Summerville’s Brody Malone Headed to the Olympics on U.S. Gymnastics Team

The U.S. Men’s Gymnastics team is on a mission for its first team medal since 2008. Leading the charge for Team USA is Summerville’s own Brody Malone. News 12’s Angela Moryan has Malone’s incredible story of heartbreak and hard work — in this News 12 exclusive.

Said Malone: “It was just…. it’s hard to describe the feeling, honestly. It’s just amazing.”

Summerville native Brody Malone stunned in St. Louis at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Not only did the former Trion Bulldog make the five-man Tokyo-bound team — he had the highest overall score, by a whopping three points.

Said Malone: “That’s everything I’ve worked for since I started gymnastics, and just to have it all pay off like that is just amazing. That’s really the only way I can put it.”

Whether gymnastics, baseball, or even rodeo, Malone excelled at it all. At 12, he decided to leave it all for gymnastics, and an hour and 20 minute one way drive to his Cartersville gym.

Said Jerry Tillison/Grandfather: “He’s totally dedicated and as humble as anyone I’ve ever met. He doesn’t want any recognition. He’d just assume no one know his name. He’d rather just go out and do his job.”

Said Yuri Kouznetsov/Coach: “We kind of knew this coming along. We just never wanted to talk about it or jinx it. I mean, this kid has the hardest work I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and I’ve seen hundreds and thousands of gymnasts before.”

His coaches might not have talked about it, but Malone sure did. At least, when he was little.

Said Tillison: “All the way through grammar school, he was confident that he would one day be in the Olympics, and he didn’t mind telling his teachers that, he even told his momma that.”

Said Brody’s father John Malone: “His mother was his biggest fan. I mean, she was his top fan, and she always told him, ‘You’re going to the Olympics.'”

Malone’s mother Tracy died after a long fight with breast cancer in 2012.

Said Brody: “She was always super supportive of me in everything I did. If there was ever a video that she was taking, you can always hear her screaming at the top of her lungs, ‘Go Brody!’ it was definitely some motivation there to do it for her.”

Said Ann Tillison/Grandma: “She’d probably still be screaming right now, jumping up and down.”

Said Tillison: “Best seat in the house, she had it. It was very emotional, but we knew that it was her dream too, not just his.”

Yuri: “He was always doing it for her before she passed, and even more so after. I just think he wants to make his mom proud. Like, all the time, he alwasy mentions at the competitions, ‘Glad my mom got to see that one from heaven.'”

What she saw at the Olympic Trials was her son smiling all the way to Tokyo.

Said John Malone: “To see his smile was just, oh, it melted my heart. It was like Mission Accomplished.”

Said Kouznetsov: “You get a lot of talent, and you get a lot of hard work, but it’s very rare to get talent and hard work together. When you have talent and hard work, you get Brody Malone, and when that happens, great things happen. … He always says that it was just another meet, and another competition under the books, so one more to go.”