0:00
LinkedIn is pretty amazing at helping you grow your small business.
0:03
We cannot stop your new clients from emailing you at 3 a.m.
0:07
We can help you sell, market, and hire in one place.
0:12
We cannot help you be in three places at once.
0:15
And while we can't help you organize your calendar,
0:20
LinkedIn can help you land more clients so you have a calendar to organize.
0:24
Grow your small business on LinkedIn.
0:26
Learn more at linkedin.com/smallbusiness.
0:30
Struggling with weight loss?
0:31
Prolon's five-day fasting mimicking diet is a clinically developed nutrition program
0:35
designed to promote fat loss while protecting lean body mass.
0:38
Developed at USC's Longevity Institute, it assists the body in entering a fasting-like state
0:43
that helps reset metabolism and target visceral fat.
0:47
In just five days, Prolon offers a science-backed approach to weight loss
0:50
without extreme restriction or guesswork.
0:52
Get 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe at prolonlife.com/now.
1:00
This is Undaunted Life, a man's podcast.
1:22
I'm your host Kyle Thompson, let's get into it.
1:25
All right, guys, we've got a special guest on the podcast today.
1:27
His name is Brody Malone.
1:28
So he is an Olympic gymnast who represented the United States in the 2020
1:32
and the 2024 Olympic Games.
1:34
And he was the leader of the team, I guess you could call him the leader
1:37
of the bronze medal winning team in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
1:42
And so I met him earlier this summer.
1:44
I was down in Louisiana with the Duck Dynasty crew.
1:47
And he was actually being interviewed in the interview.
1:49
Him and his father were being interviewed literally right before me.
1:52
And so I was in there with him and his dad and two of his brothers were there.
1:55
And so we got to hang out for a couple of days.
1:57
It was just great getting to see this guy and getting to hold the bronze medal
2:01
and all the different things.
2:01
And just to see how normal of a guy was and how he's just a polite country boy
2:06
that he would literally give you the shirt off his back.
2:08
And not just so that he could show off his massive biceps and abs and things like that.
2:12
But just really, really a solid guy.
2:13
And so in this particular interview, which we've had planned for so long
2:16
and just took us this long to get to it because both of our schedules are insane.
2:19
But we just talked about what it was like growing up because he didn't just do gymnastics.
2:22
He was also doing rodeo and he did baseball.
2:25
But at the age of 12, he kind of had two things that happened.
2:27
One, he decided to pursue gymnastics as opposed to the other two sports.
2:31
And also his mother died of cancer.
2:32
And then if you fast forward to the age of 19, his stepmother died of a brain aneurysm.
2:36
And so he talked about the faith that he saw his father show and losing his soulmate.
2:40
And then I guess you could say losing his second soulmate if that's your chosen ideology or phraseology.
2:46
But also like, how did that develop his faith?
2:48
How did it show him resilience and the ability to rely on God and his provision?
2:53
But then we talked about, okay, what is the track from doing gymnastics
2:57
to training gymnastics, to training to be an elite gymnast, to then training to be an Olympic
3:02
gymnast and how it's different for the men and the women here in this country in terms of their
3:06
tracks in order to end up on the Olympic team.
3:08
And then, you know, he was a rural Georgia kid, you know, country boy, but then he ends up going
3:13
to Stanford and Palo Alto to go to school and to compete on their Olympic team, or their men's
3:18
gymnastics team, rather, and kind of the culture shock that he felt from doing those types of things.
3:22
We talked about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
3:25
So that was the first team that he actually made.
3:26
But if you remember, because of COVID, they didn't actually compete that year.
3:29
They competed the very next year.
3:30
And he actually was preferring that.
3:32
And so it actually worked out to his benefit, but how, you know, the team finished fifth
3:36
and he finished 10th in the all around, but it's his first Olympics.
3:38
He got that under his bell.
3:39
But then before we could even talk about the 2024 Paris Olympics, we had to spend some time
3:43
talking about a competition in Germany in 2023.
3:46
He was doing a high bar routine and he kind of slipped off the bar a little bit.
3:50
And when he landed, I'll let him get into the detail.
3:53
He destroyed one of his legs.
3:55
The injuries and the lists of things that happened outside of just breaking his leg
4:00
was absolutely catastrophic.
4:02
Now, the fact that he's able to even walk normal now is a miracle, much less do what he did,
4:07
which was to make his way all the way back to competing in the 2024 Olympics.
4:10
Again, that's where the team took the bronze medal.
4:12
Obviously, that was one of the big highlights of the Paris Olympics, at least if you're
4:16
in the United States.
4:17
We talked about all that, how they sucked it up in the qualifying round and how they
4:22
really got it done in the final round and what it was like knowing that Japan and China,
4:26
we're going to be amazing and we're going to be there.
4:28
But having this chance at bringing home the first medal for men's team gymnastics since 2008.
4:34
And then we get into what he's planning on doing now because the 2028 Olympics are
4:38
technically right around the corner.
4:39
They're going to be in Los Angeles.
4:40
So here in his home country, and so what are his plans?
4:43
So you have to stick around to get the answers to that.
4:45
But guys, I really enjoyed my time with Brody. So without further ado, let's get into it.
4:48
Brody Malone, welcome to Undaunted Life of Man's podcast.
4:52
How's it going? Thanks for having me.
4:56
Yeah, man, it's good to see you again, because you and I were hanging out the summer down with
5:00
the duck dynasty fellows.
5:01
And I will say this, I was a little mad at you, Brody, because here I am.
5:05
You know, this is like my third or fourth year in a row going down there.
5:08
And you know, hey, I'm the bearded guy with no skin pigment.
5:11
So I usually get a lot of attention.
5:12
But here you come walking in with your bronze medal and your dad and your brothers and all that.
5:18
And I was just like baloney at that point.
5:20
And like you and your family were prime ribs.
5:22
So I don't really know if you plan that, but I don't appreciate it, man.
5:24
I don't appreciate it all.
5:25
Yeah, I definitely didn't plan for that to happen, but I'm sorry about that.
5:29
No, it's all good.
5:31
I had a great time with you, and we'll get into the bronze medal and all that.
5:34
But we should probably start small.
5:36
Let's do a 30,000 foot overview fly over of your childhood.
5:40
What was it like growing up, Brody Malone?
5:43
Yeah, so I was born in East Tennessee, born in Johnson City.
5:48
And let's see, I was just one of those kids that I had way too much energy
5:54
jumping around and flips on the couch, stuff like that.
5:56
So my parents thought it my big good idea to put me in gymnastics.
6:01
So when I was three, they put me in a little local gym in Tennessee.
6:04
And then after we moved to Georgia, when I was, I think I was five or six.
6:13
So when we moved, we found another local gym.
6:17
And then I started taking classes there.
6:20
And then ever since that, I've kind of just kept up with it.
6:24
I played a lot of other sports when I was younger.
6:26
Baseball, basketball, soccer.
6:30
Baseball was my big one.
6:31
I played baseball until I was about 12, I believe, is when I ended up quitting.
6:37
And then also a cool one is rodeo, I grew up rodeo and so both my family or both my parents
6:43
or poor people, my dad rodeo, my mom rode a question.
6:47
That's kind of how they met and fell in love.
6:50
So yeah, and then there was a time where somewhere along the way, I had to give up
6:57
rodeo in as much so I could focus a little bit more on gym.
7:01
But that wasn't until about high school.
7:03
But yeah, so Jim kind of got serious in high school.
7:07
And I started putting most of my focus and time and effort into that.
7:10
And then ended up getting a scholarship to go to Stanford.
7:15
That was a really cool experience.
7:18
I was on the gymnastics team out there.
7:20
And then while I was there, I ended up qualifying for my first Olympics,
7:25
which was the Tokyo Olympics, the COVID Olympics.
7:29
So that was a really cool experience.
7:32
And then let's see, I just got back from Paris, competing in the 2024 Olympics.
7:38
So that's kind of broad overview of a little bit of my career and how I grew up.
7:43
So yeah, well guys, I will tell you this.
