with online learning. “I liked the freedom of being online and I had more time to train, so I decided to enroll in online classes at The University of Massachusetts Amherst for my senior year,” he said.

What challenges did Fred Richard face?

“Gymnastics was my way of life, but it definitely came with a lot of challenges. We train four plus hours a day, five or six days a week so I didn’t have the privilege of hanging out all the time like everybody else in high school. I had to find opportunities on the weekend to keep that connection with my friends,” he said.

Richards also faced a serious physical challenge. “At 14, I had a stress fracture in my back that took me out for six months. After those six months, I went back to the gym for a month, started progressing back, and ended up fracturing my back again,” said Richard. “But there wasn’t ever a thought in my mind that I wouldn’t come back.”

Despite the challenges that come with being a professional athlete, Richard wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’m most proud of the fact that there's no mental fight for me to get into the gym every day, to push myself every day," he said. “It’s my passion which makes it easy to do what it takes to get to the top. Because I just love the process.”

What advice does Fred Richard have for young athletes?

“Number one, you need to be passionate about the sport,” said Richard. “It's the type of thing you can't wait to wake up because then you get the opportunity to try to get better at the sport. You need to have that kind of passion."

“Number two, never compare yourself to the people around you, especially not the people below you,” he said. “A lot of people like to get complacent and say, I'm the best compared to these people around me. Compare yourself to your full potential. That’s the biggest thing. I never put any limits on myself.”

What’s next for Fred Richard?

After Richard’s historic win at the World Championships, his sights are set on the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“The Olympics is on that goal sheet of mine. Bringing home metals is a big goal, but also just showing my full potential on the biggest stage,” he said.

According to USA Gymnastics, the 2024 Olympic Trials will be held in Minneapolis in June of 2024.

Richard also wants to continue to grow his following and create content on social media. So far, he’s amassed over 639,400 followers on TikTok (with 25.9 million total likes across his videos) and 202,000 on Instagram under the online alias "FrederickFlips."

“I want my sport to be seen by other people,” he said. “In this day and age, you have the potential to affect millions of people. I definitely want to keep creating content that inspires other people.”

Richard is also working on building a clothing line called “Frederick Flips,” which provides branded T-shirts, long-sleeves, hoodies, hats, and more for gymnasts, cheerleaders, and anyone with a passion for flipping.

“It's gone very well, so far. I launched it a couple months ago," he said. "I’m designing more pieces of clothing and thinking about the impact I want on the community with this brand."

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Frederick Richard youngest male gymnast to earn medal at Worlds