Frederick "Flips" Richard is already making a name for himself in men's gymnastics as he soars into the Olympic trials, having recently clinched the No. 2 spot at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, but he has been captivating an audience on social media for years and has big plans for the sport's future.
Richard, 20, grew up in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and first hit the gym at 2 years old. After his parents saw him on their bed throwing flips he'd seen in his older sister's gymnastics classes, they decided to put him in class, too. But he wouldn't listen to the instructors at that age, he said, so his parents took him back when he was 4. Competitions started when he was 6, and he "never did another sport."
Starting young helped Richard build a strong foundation, he said. Not only was he required to repeat levels to stay within age parameters, but he was also training with kids three years his senior.
"And then I compete against kids my age and destroy them," Richard said.
Now a rising junior at the University of Michigan, where he trains and competes, he's on the precipice of fulfilling a dream shared by many young athletes.
"I want to enter the Olympics with the whole country knowing, like, that's Frederick Richard, like this man is going to do it," he said.
The Olympics has always been on Richard's mind, at least since he was 10, when he was placed into Future Stars — an intensive training program for the best young U.S. gymnasts. That helped him earn a spot on the U.S. national team and jump-started his Olympic training.
Richard loves the freedom in how gymnasts can move their bodies and the unlimited challenge gymnastics presents.
"There’s no limit to the sport," Richard said, which he finds addicting. "It's a video game with a billion levels."
Richard’s star has been on the rise. He was named the 2024 NCAA Gymnast of the Year, and was the NCAA all-around champion last year. He was also the youngest U.S. man to win an all-around medal at the Artistic World Championships when he took bronze last year, and earned a bronze as part of the men’s team event.
He is among the top of the pack heading into the Olympic trials in Minneapolis on June 27 to 30 after he finished first in the floor exercise at the national championships and second overall.
Richard hopes to qualify for the Olympics in team, all-around, floor, vault, parallel bars and high bar. Looking ahead to Paris, he already has social media content planned for between events in the Olympic village.
Flipping onto social media
Richard, who is known as Frederick Flips to his fans and followers — nearly 1 million of them on TikTok and Instagram combined — ended up on TikTok the way many people did.
"It started during Covid," Richard said. "I was just bored at home."
His first posts had nothing to do with his life as a gymnast, he said, but as the views on each video kept growing and as Covid restrictions eased and he got back into the gym, Richard decided to combine the sport he loves with an endeavor that has taken him to new heights.
Richard said he was blown away that millions of people were watching him exercise his craft, a feat he previously thought possible only if he made it to the Olympics, especially because in gymnastics — specifically men's gymnastics — "you don't get the recognition compared to other sports," he said.
"It was, like, an opportunity to kind of get more eyes on the sport, kind of show who I am, tell my own story," Richard said of his foray onto social media. "And that's what it's been. ... A lot of people have resonated with it."
'The sky's the limit'
To Richard, "the sky's the limit" when it comes to social media, especially compared to the strict world of gymnastics, in which athletes have to follow a codebook.
On his page, followers might see him competing with other University of Michigan athletes to see who can jump the highest (no one has beaten him yet). Or they might be scrolling through comments to find the Grammy-winning singer SZA chiming in because she used to be a gymnast herself.
But that’s not what Richard wants to use his platform for the most. Beyond the views and celebrity recognition, he hopes his videos help him connect with others and encourage a new generation to take up men's gymnastics.
Richard said he sees his impact in the sport. These days, kids come up to him after every competition, he said, specifically young Black kids and their moms, who tell him they got into gymnastics because of him.
"There's a lot of Black kids that wanted to get into the sport or don't know how to or kind of don't have someone to look up to, and my content has been that for them," Richard said. "Just to learn about me, see what I'm doing, kind of get inspired. And that's pretty crazy to think about and see."
Richard feels "grateful" he's in a position where he can "help a bunch of kids."
"It's still, like, unreal," he said. "I'm the person you look up to? I'm just me."
Looking ahead in men's gymnastics
That's exciting for Richard, who wants nothing more than to help grow men's gymnastics (well, other than an Olympic gold medal).
He said he sees his purpose as "changing the sport," which has only 15 NCAA programs remaining in the U.S. Asked whether he thinks men's gymnastics is in danger, Richard said "I think the sport's dead already" compared to the top sports in the world.
Richard has no shortage of dreams for men’s gymnastics. He wants kids to be introduced to it in school gym classes in the hope that that exposure encourages them to choose it when they sign up for sports. He wants there to be a professional gymnastics league and for the top 15 gymnasts in the country to be recognized on the street.
He also wants to find a way to provide more opportunities in the sport — specifically to Black and underprivileged kids — especially because of how expensive it is.
Richard acknowledged the challenges he has chosen to take on, but he is driven by gratitude for the life he has lived because of gymnastics and wants others to feel the same enthusiasm and love for the sport.
"I've gotten this opportunity because of it [gymnastics], and I want to make those things happen for other people," Richard said. "And I want the sport that I'm, like, in love with to get the respect it deserves."