7:45
One of the conversations Brody and I had off air was how initially when you did interviews,
7:50
you weren't really comfortable.
7:51
It wasn't really like your favorite thing.
7:53
But literally what you just did on accident is you sign posted my entire interview.
7:58
And now all that I got to do is drop in along the way on the crap you already told everybody
8:03
in the audience, man, it's like you're a pro at this.
8:05
Look at you.
8:05
I'm getting a little more used to it.
8:08
All right.
8:09
Well, I'm here just in case you revert back into that introvert itself.
8:13
So let's go back to your three o'clock, three o'clock, three years old,
8:17
you're starting gymnastics.
8:18
But yes, you're also doing baseball like a good American young man and rodeo,
8:22
like a good American young man.
8:23
But what made you say, okay, I'm going to pick gymnastics because that's the conversation
8:28
Brody that I've had with a lot of people about my sons because I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old.
8:31
And they're going to be required to play sports, but we're not going to pick the sports.
8:35
Like they're not going to play football because I don't want my 18-year-old to have CTE or something
8:38
like that.
8:39
But like they can play whatever they want, but they've got to be active.
8:42
And we're not going to do this thing where, hey, you're six years old and you look like you're pretty
8:47
good at wrestling.
8:47
So we're only going to do wrestling.
8:49
It's like, no, no, no, like at a certain point, maybe you start to specialize because you're,
8:54
you know, really interested in a particular sport or you're really, really, really good at a
8:57
particular sport.
8:58
But my understanding is, is you were a really good baseball player as well, really good second
9:02
baseman, but you also had some promise in gymnastics.
9:04
But what kind of made you say, no, we're just going to go to the gymnastics route?
9:07
Yeah, and I don't think there's one particular thing that really made me do it.
9:13
I mean, I was 12 years old at the time.
9:15
So I didn't really know much about making big life decisions like that, but it ended up being
9:20
a big life decision.
9:21
And I mean, I love baseball so much.
9:23
I love the team aspect of it.
9:26
My dad was a baseball player growing up.
9:28
So he was kind of like, he was my coach.
9:30
And I love doing that with him.
9:32
But I mean, when the time came down to it, when I had to make that decision, I mean,
9:37
again, I was 12 years old.
9:38
So I don't really know exactly what went into it.
9:41
I just felt like I needed to do gymnastics.
9:44
And that was, I guess God's way of just like nudging me in the right direction, you know.
9:49
Okay.
9:51
One, there's, it's interesting you, you bring up that age because I knew that was the age
9:55
when you kind of broke off and started to really chase the gymnastics dream.
10:00
And again, at 12, you don't really know what that is.
10:01
But, but also, I know this is a somber note, but you've talked about a lot.
10:05
But at the age of 12, you lost your mom to cancer.
10:08
And, you know, obviously that's a formative thing in any young man's life when you lose a
10:14
parent, especially a parent that you, you love, because it's obviously, obviously,
10:18
you loved your mom.
10:18
And then, I mean, if you fast forward to the age of 19, you lose your stepmother.
10:24
I think she had a brain aneurysm or something like that.
10:27
And so these very, very important women in your life and to your father, and obviously,
10:32
just watching you, your brothers and your father, it's very clear that the Malone's,
10:36
the Malone men are close to one another and have a deep and abiding respect for one another.
10:40
But just kind of take me, take me through, through that, because I mean, you're 12 years old,
10:44
you lose mom, it could see, it's one of those core time periods, because you're, you're like,
10:50
pre-teen, right? And you're getting into your teenage years, you're about to develop into
10:54
what a man is, and now a sudden you don't have mom, just take me through that.
10:57
Yeah, I mean, that was definitely one of the hardest times in my life, especially,
11:03
not just for me. I mean, I was 12, and I mean, that's really young, but I mean, I'm the oldest of four.
11:08
So I've got a brother that's two years younger than me, a brother that's four years younger than me,
11:16
or no, six years younger than me, and then a sister who is two years younger than him.
11:22
So we had a pretty wide range of ages there. So kind of what was going through my head,
11:29
and I mean, again, I was 12 when this happened, but I really just turned and looked to my dad,
11:35
and was like, what's he doing, and what can I do to help? Because I mean, he's lost his everything,
11:44
his wife, his soulmate. And I mean, she was my mom, but he was, I really looked to him to see how
11:52
he would handle it and what I could do to help. And he was, he was honestly our family's rock.
11:59
So when he went after my mom passed away at the time, he was a high school agriculture teacher.
12:03
So once she once she passed, he quit that so he could, he could raise us. And I think that was a
12:12
really pivotal moment, or a pivotal decision and his life and, and for our lives as well, his kids.
12:21
So him quitting his job allowed him to spend way more time with us and like,
12:27
be act actually be there to raise us. So I got to see, you know, how it affected him and how he
12:34
handled it. And it just, he's, he's a phenomenal, phenomenal role model. And I think you should
12:40
probably have him on one of your podcasts too, because he has quite the testimony to tell.
12:46
And he's, he's pretty good at telling it. So well, you know, I'd love to have your dad on. So we can
12:52
probably knock that out in 2025. But tell me a little bit, because you've already mentioned,
12:56
mentioned God, and you know, your faith and your relationship, but with, and there's really no,
13:02
but here, but with a lot of kids, when they experience something like this,
13:07
it shakes whatever's at their core, whatever's at their foundation. And so for some families,
13:12
it's Christ, for some families, it's just this generic morality, or for some families, it's what
13:18
I call like, you know, country music theology, where it's like, Hey, we listen to country music
13:21
and occasionally vote Republican and God's pro those things. And so we get to go to heaven, right?
13:25
Those types of things. But for you, I mean, I guess what was, what was your faith before this
13:31
happened with your mom? How did that affect your faith afterwards? Because that's another thing
13:35
that was apparent with the Malone's, it's just this deep and abiding faith in Christ.
13:41
And the finished work that happened on the cross. So take me through that.
13:45
Yeah, and I will say just to preface it, it's not an uphill journey. You know, you've got,
13:52
especially in terms of faith, I mean, you've got your, your ups and your downs, but something
13:56
that I saw. And I mean, we went to church when I was younger. And I mean, I was baptized when I
14:03
was, I was saved in baptized when I was like eight or nine, something like that. So, I mean, I had
14:10
faith under God was there. Did I understand what God was doing at the time? No way. And I don't think
14:16
my dad did either. But my dad was really the role model and how we handled that situation, as I was
14:23
saying before. So I watched him turn into a deeply faithful man at a young age. And that really,
14:31
really encouraged me to continue in my walk. Now, I will say as I grow up, I mean, the faith
14:37
journeys like this, you know, and you know, going through high school and college, it's definitely
14:42
had its ups and downs. But I'll say, I mean, my faith right now is as strong as it's ever been.
14:48
And a lot of that, a lot of the reason for that is just having my dad as a role model
14:53
and see in the way he's, he's handled these adversities in life, these trials and struggles
14:58
and come out in a stronger relationship with God than he had before.
15:04
Brody, if I may, I want to dig in just a little bit more on that because most people, you know,
15:12
the idea of soul mates, I mean, if anybody ever married the wrong person, then that messed it up
15:17
for everyone because that guy was meant for that guy. So that guy's gonna have to marry this gal.
