# Brody Malone

John Brody Malone (born January 7, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. He has been a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team since 2020 and represented the United States at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. He was a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He is a three-time United States national all-around champion (2021, 2022, and 2024). On horizontal bar, he is the 2021 World Championship bronze medalist and the 2022 World Champion. With three Olympic and World Championship medals, Malone is tied as the ninth most decorated U.S. male gymnast of all time. He is also a ten-time NCAA National Champion.

## Early life and education

Malone was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, on January 7, 2000, to John and Tracy Malone. He has two brothers and one sister. Malone's parents enrolled him in gymnastics at age three because he was a very active child. Malone's mother died of cancer in 2012, and his step-mother died in 2019 after suffering a brain aneurysm. Throughout middle school and high school Malone competed in rodeo events such as team roping and jackpots, similar to his father, who competed in rodeo at Georgia Southern University.
Malone attended Trion High School and later graduated from Stanford University with a degree in management science and engineering.

## Gymnastics career
### 2015–16

Malone competed at the Junior Olympic level. At the 2015 National Championships, he placed seventh. At the 2016 National Championships he placed second behind Vitaliy Guimaraes. Additionally, Malone won silver on vault and parallel bars and bronze on rings.
In 2016, Malone competed at his first elite National Championships. He placed 15th in the all-around but won bronze on the horizontal bar in the 15–16 age division.

### 2017–18

Malone competed at the 2017 Junior Olympic National Championships where he won silver in the all-around behind Bennet Huang. He next competed at the 2017 U.S. National Championships. After two days of competition, Malone won the all-around competition. He also won gold on floor exercise, pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. Malone was later selected to represent the US at the International Junior Gymnastics Competition in Japan. While there he placed fourth in the all-around but won silver on horizontal bar.
In January 2018, Malone competed at the RD761 International Junior Team Cup where he helped the U.S. finish third in the team competition. Individually he finished sixth in the all-around and won silver on horizontal bar and third on rings.

### 2019

Malone began competing for the Stanford Cardinal gymnastics team in 2019. At the NCAA National Championships Malone helped Stanford win the team title and individually won the all-around, floor exercise, and horizontal bar titles. Malone was selected to represent the United States at the 2019 Pan American Games where he helped the U.S. finish second as a team behind Brazil.

### 2020–21

In early 2020, Malone competed at the Winter Cup and finished third in the all-around. The NCAA season was cut short due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Malone returned to competition at the 2021 NCAA Championships, where he helped Stanford defend their team title. He defended his all-around and horizontal bar titles and won silver on rings. At the 2021 U.S. National Championships, he won his first senior all-around title, defeating six-time national champion Sam Mikulak. As a result, he qualified to compete at the upcoming Olympic Trials. Malone clinched his spot on the Olympic team by finishing first in the all-around at the Olympic Trials. Malone was joined by Yul Moldauer, Sam Mikulak, and Shane Wiskus to form the United States men's Olympic gymnastics team.

#### 2020 Summer Olympic Games

During qualification at the Olympic Games, Malone qualified for the all-around final in 11th place and additionally qualified for the horizontal bar final in fourth. During the team final, Malone helped the United States place fifth. During the all-around final, Malone finished tenth; however he successfully competed his new skill on the parallel bars, a shoot up to handstand and fall back to support with ¾ turn mount, which now bears his name in the code of points.
In October, Malone competed at the 2021 World Championships where he only competed on the horizontal bar. He qualified for the event final in fourth place. During the event final he scored 14.966 and finished third behind Hu Xuwei and Daiki Hashimoto.

### 2022

In February, Malone competed at the Cottbus World Cup where he advanced to the pommel horse, rings, parallel bars, and horizontal bar event finals. On the first day of event finals, Malone won bronze on pommel horse behind Filip Ude and Illia Kovtun and placed sixth on rings. On the second day, he won bronze on parallel bars behind Kovtun and Mitchell Morgans and won gold on the horizontal bar. Malone next competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in Stuttgart alongside Vitaliy Guimaraes, Asher Hong, Yul Moldauer, and Khoi Young; they finished first as a team.
Malone was awarded the Nissen Emery Award, the highest honor in college men's gymnastics. At the NCAA Championship, Malone helped Stanford defend their national title. Additionally, he defended his horizontal bar title, co-won gold on the pommel horse, won bronze on floor exercise, and placed second in the all-around behind Paul Juda after a subpar routine on parallel bars.
In June, Malone was selected to represent the United States at the Pan American Championships alongside Riley Loos, Yul Moldauer, Colt Walker, and Shane Wiskus. On the first day of competition, Malone competed on pommel horse, rings, parallel bars, and horizontal bar to help qualify the United States in first place to the team final. Individually, he won gold on the horizontal bar and recorded the third-highest parallel bars score but did not medal due to two-per-country limitations and teammates Moldauer and Walker scoring higher. During the team final, Malone competed on pommel horse, rings, vault, and horizontal bar to help the U.S. win gold ahead of the reigning team champion Brazil.
In late July, Malone competed at the U.S. Classic where he won the all-around title with a score of 88.558 (86.000 without bonus). Additionally, he posted the top horizontal bar score, second-highest rings score, and third-highest pommel horse and parallel bars score. In August, Malone competed at the U.S. National Championships where he won his second consecutive national all-around title. As a result, he and second-place finisher Donnell Whittenburg were selected to represent the United States at the World Championships. Additionally, Malone placed first on floor exercise and horizontal bar, second on pommel horse, seventh on rings, eighth on vault, and fifth on parallel bars.
In September, Malone competed at the Paris World Challenge Cup. He qualified for the rings, parallel bars, and horizontal bar event finals. Although he withdrew from the rings final, he won gold on the horizontal bar and silver on parallel bars behind Caio Souza.
At the 2022 World Championships, Malone qualified for the all-around and horizontal bar finals. During the team final he contributed scores on all apparatuses towards the U.S.'s fifth-place finish. During the all-around final, Malone finished in fourth place, three-tenths of a point behind third-place finisher Wataru Tanigawa. During the horizontal bar final, Malone beat Daiki Hashimoto by 0.1 point, and became the second American to win a world gold on the apparatus after Kurt Thomas did so in 1979.

