Working on cars, DJing. (voyagedenver.com, 26 Apr 2022)

Athlete

Communications - University of Oklahoma: Norman, OK, USA

English

5280 Gymnastics: Wheat Ridge, CO, USA

He was bothered by right elbow pain in the early part of 2019 and was sidelined for six weeks. He returned to full training in July 2019. (teamusa.org, 11 Aug 2019)

In 2018 he sustained a back injury. (voyagedenver.com, 26 Apr 2022)

As a teenager he struggled with a wrist injury that led to doctors urging him to quit the sport. (voyagedenver.com, 26 Apr 2022)

At age seven he attended a free tryout offered by a gym in Colorado, United States of America.

To compete at the Olympic Games in 2024 and 2028. (oklahoman.com, 25 Mar 2021)

Winning bronze on floor exercise at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, QC, Canada, and competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (voyagedenver.com, 26 Apr 2022)

Before his routines he always stops, concentrates, and takes 10 deep breaths. (teamusa.org, 19 Aug 2017)

"Embrace the grind." (koco.com, 16 Apr 2021)

In 2019 he received the Nissen-Emery Award, which is presented to the year's best male athlete in US collegiate gymnastics. (intlgymnast.com, 19 Apr 2019)

He was named the 2018 Male Athlete of the Year by USA Gymnastics. (intlgymnast.com, 19 Aug 2018)

EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE
He has competed representing French club Les Enfants de la Dordogne and in Germany for TV Wetzgau. "It's a good thing to get your face in front of different judges. I think it's a really good commercial for gymnasts to get out there and experience not just competing gymnastics, but making relationships with other gymnasts; going out and seeing different cultures in each country and really getting a different side to the love of gymnastics. Every [German] Bundesliga competition I go to feels like I'm at an NCAA finals [competing for a US university]." (dordognelibre.fr, 18 Sep 2023; insidegymnastics.com, 31 May 2023; tvwetzgau.de, 01 Jun 2022; thegymter.net, 22 May 2022)

MOVE FROM KOREA
Born prematurely to a chemically dependent mother in the Republic of Korea, he was adopted at a young age by a couple from the United States of America. His adoptive parents Peter and Orsa were told at the time that he may not develop into a productive adult, and they had to sign a medical form stating they understood. Although he could be a difficult baby, screaming often and squirming out of his parents' arms when they tried to hold him, they found his behaviour changed completely when he started gymnastics. "He needed a place to put that intensity. And that's what gymnastics provided," his father said. (oklahoman.com, 05 Apr 2019)

WORK ETHIC
He grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, United States of America. "I think it plays a huge role. It taught me how to be on time. It taught me how to work as a team. It taught me not to be lazy. When you're thinking about running a farm, it's not like you can just sleep in and skip feeding the animals or put off work because you don't want to do it. These animals depend on you, so it definitely taught me about responsibility. The older I got, I thought about it more and more. And it just made me realise how much the farm did for me and my perspectives of what work ethic is." (kunc.org, 10 Aug 2021)

NEW NAME
He was named Kyung-Tae by his birth mother, but his adoptive parents began calling him Yul when he arrived in the United States of America. He had very little hair when he was a baby, so his parents decided to name him after bald actor Yul Brynner. (oklahoman.com, 05 Apr 2019)