15:21
Now he was meant for that guy. And it just kind of all falls apart. But just colloquially speaking,
15:25
in terms of soul mates, people don't typically lose their soul mate when they're younger,
15:32
right? If anything, it's kind of like, you know, after, you know, either a divorce or a very,
15:36
very long relationship and, you know, somebody has to die first. But most people don't have to
15:41
experience and endure losing their soul mate or losing their life mate twice. And your dad did that
15:48
twice in a span of less than a decade. And so, I mean, dude, there are strong dudes, right? And,
15:54
you know, strong doesn't just mean, you know, you know, deadlift and bicep curls like strong is like
16:00
an internal constitution of resilience. And I'm going to get through this and I'm going to grip
16:05
my way through this. And obviously you can't really do rodeo if you don't have some of that
16:09
natural toughness and things like that. But like, what did you witness because you're 12 so you're
16:14
not, you know, an adult, but you know some things. But then when you're 19, you're an adult and you
16:19
do know a whole lot more. Tell me what that was like just watching your dad go through that now
16:25
and kind of seeing like what that does to him. Yeah, I mean, it was a very big difference
16:30
between what I've noticed when I was 12 and when I was 19. I mean, when I was that young when I was
16:37
12, I mean, I'm sure he did a really good job of hiding certain things from not just me but the
16:43
rest of my siblings as well. So I tend not affect us as much. But when I was 19 and that happened,
16:52
I got to see a more real side of it, I would say. Because at the, I mean, when I was 19,
16:58
I'd just gone off to college. Me and my dad, I literally talked to him every day on the phone.
17:02
I mean, we're a very, very close family and we got very close after my mom passed away.
17:07
So going from just like seeing his progression of his faith and then seeing
17:17
her name was Lynn or my stepmom pass away and seeing how that affected him was just, I got to
17:22
see a much more real and raw side of it, I would say. And I mean, he was in pain, he was hurting.
17:28
But again, this was another opportunity in his life that he used to turn to the Lord.
17:35
And I saw his faith. I mean, he was someone in pain. And a lot of times,
17:42
that's when we go to God the most and give God our most is when we're in pain like that.
17:47
So I saw that firsthand and it was, I mean, we were all hurting, but it really strengthened
17:53
our relationship, my relationship with my dad, our relationship with our family and
17:58
ultimately it strengthened my relationship with God seeing how much he leaned on God.
18:04
I appreciate letting us go into that a little bit because throughout our lives,
18:09
we're going to go through different tests of our faith. And it's how you embrace those. And as
18:15
my good buddy, Pastor Joby Martin out of Florida says, like, if you try to fight the devil in the
18:19
dark, you're going to get your butt kicked. Like, that's where he lives. That's where he operates.
18:23
And the more you go towards the dark, the more you go towards isolation in the
18:27
less you rely and depend on God, the more you're going to be getting your butt kicked. And that's
18:31
not a fun feeling. So I want to get back into what, you know, elite gymnastics training is like.
18:37
But you kind of had a, you know, maybe a little bit of an attack of faith because here you are
18:41
Georgia country boy. And then here you are now, you go to Stanford. Okay. So now you're not only,
18:48
you know, across the country, you're in California and you're in an area of California that can be
18:52
a cesspool when it comes to morality or even just the cleanliness of the streets that you're
18:56
walking on. But here you are at Stanford. You're there to do your gymnastics things, what we'll
19:00
get into, but just talk to me a little bit about the culture shock and the expectations.
19:05
Because I remember we're sitting down at dinner and you tell me the story about how you open the
19:08
door for a lady like your first day on campus. And she kind of looks at you like toxic masculinity.
19:15
And you're just like, yeah, wait, what, like, I just thought I was being chivalrous and opening
19:19
the door for you ma'am. I wish you would had a cowboy hat on so you could have tipped your cap
19:23
to her and called her ma'am on the way and just really jack with her. But tell me a little bit
19:26
about what that was like. Yeah, I mean, that was, honestly, at the time, it was like a complete 180
19:34
just culture switch. I mean, you can just imagine, you know, going from rural southern boy in the
19:42
south to, you know, Palo Alto, California. It's, it was, it was pretty wild, but I will say I learned
19:50
a lot from it. But yeah, the, so the story you're talking about, I was walking into the dining
19:56
hall and it was a lady and her two kids. And I held the door open for her two kids, her two kids
20:02
went in and then she went in and she didn't even look at me. And I was like, which, I mean,
20:08
you don't do something and right like having the expectation to be that for it or be praised for it.
20:14
But I was just like, wow, because I'd never had anything happen like that to me before. So I
20:18
called my dad immediately. I was like, that you never, you're never gonna guess what just happened.
20:22
I was like, I held the door open for this lady and her kids and she didn't even look at me.
20:26
And he goes, well, son, you know, you don't do nothing. You don't do anything in life to be
20:31
thanked for it. I was like, yeah, you're, you're, I was just so shocked. And then the one that got
20:37
me the most, I was actually having a conversation with one of my professors one day. And I was
20:45
talking to him, I kept saying, yes, sir, no, sir. And I was in the middle of one of my sentences,
20:50
and he goes, Brody, stop. You do not have to, you do not have to call me sir. This is California.
20:57
Oh my goodness. But yeah, I mean, it was like just, just that kind of thing. It's just a much
21:05
different culture. And it was very, very much a shock to me. But I will say over the four years,
21:12
I did get used to it a little bit more. But I am happy to report that even when you met me,
21:18
and I'm not that much older than you, you called me sir a bunch so much so that I wanted to be like,
21:23
Hey, Brody, we're in Louisiana. You don't have to keep calling me sir. But hey, I'm glad that you
21:27
didn't drop that off entirely. Okay. So now we need to get into the whole world of gymnastics,
21:32
because again, gymnastics is one of those sports that for a lot of people there, they don't even
21:35
pay attention to it, except for once every four years, but then whenever they pay attention to it,
21:39
they're like all in, and it's just crazy. But for me as an athlete, just seeing the things that you
21:43
guys are able to do, it just kind of boggles the mind like I don't watch what you guys do and think
21:48
to myself, Oh, that looks easy. I know better than then, you know, a lot of these guys that look at
21:52
them like, Oh, I could run and flip and do all that dumb crap. But there's a big difference Brody
21:56
between doing gymnastics between training gymnastics, and then training to be an elite gymnast,
22:05
and then training to be an Olympic gymnast. These are all huge jumps along the way.
22:11
So let's just start at the age of 12. And let's just talk about, okay, we're doing gymnastics now.
22:17
What does that mean for your training regimen? What does that mean whenever you realize, okay,
22:21
there's something here, we're going to train to be elite. And now it's like, hey, it's not
22:25
just a lead. We're going to do this collegially. And then, you know, with men's gymnastics,
22:29
if you're good, collegially, you do end up looking at the Olympic route where it's a little bit
22:33
different for the gal. So take us through that. Yeah, so I mean, when I was 12, I mean, obviously,
22:40
I'd made the decision to want to do gymnastics full time pretty much. I still rode you out a little
22:45
bit. But I mean, as far as the training regimen and stuff like that, it didn't really change at the
22:51
time. At the time, I'd switched gyms. So the first gym that I went to, and when we moved to Georgia,
22:59
I actually closed their boys program. So they turned into a girls only gym. So I had to switch
23:04
gyms. So I went to Carter'sville, Georgia, that was where our gym was at. And I mean, honestly,
23:12
that was a blessing because I got blessed with some really phenomenal coaches. So it wasn't until
23:18
about, I'd say 14 or 15 when I really decided that I wanted to pursue it at a top top level. I mean,
23:26
I knew I wanted to do good and go to college and stuff. But when I was 15, that was the first time
23:32
that I made the junior national team. And that to me was like a huge, huge accomplishment. And
23:41
that motivated me so, so much. Because I just wanted it more and more. And I like pretty much
23:49
barely made the team. So once that happened, I just got so motivated. I was like, all right,
23:54
I'm giving all my energy and effort every day in the gym. And we'll see where this goes. And
24:00
the first step after that was, you know, deciding which college I wanted to go to and go in that
24:07
route and just getting good enough to make it to college. So went through the rest of high school.
24:13
I decided, well, I told myself that, you know, I wanted to go to the Olympics. At the time,
24:19
I probably didn't really understand exactly what all that would entail. I just knew I kind of wanted
24:23
to do it. So and the best route for guys in the United States is to go through the NCAA route.
24:30
So I know I wanted to go to college. By the time that came around, I scheduled five official visits.
24:37
My first one was Penn State. My second one was Iowa. Stanford was number three.
