The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have wrapped up, and Asian American Olympics athletes have played significant roles in Team USA’s success. One key Asian American athlete was Yul Moldauer, a Korean American gymnast.
Yul Moldauer is a 24 year-old Colorado grown athlete who placed 6th in the men’s floor final and was the 2017 US all-around champion. Born in South Korea and adopted at 5 months old by Orsa and Peter Moldauer, Yul Moldauer grew up on a farm in the rurals of Colorado. At age 7, Orsa Moldauer recalls watching young Yul with his friends going across the monkey bars. “All the other kids’ legs would swing back and forth as they tried to get across those monkey bars, but not Yul’s,” Orsa said. “His legs were completely straight and still. It was like he was floating across.” With that, Orsa Moldauer enrolled Yul Moldauer in a local tumbling class at Fort Collins. Ever since then, Moldauer has embarked on a long journey to reach the Olympics.
Yul’s childhood had not been easy; he was born prematurely and had many medical problems that doctors feared he could not overcome, according to the Oklahoman. As a toddler, he had to attend speech therapy because he did not start talking until he was 3 and a half years old. He cried often, in a strong, ear-deafening tone that often caused adults nearby to question Orsa and Peter Moldauer’s parenting. Despite their best efforts, almost nothing seemed to appease him. Yul’s parents were desperate for anything to help their son to focus his energy. They never imagined that the tumbling class Orsa signed Yul up for would change his life forever. He quickly rose up in the competitive levels, winning a Regional Olympics title as a level 7 gymnast. Soon, his local coach recommended him to attend more elite programs, farther from his hometown. The Moldauers decided to buy a house in Arvada, closer to the gym that Yul attended.
For Yul, gymnastics was no longer an extracurricular activity. He worked out for hours upon hours before and after school, regularly participating in state and regional clinics and camps at the US Olympics Training Center. Moldauer continued to make significant strides and earned a college scholarship to Oklahoma, where he won an NCAA all around title as a freshman in 2016. He secured his spot on the US team for Tokyo by finishing second to Brody Malone in the all around, as well as fourth and fifth in other events. Due to COVID restrictions, Yul’s training for the Olympics was made complicated without access to a gym. He began training inside his home garage. “I went to Home Depot and got some eye hooks so I could put some Amazon rings in the ceiling, and Air Track sent me a tumbling mat so I could tumble on my front lawn,” Yul told KUNC Radio. He trained there every day for three months before back to Arvada to train at his hometown’s gym.
Yul’s journey was full of hardships. One of the obstacles he faced throughout his life and in the field of gymnastics was racism. During a Team USA Media Event, Yul Moldauer revealed that he had been the target of racist stereotypes and jokes his entire life and had always tried to “push it away.” Now, Yul says he will use his platform to raise awareness about anti-Asian violence.
Samuel Choe, a digital product specialist, was in St. Louis following his fellow Korean-American in the Olympic trials. “Yul is breaking all the stereotypes for Koreans and other Asian-Americans,” he said. “It shows that becoming a doctor or lawyer is not the only way for Asians to become successful,” according to the South China Morning Post.
The boy who once could not stop crying as a toddler, who got his start in a tumbling class in Fort Collins, has now become a seasoned gymnastics veteran and an inspiration to millions with his journey.
“I hope it gives other young kids the hope and belief that it doesn’t matter what you look like or where you came from, you’re part of the United States and you can represent this country like I am now,” he says.