The University of Michigan will have three men’s gymnasts competing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Former gymnasts Sam Mikulak (’14) and Uche Eke (’19) will be representing the United States and Nigeria respectively in Japan later this summer. Senior Cameron Bock will be an alternate for the American team.
Mikulak was a member of the Wolverines from 2010 until 2014, leading the team to two NCAA team titles in 2013 and 2014. He was the first Michigan male gymnast to ever qualify for the Olympics in 2012, and then he qualified again in 2016.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Mikulak finished fifth with the American team in the team competition. He finished fourth in the high bar final and seventh in the all-around final.
Mikulak has yet to win an Olympic medal despite holding six United States all-around national titles, and he will no doubt try to bring Olympic glory back to America in his final competing season.
Eke, who is now a graduate assistant coach for the Wolverine program, will be competing for Nigeria against his former teammates. No African has won Olympic gold in gymnastics and there is little doubt Eke wants to be the first to break such a streak.
After missing his senior season due to injury, Eke competed in five meets in 2020 before the cancellation of meets due to the growing coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, however, Eke won gold on the pommel horse and bronze on the parallel bars in the All-African Games in Rabat, Morocco.
Bock, who is a three-time U.S National Senior Team member and came in sixth in all-around the 2021 Pan-American Games, will be an alternate for the American team.
While Mikulak and Bock will be competing against Eke, all three athletes will get the opportunity to represent their countries and Michigan men’s gymnastics on the largest athletic stage in the world.