24:43
And then I had Ohio State and Air Force planned after that, I think. But actually,
24:51
when I went to, when I went on my Stanford visit, right before I got on the plane to go,
24:56
they're the coach called me and he was like, Hey, if I want to let you know your application got
25:00
accepted and you've been accepted into the school, you've been admitted. And so at that point, I was
25:07
kind of like, Oh, well, Stanford's really hard to get into. I don't think most people understand
25:12
the acceptance rate is ridiculously low, but they don't at Stanford, you can't just, you know,
25:18
put a gold star by an athlete's name and expect expect to get in. You still have to show, you know,
25:24
the academic side of things. It's not like other schools. So I was like, okay, I just got into
25:30
Stanford, you know, as long as this trip goes pretty good, there's no reason I shouldn't go there.
25:34
So I went on the trip, met the coaches and the team toward campus, you know, did all the whole thing.
25:40
I loved the coaches. I loved the team. I meshed well with the guys. I really
25:46
appreciated the training plan that they had set up there. It was very thought out. So I was like,
25:53
yeah, it'd be pretty dumb if I didn't go here. So I accepted it and ended up going to Stanford and
26:02
the rest after that is kind of, I mean, that was, that was a huge dramatic change from the culture
26:10
shock to, you know, moving away from home. I mean, I'm someone who, as soon as I got there, I was
26:17
homesick. I'm very dependent on my family. So that was a whole thing. And then taking on this new
26:24
training load was just, it just opened my mind so much because there was so much different than
26:30
what I was doing. Everything was super, super structured. And there's, there's a method to it.
26:36
So a lot of my freshman year was figuring out, you know, learning how to train properly,
26:44
how to cycle properly. And, you know, getting bigger skills that would make me competitive
26:52
enough to be in the Olympics. So it was, it was definitely a whirlwind of stuff to get there. But
27:00
once I got there, it all started falling into place. And guys, when he says cycle, he does not
27:06
mean trannable or any other enlisted stairwell. Hey, we got some haggard knuckle-draggers in this
27:13
audience. I just had to make sure that they knew you guys weren't on all the ROI on the planet.
27:17
Training, training cycle, training cycles, guys, because you want to peek during competition time,
27:23
not two weeks before. That's what he's talking about. But I do want to talk just briefly about
27:27
kind of the difference between the tracks for male gymnasts and female gymnasts. Because one
27:32
thing you told me that was interesting that I just didn't know is you said, look, if you're an elite
27:36
male gymnast, you go the collegiate route, which leads to the Olympic route. But that's not the same
27:42
for the female gymnast. So there's a lot more money and a lot more backing for women's gymnastics
27:47
in America. And perhaps you can get into some of those reasons if you'd like. But if you are,
27:51
and I don't want to be derisive in any way, because if you're a collegiate gymnast of any of any
27:56
stripe male or female, like you're a tremendous athlete, but you don't really see, you know,
28:01
people that are at, you know, a women's gymnastics program in college going on to the Olympics,
28:07
that's not really their track. It's a different tier of athlete for the females that goes the
28:12
Olympic route versus the collegiate route. So tell us a little bit about those differences.
28:15
Yeah. So, and I will say it is starting to change on the women's side. So a lot of
28:22
the girls who went to the Olympics in Paris were actually a part of college teams.
28:27
So, and that's something that we haven't seen in the past, but I would say the main factor
28:31
that went into that in the past was just different ages of peaking. So girls will peak
28:38
a lot younger than guys will. So, I mean, the average age for a gymnast, a male gymnast in the
28:44
Olympics, I mean, they're probably like mid 20s. And you've got some into their late 20s and even
28:50
early 30s that are still going. So that's just kind of, and it's just more of a strength thing.
28:56
So, I mean, you don't really start developing your strength until like your actual strength
29:00
until you get into your 20s. I mean, of course, you're going to be strong, but we call it your
29:04
man strength. That's right. I mean, I was strong when I was in high school, but once I got into
29:08
college and I was 21, 22, I felt I was way stronger than I was when I first came in.
29:14
But for women, they just peak a lot sooner. I mean, their bodies are different than ours.
29:23
So, it's just different. But especially this past quad, we've seen a lot more
29:30
girls who have gone the collegiate route and also still done the elite track.
29:35
So part of the difference, part of the reason it's so different is because college
29:41
women's gymnastics is completely different than women's elite gymnastics.
29:47
And then for men, it's the opposite. For men, we do the same in college. We do the same thing
29:55
that we do in elite. So it's the same, you know, code of points, same scoring system, everything.
30:01
So basically, we can use the NCAA season to train and prepare for elite competition and, you know,
30:09
make a national team and for international competitions. For women, they're on a 10-0 system
30:14
in college, the famous 10-0 system. And then for elite, they do a similar scoring system to ours.
30:20
Well, you'll see girls score anywhere from like a 12 to a 15 if you're Simone Biles, you know.
30:26
So that's part of the reason why it's different for girls because for college, they're training,
30:33
you know, different routines and different skills. And then for elite, there's a lot more
30:39
skills in their routine. And you're typically doing a lot harder skills so that you're
30:44
more competitive on an international scale because you don't just have to get to a 10-0
30:49
start value, you have to go higher than that. So yeah, it's a little bit different, but we have
30:55
seen it shift more towards girls who are doing college and elite.
31:00
Hey, guys, real quick. A consistent question that I am asked is, Kyle, what is your diet?
31:05
People want to know if I'm tracking macros or if I'm doing keto or something like that,
31:09
but I track one thing. I try to get one gram of high-quality protein for every pound of body weight.
31:15
And so for me, I eat red meat every single day, pretty much for lunch. I eat a pound of red meat
31:21
every single day to get over 100 grams of high-quality protein. And guys, I want you
31:25
to be able to get the same thing for you and your diet. That's why I want you to use the official
31:31
beef delivery partner of Undaunted Life, and that's Primal Beef. Primal Beef is a cattle
31:36
operation owned and operated by Sean Glass. He's a retired Navy SEAL that partnered with
31:40
Jocko Willink. Yes, that Jocko Willink to launch Primal Beef. So what makes Primal Beef different
31:45
from the other beef delivery companies? It's a combo of the following. It's all American Black
31:50
Angus cattle. The beef comes from one farm and that's in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The beef
31:55
is all natural, no hormones ever, no antibiotics ever, no mRNA ever. After slaughter, the entire
32:01
carcass is dry aged and then hand-cut by artisan butchers and then flash frozen to ensure that
32:07
it maintains tenderness, marbling, and flavor. And here's another cool thing. For every box sold,
32:11
Primal Beef donates meat directly to a member of America's Special Operations Forces through the
32:17
C4 Foundation. So you can take pride in knowing that your purchase will help put literal food
32:22
on the table for America's finest warriors. Are you salivating yet? If not, it's probably because
32:27
you're a vegan, stave off veganism, and try Primal Beef out today by going to www.primalbeef.com.
32:34
That's www.primalbeef.com. Use the promo code "Kyle" to get 25 bucks off of your first order.
32:39
Again, that's www.primalbeef.com. Promo code "Kyle" to get $25 off your first order.
