Brandon Robert Briones (born April 29, 2001) is an American

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

. He is the 2018 Youth Olympic vault champion and was a reserve athlete for the

2020 Olympic The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

men's gymnastics team.

Personal life

Briones was born in

Park Ridge, Illinois Park Ridge is a city in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a Chicago suburb. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 39,656. It is located northwest of downtown Chicago. It is close to O' ...

to Laurie and Deo Briones; he grew up in

Gilbert, Arizona Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located southeast of Phoenix within the city's metropolitan area. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, Gilbert was once known as the "Hay Shipping Capital of the World". It is the fifth-larg ...

Gymnastics career

Junior

2017

Briones competed at the RD761 International Junior Team Cup where he helped the USA place third as a team. Individually he placed second in the all-around behind Shiga Tachibana of Japan. During event finals he won silver on floor exercise, pommel horse, and rings and won bronze on parallel bars and horizontal bar. Briones next competed at the

Winter Cup The Winter Cup is an annual winter gymnastics meet for elite artistic gymnasts of the United States. History The first edition of the Winter Cup was held in 1997 and was initially a men's artistic gymnastics competition. Women competed at the ...

where he placed tenth in the all-around, competing against both junior and senior athletes. Briones competed at the 2017 Junior Olympic National Championships where he won gold in the all-around. In June Briones broke his leg and was unable to compete for the remainder of the season.

2018

Briones returned to competition at the Elite Team Cup where his region placed second. In June Briones competed at the Junior Pan American Championships where he helped the USA finish first as a team and individually Briones won gold in the all-around. At the U.S. National Championships Briones placed first in the junior division (17-18). Additionally he placed first on rings and horizontal bar, third on floor exercise, pommel horse, and parallel bars, and sixth on vault. Briones was later selected to represent the United States at the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...

held in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina. At the

Youth Olympic Games The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

Briones won gold on vault. Additionally he placed fourth in the all-around, rings, and horizontal bar, and fifth on floor exercise and pommel horse. In November Briones signed his

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

with

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

men's gymnastics team.

Senior

2020–21

Briones began competing for the

gymnastics team in 2020; however the NCAA season was cut short due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Briones returned to competition at the 2021 NCAA Championships where he helped Stanford defend their team title. Individually he came in third in the all-around behind teammate

Brody Malone John Brody Malone (born January 7, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the 2022 World Champion on horizontal bar and is the 2021 and 2022 U.S. National Champion. He is a ...

and

Shane Wiskus Shane Michael Wiskus (born October 1, 1998) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Additionally, he represented the United States at the 2019 World Championships and is a three-time NCAA Ch ...

of Minnesota. At the 2021 U.S. National Championships Briones finished in fourth place behind Malone,

Yul Moldauer Yul Kyung-Tae Moldauer (born August 26, 1996) is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2017 U.S. national all-around champion and the 2017 World bronze medalist on floor exercise. He represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. ...

, and

Sam Mikulak Samuel Anthony Mikulak (born October 13, 1992) is a retired American artistic gymnast. He is a six-time U.S. national all-around champion (2013–2016, 2018–2019), the 2018 World bronze medalist on high bar, and a three-time Olympian (2012, 2 ...

. As a result he qualified to compete at the upcoming

Olympic Trials Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

. At the Olympic Trials Briones finished fifth in the all-around. He was named as an alternate for the Olympic team.

2023

Briones returned to competition in early 2023 after not competing in 2022 due to injury. He helped Stanford win their fourth consecutive

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

title and individually earned the second highest score on rings. Briones was a finalist for the

Nissen-Emery Award The Nissen Award (Nissen Emery Award) is the award given to the best male collegiate gymnast in the United States. The award reflects admirable scholarship and moral characteristics as well as sporting success. List of winners See also * AAI Aw ...

, ultimately losing to

Paul Juda Paul Wojciech Juda (born July 7, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast. He is currently competing for the Michigan Wolverines in NCAA gymnastics and is a member of the U.S. men's national team. Personal life Juda was born in Deerfield, Illin ...

Competitive history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Briones, Brandon Living people 2001 births Sportspeople from Park Ridge, Illinois American male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Youth Olympic gold medalists for the United States Stanford Cardinal men's gymnasts