### 2023

Malone was selected to represent the United States at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in March 2023 alongside Yul Moldauer, Asher Hong, Fred Richard, and Shane Wiskus. Together, they placed first as a team and individually, Malone qualified for the horizontal bar final. During event finals, Malone injured his knee while dismounting from the horizontal bar, which required surgery at a local hospital to get an external fixator installed. Upon returning to Stanford Malone then underwent a second surgery to repair a tibial plateau fracture, a meniscus tear, and cartilage damage. An MRI later revealed that Malone also had a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament and a fully torn lateral collateral ligament. Malone would have to undergo a third surgery to repair the LCL. As a result, Malone would miss both the 2023 U.S. National Championships and the 2023 World Championships.

### 2024

Malone returned to competition at the 2024 Winter Cup but only competed on pommel horse, rings, and parallel bars. He made his all-around return at the 2024 National Championships where he won his third all-around national title.
In June, Malone competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, where he placed second all-around (170.30), sixth on floor (28.10), fifth on pommel horse (27.40), fourth on rings (28.55), fifth on parallel bars (29.50), and fourth on horizontal bar (27.450). On June 29, he was named to the U.S. Olympic Team to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games alongside Fred Richard, Asher Hong, Paul Juda, and Stephen Nedoroscik.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Malone was part of the team that earned a bronze medal in the team final. This was the first medal in the event since 2008, marking the end of a 16-year drought. In the fall Malone participated in the Gold Over America Tour.

## Personal life

Malone calls Rockmart, Georgia his hometown. On December 31, 2023, Malone announced his engagement to his longtime girlfriend Serena Ortiz.
Malone is a Christian and has said, “I just have to give all the glory to God. It’s all Him, and, yeah, it’s all God. So I just want to thank Him for this. … I’m just so grateful for everything that God’s done for me.” He regularly posts Bible-related material on his social media accounts.

## Eponymous skills

Malone has one named element on the parallel bars.
Gymnastics elements named after Brody Malone :
| Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty | Added to Code of Points |
| Parallel bars | Malone | "Shoot up to handstand and fall back to support with ¼ turn." | E, 0.5 | Performed at the 2020 Olympic Games – Men's All-Around |
* ↑ Valid for the 2025–2028 Code of Points

## Competitive history

| Year | Event | Team | AA | FX | PH | SR | VT | PB | HB |
| Junior ||||||||||
| 2015 | J.O. National Championships (L9 JE14) | | 7 | 14 | 13 | 23 | 18 | 7 | 6 |
| 2016 | J.O. National Championships (L10 JE15) | | | 12 | 5 | | | | 5 |
| 2016 | U.S. National Championships (15–16) | | 15 | 22 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 20 | |
| 2017 | J.O. National Championships (JE17) | | | | | | | | |
| 2017 | U.S. National Championships (17–18) | | | | | | 4 | | |
| 2017 | Junior Japan International | | 4 | | | | 6 | 4 | |
| 2018 | RD761 International Junior Team Cup | | 6 | | | | 5 | 6 | |
| Senior ||||||||||
| 2019 | NCAA Championships | | | | 9 | 8 | | 4 | |
| 2019 | Pan American Games | | 5 | | 4 | | | 5 | |
| 2020 | Winter Cup | | | | 12 | | | | |
| 2021 | NCAA Championships | | | | | | | | |
| 2021 | U.S. National Championships | | | 9 | 4 | | | 13 | |
| 2021 | Olympic Trials | | | | 6 | | 6 | | |
| 2021 | Olympic Games | 5 | 10 | | | | | | 4 |
| 2021 | World Team Trials | | | | | | | | |
| 2021 | World Championships | | | | | | | | |
| 2022 | Cottbus World Cup | | | | | 6 | | | |
| 2022 | DTB Pokal Team Challenge | | | | | | | | 5 |
| 2022 | MPSF Championships | | | | 5 | | 6 | 11 | |
| 2022 | NCAA Championships | | | | | 7 | 9 | 34 | |
| 2022 | Pan American Championships | | | | | | | | |
| 2022 | U.S. Classic | | | 4 | | | 9 | | |
| 2022 | U.S. National Championships | | | | | 7 | 8 | 5 | |
| 2022 | Paris Challenge Cup | | | | | WD | | | |
| 2022 | World Championships | 5 | 4 | | | | | | |
| 2023 | DTB Pokal Team Challenge | | | | | | | | 6 |
| 2024 | Winter Cup | | | | 4 | 13 | | | |
| 2024 | U.S. National Championships | | | 12 | 4 | | | 5 | |
| 2024 | Olympic Trials | | | 6 | 5 | 4 | | 5 | 4 |
| 2024 | Olympic Games | | | | | | | | |