32:44
All right. So I appreciate getting into that detail and we'll get into your first Olympics
32:48
here in just a second, but you mentioned Simone Biles. So I'd be remiss if I didn't at least ask
32:53
the question because here's the thing that makes no sense to dummies like me. I've never dumbed
32:56
gymnastics. I've never really done any of those things. I discovered I could do backflips in college,
33:01
but we're talking one, get a really good running start and then do one standing back or something
33:07
like that. It doesn't make sense, Brody. When you watch her, it looks like CGI. It doesn't make
33:13
sense that something so small, because when you see her next to other people, you're like, "Oh,
33:18
my gosh. She's almost legally immediate. This is kind of crazy," and again, I know some people
33:26
have some quibbles with some of her political stances and crap. She said, "I don't care about
33:29
any of that right now." Just athletically speaking, help me understand how she's able to be that much
33:37
better because when I watch baseball, we're both baseball guys. When you're watching a guy like
33:41
Shohei Otani, it doesn't make sense. How can you be the best hitter in baseball and a top 10
33:46
pitcher in baseball? That doesn't make any sense. We don't see that. I'm trying to think of anybody
33:50
like Michael Jordan. How could he possibly, when he was on the court with these other greats like
33:56
Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley and Carl Malone and John Stockton, how could he be
34:00
that much better than all these guys? But Simone, the gap between her and the next gal
34:05
is bigger than any other gap that I can think of off the top of my head, except for maybe John
34:10
Jones in MMA when he was in his elite peak, just running through the entire division. I just can't
34:15
think about it. Help me. Yeah. He is the simplest way to put it. She is hands down the best
34:25
female gymnast that there ever was or probably will be. She's got a level of just power and
34:34
explosiveness that is just so far ahead of all the other girls in the world. It's really no
34:42
competition. It's really insane. I mean, she's doing, I'm sure you've seen her floor routine just
34:47
how powerful she is. I mean, she does a triple double in her floor routine, which is like,
34:53
I don't even do that on my floor routine. That's a really freaking hard skill and triple double
34:59
just for people who don't know is a double back flip with three twists. So it's ridiculously hard
35:05
and there's not even a lot of there's not even a lot of guys that do that skill.
35:09
So I mean, just her level of power is insane. And because of that, that allows her to do a lot
35:19
harder skills than the other girls. And that in turn raises her star value so high that I mean,
35:25
she can just blow everyone out of the water. There's only one girl that I know of that could really
35:33
give her a run for her money. And Josh. Yeah, Rebecca on draw on draw day or something.
35:40
I'm gonna I'm butchered that from Brazil. She's from Brazil. Yeah, from Brazil.
35:44
She is the closest one for sure. And it's still like some moment have to mess up a couple times
35:50
and Rebecca would have to have a really, really good mate to do that. I mean, you kind of saw that
35:54
at the Olympics and all around finals. Simone, I think Simone had a fall somewhere or some mess
36:02
up and then Rebecca was kind of getting close. But yeah, I mean, she's the only way to explain
36:08
it. She's just he's a beast. She's just on another level from everyone else. And it's gonna be really
36:15
hard for other people to catch her. Yeah, I'll I'll say this whenever watching her, she's so good,
36:21
she looks bored. And so that's the thing is like other people were being really good. Like they
36:25
didn't look bored. They still look like they were trying hard, but she just doesn't look like she's
36:28
trying hard at all. So all right, let's get into it's crazy. Yeah, let's absolutely let's get into
36:34
the Tokyo Olympics. So obviously 2020, everything kind of falls apart. So you become an Olympian,
36:41
which is amazing. So I want to hear that story, but you don't get to compete in 2020. But you're
36:47
trying to peak for 2020, but then they cancel the games. And then there's kind of like this
36:51
lull and this, you know, kind of arrested development, like when exactly we're going to do this thing,
36:56
it ends up happening in 2021. But you're an Olympian, right? So you get to do all the things,
37:01
the opening ceremony, you get all the polo clothes and you get to compete. So what was it like becoming
37:06
an Olympian having to wait the COVID year and then finally getting to compete for your country in
37:09
2021? Yeah. So this is probably going to be a little bit of a controversial statement. But let's
37:16
go. I love those. Those are my favorite. I was actually glad that the Olympics got postponed
37:24
a year. It just for me, I mean, for a lot of people, it probably it might have hurt them.
37:30
And their athletic careers, as far as like how they're cycling, not on steroids, but like they're
37:37
trying to cycle. But yeah, so for me, just going into 2020, from 2019 to 2020, I was going into my
37:46
sophomore year at Stanford. I was trying these really big routines with big skills that I hadn't
37:54
done for very long. So and I was my plan was to use the NCAA season, which is January through
38:02
April, I believe, just use all of those competitions to train these upgraded routines that I'm going
38:09
to be using for the Olympics or to try to make the Olympics. And it really to be honest, it really
38:15
wasn't going well. I was struggling a lot, especially with my my high bar routine. I had a couple
38:22
new big releases in there that just it just seemed like every competition, I just couldn't
38:27
put a routine together. So when COVID happened, you know, everyone they kicked us out of Stanford,
38:35
we had everyone had to go home, I kind of got a little bit of a break without doing gymnastics.
38:40
That was actually, I actually really enjoyed it because as soon as I kicked us out a few weeks
38:45
later, it was turkey season. And I did nothing, I did nothing but hunt turkeys for that entire
38:52
season. So that was really awesome. I enjoyed that. It was a nice break from gymnastics. But you know,
38:58
once things started settling in a little bit, it was time to get back in the gym. And so I found
39:04
some local gems that I could work out at. And then I eventually ended up moving down to Texas with
39:11
a couple of my Stanford teammates. I think there was like six of us down there. We all just decided,
39:16
hey, we're going to go to this gym in Texas and just be together and train together. Because
39:20
that's a that's a huge part of being successful and a sport is having people around you that are
39:26
like minded and have the same goals. And I mean, I was pretty much just training by myself. It was
39:31
me and one other dude in Georgia. So I was like, okay, I need to as much as I like being home,
39:36
I need to make the right decision and moved to Texas to be with my buddies and teammates.
39:42
So I would say that that entire time where I was training and getting ready, I just used that
39:48
as just time to hone in on those skills. I was still training the same routines with the same
39:54
skills. But I had pretty much an extra year to get them under my belt and get them so comfortable
40:00
and solid. So that's why I think that that extra year was a blessing for me because it really helped
40:07
me mature and understand the skills that I was doing and just getting more numbers under my belt
40:14
because gymnastics, it's it's a numbers game, especially when you're doing skills like that.
40:19
So leading leading up to to the Olympics, we had another NCAA season. I came back, I think I got
40:28
back on campus at Stanford and like end of January or February because Stanford was being really
40:35
wishy-washy about letting us back. And so when I finally went back, we had to do it, I think it was
40:41
either seven or a 10-day quarantine. So I couldn't even go in the gym for however long it was. So we
40:47
pulled, you know, equipment from the gym that we could fit in our little dorms that we were in,
40:53
like a floor pommel horse and mushrooms and parallettes and stuff so we could do some kind
40:59
of workout, you know. But yeah, after that, it all pretty much came down to, all right,
41:07
this is the Olympic year. It's actually happened in this year. I got to focus in and my training
41:12
got super serious. And like I said, I use the NCAA season to get really comfortable with my routines.
41:19
And then I ended up doing really well at USA championships and Olympic trials that year and
41:25
made my first Olympic team. And it was a pretty incredible experience. I mean, going from, you know,
41:31
a little boy, 13, 14 years old, you know, being like, oh, I want to go to the Olympics and,
41:36
you know, not really understanding exactly what all that entails to going through that whole
41:41
experience and finally, you know, having it come to fruition was, it was pretty incredible.
41:48
So Brody, just in general, most of us will never be in pressure cooker situations where the pressure
41:54
is so high on us to perform. Like when most people do their jobs, there typically aren't
42:00
thousands of people watching in person and millions of people watching around the globe. It's usually
42:04
just maybe our boss or our cubicle made or something like that. And so, but we've all had different
42:09
times where, you know, choosing an athletic thing. Like I know whenever I compete in jujitsu, it's
42:14
like, crap, there's a ton of pressure to perform because you want to do well for your coaches. You
42:18
don't want your family to watch you get smoked by another human being, like all those different
42:22
things. But just describe the pressure because, you know, at the Tokyo Olympics, the team finished
42:28
fifth. I think you finished 10th in the all around or something like that. And so, you know,
42:31
you got your first Olympics under your belt, but just describe the Oh, crap. I'm about to
42:36
do my first Olympic thing. I've got the rings on my uniform along with the flag of my country.
42:42
Holy crap. How did I end up here? How do you deal with the pressure? Yeah, I mean, that's something
42:48
that any athlete has to be able to prepare for, especially elite athletes. It's just a mindset.
42:57
And it's how you there's a mentality behind it. And there's a mental approach for me.
