PARIS — Brody Malone has spent the past 16 months defying the odds, improbably coming back from a catastrophic right knee injury in the spring of 2023 to reach the Olympics for a second time.
When the 24-year-old won his third national title in June, he looked every bit the star the Americans envisioned when he became the standard bearer for their men’s gymnastics program three years ago.
And yet Malone has been around long enough to know his athletic pursuit of choice is not one where progress is linear. If he needed a reminder, it came during team qualifying Saturday, when the sport that has given Malone so much took away an opportunity to compete in the all-around individual final at the Paris Games.
Malone fell twice on the high bar — an event in which he was the 2022 world champion — and once on the pommel horse. Throw in an ill-timed slip during the floor exercise, and all the momentum and good vibes Malone had generated during his remarkable return vanished.
Afterward, Malone offered no excuses. He apologized to his four U.S. teammates and shook his head at how a day that began with so much promise slipped away.