43:01
My mental approach to any competition, whether it's the Olympics or even if I'm just done a practice
43:09
competition in my home gym, I try to put myself in the moment. And it's just one routine at a time.
43:16
That's that's all I think about. And then you can break it down even further. I mean,
43:19
our routines and gymnastics have 10 skills in them. So I had one skill at a time. So when I'm
43:24
when I'm going up to an event, I'm focusing on, okay, I'm going to salute my hand to this judge,
43:29
start my routine. What's my first skill? And then I go to that. And then it's just muscle memory
43:36
after that. And that that really helps me stay focused and stay in the moment. Because one thing
43:41
I've learned and I kind of learned the hard way is if you take yourself outside of the moment and
43:46
you start thinking about outcomes, or you start thinking about the competition you're at, like,
43:51
oh my gosh, this is the Olympic Games, like I'm competing in front of, you know, thousands of people
43:57
or millions of people are watching me back home. I'm representing my country on the highest stage.
44:02
That's when you start getting out of your zone. So for me, I always like to bring it back down to
44:08
this is a business trip. Like I'm here. I have plenty of faith and trust in myself and my coaches
44:14
and how I'm trained to get here. It's just another routine. So I'm going to go and do it and I'll
44:19
worry about all the external stuff later. So it's it's really just about dumbing it down to its most
44:26
simplest form. So for me, that's just tell myself this is just another routine. I'm saluting my
44:30
hand right now and there's no difference in this routine that I'm doing right now and one that I've
44:36
done the same one that I've done 100 times back home in the gym. It's it's the same exact thing.
44:40
So that that's kind of my mental approach to it. And that's definitely been what has helped me the
44:45
most. All right, very good. Well, now we need to fast forward to 2023. So this is the prep year
44:52
for the 2024 Paris Olympics. And here you are at the world championships in Germany. You know,
44:58
all things considered, you're one. Go ahead. Not a world championships.
45:01
Not a world championship. Sorry. I'll correct you there. Yeah, no, it was it was just a team
45:07
competition that happens every year in Germany. So this was in March of 2023. World championships
45:14
happened later that year and it was October or November or something like that. Okay, my apologies.
45:19
I mean, it was a no, you're good. I just wanted to make sure yeah, not worlds, but it was still a
45:24
team competition. So all right, so let's go back to that team competition. It's an important
45:29
competition. Nonetheless, year before the Olympics, I guess when you take all things into consideration,
45:34
you are one of the best male gymnasts, certainly in our country, but in the world at this time,
45:40
you're trying to make sure that you're cycling and peaking and all those different things.
45:45
And you've got a high bar routine. And in the process of the dismount, you suffer what for
45:52
anybody Brody is not only a life altering injury, but a career ending injury certainly
45:59
for a gymnast. And so it's an injury that I've never heard of, which, you know, again, for as
46:05
much as I follow men's gymnastics, but take us through what was going on with this high bar routine,
46:10
what you were attempting to do and then what ended up happening. Yeah. So to preface it a little bit,
46:18
this was a really cool competition because it was my first international competition back
46:25
since 2022 World Championship. So I was at 2022 World Championships, and that's where I won gold
46:32
on high bar. And so one of my biggest competitors, who actually won high bar at the Olympics
46:39
in Tokyo, I use a Japanese gymnast, his name is Daiki Hashimoto. So I had, I think he placed second
46:47
or third at 2022 Worlds. And he was at this competition in Germany. So this was the first
46:52
time that I had seen him and competed against him again since World Championships. So in my mind,
46:58
I was like, okay, I got to do it. I got to do it again. I got to, I got to beat this guy again,
47:02
you know, it's just my competitive drive coming out. I'm pretty competitive, if you couldn't tell.
47:08
But yeah, so first competition back seeing him, we had had the team competition, and we were moving
47:15
into event finals. So I made high bar event finals. So, and he was also in it. So I going into it,
47:22
I was just like, all right, I got to do this. And to be honest with you, it was one of my best
47:27
routines that I've done. I go through the whole routine, all my releases were caught really well.
47:32
I was doing some that we call them talk, talk half and talk full on high bars, like where you
47:38
hike through and shoot up. But those are all like angle skills. So you want to hit perfect handstand
47:44
if you go past, you get deduction. So I hit all my releases good. I hit those in bar skills,
47:50
like perfectly in handstand. It was just, it was a really good routine. And then I wound up for my
47:55
dismount. And when I tapped through the bottom, my left grip just kind of slips off the bar.
48:01
And I go, I'm in the air and I'm doing like a double back flip with a half twist. And in my mind,
48:08
I'm like, I can still land this and beat this guy. Like, I know I slipped off. I know I messed up.
48:13
I don't really know where I'm at in the air. Like, I have a general clue. But in my mind,
48:17
I'm like, I got to land this. I got to land this so I can beat him. I can still do it. And well,
48:23
I did not land it. I take a pretty nasty fall, dislocated my knee fractured. It was a tibial plateau
48:33
fracture, which is where like your knee, your knee joins between your femur and your tibia and
48:40
phibia. And like, I basically just chipped a whole piece of my tibia off. I had a lot of
48:47
cartilage damage, torn meniscus, torn LCL, partially torn PCL and posterior lateral corner,
48:56
which is like the back part of your hand strain. That was also torn. So it was a pretty,
49:02
pretty egregious injury. But you know, at the time when it happened, I had no idea what had
49:07
happened. Obviously, I just know I fell and my knee hurt really bad. But the one thing that
49:13
really stands out to me is like, as soon as it happened, I was like, I just I was laying on the
49:20
ground. I was in a lot of pain. I was like, in my head, I was like, why God? Like, why is this
49:25
happening? We're, you know, a little over a year out from the Olympics. And I mean, I just prayed
49:31
to him. And then I came to this realization and I had this this piece come over me. And I was like,
49:38
I just came to the understanding that, you know, God's got this God's going to use this as something
49:43
to glorify him. Whether that be through my platform or through my performances going on or
49:49
through my rehab, like I didn't know at the time. But I felt a piece about it. I mean, I was still,
49:57
you know, upset that it happened. But I knew it was part of God's plan. So the number one verse that
50:03
I thought of and have used this throughout my recovery has been, I got it right here. I'm going
50:11
to read it. So I don't butcher it. It's James one, two through four says consider it a great joy. My
50:18
brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing
50:23
of your faith produces endurance and let that endurance have its full effect so that you may be
50:29
mature and complete lacking nothing. That was so when I when I read that, I think my dad actually
50:36
told me about that verse after it happened. And I was kind of mind boggled by it because here I am
50:43
going through this this huge trial. I mean, this is the worst injury I've had in my career. Before
50:49
this, I was very blessed to not deal with a lot of major injuries. But here's something that could
50:55
potentially end my career. And I read this verse and I'm like, wow, I'm supposed to be happy right
51:02
now. Like it tells you consider it considered a great joy when you experience trials. I'm like,
51:10
wow. So I kind of had to reframe my mindset around that and and twist it around. And I mean, once I
51:18
realized that God's going to be using this for something that then it was a lot easier for me to
51:23
consider it a great joy because I mean, I wasn't super happy about it when it happened. So yeah,
51:29
I mean, it was it was definitely one of the hardest things that's happened, you know, in my life,
51:35
athletically, just going through going through that. But I knew and I had a piece about it that it
51:42
was going to be it was all going to be okay. And it would be used for God's glory somehow.
51:48
So Brody, with that in mind, what was the prognosis immediately because you destroyed everything.
51:53
You essentially didn't have a functioning leg at that point. Did the doctors basically say,
51:57
hey, man, we can piece you back together, but you're never going to do this whole gymnast thing
52:02
again. Like what was the immediate prognosis? Yeah, so I mean, when I got to the hospital in
52:07
Germany, it was a lot of I mean, I got X-rays CT scan, you know, all all of that stuff. But
52:15
the number one thing was, you know, getting back home to the US. So I had a my first surgery in
52:22
Germany, they didn't fix anything wrong with my knee. They just put an external fixator on. So they
52:27
put two rods in my shin bone, two rods in my femur, and they were sticking out of my leg.
52:33
And they were all connected by metal. So it was basically just to lock my leg in place so that
52:38
I could travel home. But once I got home, that was when we kind of figured out a little bit more
52:45
about what had happened. I had my first surgery where they fixed my meniscus, my tibial plateau
52:53
fracture, and there were some cartilage damage. So they did what's called a microfracture procedure,
52:58
where they drill a bunch of holes in your cartilage to try to stimulate growth. But other than that,
53:04
we didn't really know what ligaments were torn or messed up because I couldn't get an MRI because
53:12
of the swelling. So they basically just went in and fix that stuff and was like, okay, we'll wait
53:17
until the swelling goes down to get an MRI to see exactly what's wrong with the other side of your
53:22
knee, basically. So, I mean, there was a, there was a period there where I didn't really know,
53:29
we didn't know the extent of the injury, didn't know what was torn. So I didn't know
53:33
what my recovery process was going to look like, or, and whether or not I would be able to make it
53:38
back in time to go to the Olympics. So that, that week was definitely stressful. But I just,
53:46
I tried to take it as it came, you know. So once we figured that out, or once we got the MRI,
53:53
we figured out everything else that was done. And we got a little bit more detailed timeline of
53:59
what it would take to come back. And, you know, when I would have my, I had three surgeries total.
54:07
So I had another reconstructive surgery and it was June 14th of last year. So we, we got all
54:14
that figured out. And then at that point, it was just about all right, we've got to do as much as
54:19
we can with, with what we've got. And while also not, you know, hindering the leg in any way,
54:25
hindering the recovery. So there was a lot that went into it. And it was, it was quite the journey,
54:31
for sure. But a lot of it is just, I mean, again, like I said, I felt that peace knowing that God
54:37
was going to use it for something. So I had that, it was, at that point, it was about, you know,
54:44
being willing to, willing and able to put in the work to get back to where I knew I needed to be.
54:50
So you certainly put in the work, obviously, if you looked at the episode artwork for this episode,
54:54
or if you paid attention to anything in sports in the last year or so, you kind of know where
54:58
this ends up and we're going to get there. But I want to know what was it like in your first
55:02
competition back? Okay, because like where you're like, okay, I feel good, like, you know, you're
55:08
never going to feel the same, but you feel good. But now we're competing again. And you know what,
55:12
actually, let's make it even more specific. Your first high bar routine, where you have to jump
55:17
off this preposterously high bar and land preposterously hard on the ground, what was going through
55:24
your head at that moment? First high bar routine back was a lot later than my first competition back.
55:34
So I'll backtrack a little bit to the first competition back, if that's okay. My first
55:40
competition back was, I believe it was in, it's either January, February of this year. And at this
55:48
point, I still could barely do landings. So I basically, I did pommel horse P-bars and rings.
55:57
I did a P-bar routine with just a back tuck dismount super, super easy. I didn't do any
56:03
dismount on my rings routine. I literally just lowered down and hopped down. So it was more just
56:09
about getting out there and, you know, getting a competition, feeling the competition nerves again.
56:14
That was, for me, that was a pivotal moment in this journey because it was like, okay,
56:22
because I mean, of course, when you're going through this stuff, you're like, you always have
56:27
those thoughts in your head, like, am I really going to be able to do it? Am I actually going
56:31
to be able to come back and make this happen? And then when I had that first competition,
56:38
I mean, not going to lie, I cried a little bit. I mean, I shaded here. I was so happy.
56:43
I was so happy. I remember my first event was P-bars and after my P-bar routine,
56:49
I hit a good one. I went up to my physical therapist who was with us there and I just hugged his neck.
56:55
We were both crying. I just told him, thank you so much. It was, it was really, it was a really
57:01
emotional, great, great day. But yeah, so after that, it was kind of just like slowly progressing
57:10
back to being able to do, you know, full dismounts and all that. And Florin Ball was a big one. But
57:19
yeah, my first high-bar routine back was USA championships. And that one was a really good one.
57:26
So we started, where do we start? And I'm getting my events messed up. We ended on
57:32
high bar first day of USA championship. So it was the last event. And it was, it ended up being a
57:39
really good routine. I had a great set. I stuck my dismount. And I'm not usually one to celebrate.
57:47
I don't know if anyone out there has watched me and my competitions, I'm pretty, I like to be
57:52
pretty stoic, not show a lot of emotion. But I mean, it was last event. I stuck my dismount.
57:57
I hit a really good high bar routine and I just let it loose. I was the first one back and I just,
58:04
I felt like I killed it and it was, oh, that was so awesome. I was just going around hugging everyone.
58:10
Like all my coaches, my teammates, our trainers, like just because so much had gone into
58:19
that one routine from, I mean, the last high bar routine I had done was in March over, it was
58:25
over a year. And to come back and be able to do that, that was like, I'm getting kind of emotional
58:32
talking about it right now. It was, it was phenomenal. But yeah, the mental approach behind it is just,
58:40
like I, after my injury, I tried to make it a point once I got back to high bar to not,
58:48
not let the injury scare me because it was a flu accident. I mean, that's kind of stuff doesn't
58:54
happen every day. And I mean, it was a fluke. So I just tried to treat it as, you know, it's a
58:59
fluke and I don't need to be scared of it happening again because I mean, that's the only time that's
59:03
ever happened to me in my career. Like, why should I be scared of it? So I mean, I'm not saying that
59:08
I wasn't scared of it the first couple of times, but I mean, you just gotta, I mean, when you're
59:13
an elite athlete, you have to be able to put yourself in the mindset of like, I got this, I know what
59:19
I'm doing. And you just got to be able to trust yourself. So there was a lot of that that went into
59:22
it as well. Well, I appreciate getting into all that detail. And obviously you made the 2024
59:28
Paris Olympics. You know, you made it all the way back. You just gritted your way all the way through
59:33
with, with help, of course. And so we get to the 24 2024 Olympics. Just real good. Did you see the
59:39
opening ceremonies? Because I know everybody was talking about it, but weren't y'all like already,
59:43
like getting ready to compete and all that we're all even there? Yeah, we didn't go to open ceremonies.
59:49
So our first day of competition is always the next day after opening ceremonies. So we usually
59:56
opt to stay in our hotel and get recovery and prepare for next day. No reason to get a boat and
1:00:01
get rain going. And all that in the middle of the dirty Paris River, whatever the crap that they
1:00:06
had going on there. But so so we get there. You're at the 2024 Olympics. And I don't really know what
1:00:12
the expectations were for you guys going in. But at this point, the US men's team hadn't won a team
1:00:16
medal in since 2008. So it had been a been a long time. But my understanding is is that y'all kind
1:00:23
of sucked it up during qualifications. Right. I know that's that's kind of being like not so
1:00:27
generous. But none of y'all seem to compete the way that you wanted to during the qualifications. So
1:00:33
whenever you're going into the final rounds of everything, I mean, were y'all optimistic,
1:00:39
pessimistic, because I mean, at the end of the day, you guys did find a way to winning the bronze
1:00:45
medal. And it was just this incredible team performance that ended with, you know, the pommel horse
1:00:50
guy. I can't pronounce his last name, but Stephen, the pommel horse guy. And everybody kind of
1:00:55
recognized him and him going viral for only being the pommel horse guy and all that kind of stuff. But
1:00:58
like, what was it like going into that final round? And then how did you guys end up being able to put
1:01:03
it together to where you could go home with some hardware? Yeah. I mean, yeah, definitely the first
1:01:08
day of competition was not good. That's probably the worst competition that I personally have ever
1:01:13
had. I mean, there were definitely highlights for the other guys. But I mean, first day and we knew
1:01:21
this going into it. I mean, we're all going to be nervous. It was all I was the only one who had
1:01:27
been a previous Olympian. And Tokyo Olympics were way different than Paris. So I still feel like
1:01:33
Paris was my first real Olympics. But yeah, I mean, we knew going into it. We came in with the
1:01:40
expectation that there were going to be mistakes. There was going to be a lot of nerves coming into
1:01:44
play. So we really just used the first day to get the nerves out, understand what it's like to
1:01:50
compete in that arena. And just we kind of went in with that approach. And you know, for me, especially,
1:01:59
it was it was not a very good day. Like I said, worst competition in my life. So it was a pretty
1:02:07
uncharacteristic performance. And I was very unhappy with it. So I kind of used that we had
1:02:13
a day in between competitions. I use that day to kind of reset. Went back into the gym,
1:02:18
reset some of my basics, my gymnastics foundation, which some things around tweak some things. And
1:02:27
so that I could do what I needed to do for the team for team finals. But I'll say go and hit
1:02:31
the team finals. We were all very I would say we were very optimistic for sure. This was the first
1:02:38
time that we first time in a while that we truly felt that we would be able to come home with a
1:02:45
medal. So just a little bit of background in the Tokyo Olympics, Russia was still competing. So
1:02:50
the top three men's gymnastics, gymnastics countries are China, Russia, Japan. And they are just on
1:02:57
another level. And kind of in Tokyo, I mean, I hate to say it, but we kind of knew we weren't
1:03:03
in metal contention, just because those three countries were so, so good. We would have needed
1:03:09
them to mess up a lot to have a chance at the metal. But going into this one, it's a completely
1:03:14
different mindset because you know that you can come home with the metal because Russia wasn't there.
1:03:19
So it was between, I would say, Great Britain, Ukraine had a really strong team and then us.
1:03:26
So we knew going into it that we had a chance. And I mean, obviously that adds extra nerves.
1:03:32
But our frame, our mindset going into it was treated just like an NCAA championships.
1:03:40
Because I think the cool thing about our team at the Olympics is we had all been through NCAA
1:03:47
programs and we'd all competed at NCAA championships. And it's really different competing for a team.
1:03:57
And that's why NCAA teaches you. So like gymnastics, when you're growing up, is a pretty individual
1:04:02
sport. You're pretty much only doing it for yourself. But when you go to college, it's a team.
1:04:08
It's not just individual anymore. So going through that really teaches you how to
1:04:15
work for a team and how to perform and compete well for a team.
1:04:20
So that was our mindset. We're like, OK, let's treat it just like an NCAA championship.
1:04:24
Let's go in there. Let's hit this. Let's do these routines for one another. Let's do it for our
1:04:29
country and just have fun with it and see what happens. And we ended up going 18 for 18 routines,
1:04:38
which never happens. That hardly ever happens. We had 100% hit rate. And that was the most fun
1:04:48
competition that I've ever been a part of, hands down. Because just the way the crowd got involved
1:04:55
with us, the way we were feeding off of each other's energy, it was crazy. I don't know how much
1:05:02
of the in-between time they showed on TV, but between every event as we were rotating,
1:05:08
the whole crowd was cheering team USA. And I just remember looking at the guys, I'm like,
1:05:14
Oh my gosh, we're in Europe right now. We're not even in the US. And it's like literally everyone
1:05:20
in there is cheering for us. It was incredible. So that kind of helped us hone in and perform
1:05:28
better, honestly. And we were just we were feeding off of each other's energy. We were just hitting
1:05:32
routine after routine after routine after routine. And I mean, it all came down to pommel horse.
1:05:38
And Paul Judah was up first. I was up second after I hit my routine. I was like,
1:05:44
it's over. Steve's got this because Steve, Steven literally only does pommel horse. And he's phenomenal
1:05:51
at it. So I knew we had gone 17 for 17 at that point. And like I said, I don't normally go
1:05:58
crazy at competitions. I like to keep it pretty cool. I went wild after my routine.
1:06:03
Crazy, y'all went nuts. Yeah. And yeah. And then so watching Steven go up and just just slam
1:06:09
that routine and come off. I mean, I couldn't help myself. I mean, we were going crazy. I think at
1:06:15
one point I picked Steven up and I was like, jumping up and down with him. So yeah, I mean,
1:06:21
it was a it's it's like one of those things you read stories about, you know, you know, all the
1:06:27
stars align and everyone hits their routines perfectly and it ends up working out. So I mean,
1:06:34
to be a part of that was just incredible. And I mean, just thinking back at it, I can't help
1:06:41
a smile at, you know, what we did. It was it was pretty, pretty awesome.
1:06:46
Well, it's a tremendous accomplishment. You could definitely tell that there was a true
1:06:50
camaraderie between you guys because when you watch the elite teams like Japan, Russia and China,
1:06:54
it looks like it looks like coworkers, right? So they're all kind of coworkers and they're kind
1:06:58
of doing this thing. And they're just hoping, you know, if they're the Russians that if they
1:07:01
fall off the pommel horse that they don't end up getting black bagged and sent to Siberia or
1:07:05
something like that. And so you don't have to respond to that. That was my comment, not yours.
1:07:09
But we're running out of time here. So we'll have to make this the last question of the day.
1:07:13
I appreciate all this detail. But the obvious question for any Olympian is, okay, so what's next?
1:07:18
Are we doing 2028 in Los Angeles? It'll be here technically in your own backyard because you're
1:07:23
technically a Californian sort of now, even though you're a Georgian, all the same things.
1:07:27
But you know, what does the future look like for you? What are you going to be doing?
1:07:30
Yeah, so to be honest with you, I haven't decided if I'm going to continue or not.
1:07:35
Well, no, listen, just tell me just to just kind of just tell me what your plans are. No one else
1:07:40
is paying attention. Come on. My plan right now, my number one priority is getting married. I get
1:07:44
married in May. So right now I'm taking some time away from Jim, you know, that some other
1:07:51
things is my priorities for right now. So right now is getting married and, you know,
1:07:55
being there for that and being there for my fiance and my soon-to-be wife.
1:08:00
And we'll see what the Lord has in plan. I've had a few interesting opportunities come up.
1:08:07
Don't know what they will lead to. But I mean, gymnastics is always something that
1:08:11
I mean, I'm not going to count it out of the picture for sure. So we'll see. But definitely,
1:08:17
for right now, take some time away from it, you know, rest or cooperate. Just let my mind
1:08:22
relax a little bit and we'll see what happens. Okay, very good. Well, I appreciate you letting
1:08:27
us weave in and out of a lot of details on all this stuff, Brody. But that's all for me. Is there
1:08:31
anything else you want to get off your chest? I think I'm good. We covered a lot of stuff.
1:08:36
Yeah, we covered a lot of ground. And the only thing you and I have left to do is we have to
1:08:41
shoot some birds at some point at the same place. So we've got to make sure we get that on the calendar.
1:08:46
All right, Brody, we'll talk again soon. Yes, sir. Sounds good. Thank you.
1:08:49
There you go, guys. I hope you enjoyed my time with Brody. But before we let you go,
1:08:53
we are going to do a quick resilience boost at undaunted life or mission is equipping men to
1:08:56
push back darkness with content that forges spiritual, mental and physical resilience.
1:09:00
So I've got a YouTube link for you today. So this is Brody Malone's Olympic performance.
1:09:04
So this is basically all of his rotations in the final round, which was one of the biggest
1:09:09
reasons why the United States was actually able to bring home the bronze medal. So you can check
1:09:13
that out in the show notes. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Wherever you're listening to
1:09:16
this, please subscribe, rate and leave us a positive five star review. If you want to come
1:09:20
speak live at your event or on your podcast, shoot me an email to info@undonton.life. That's i-n-f-o
1:09:26
@undonton.life. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook and check out our website for
1:09:30
everything else, including how to donate to keep more content like this coming your way.
1:09:33
Just go to www.undonton.life. And as always, we want to thank the band Holy Name for allowing
1:09:38
us to use their music for our content. The music on this podcast is our song Perpetua,
1:09:43
which is off their self-titled debut album on Face Down Records. The links are in the description.
1:09:47
I'm your host, Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual,
1:09:54
mental and physical resilience. Keep seeking the lion of Judah.
1:10:24
[Music]