Meet 5280 Gymnast Yul Moldauer
2020 Tokyo Olympic Team Member
Yul’s Gymnastics History
Yul was born in 1996 in Seoul, South Korea. He was adopted a year later by his parents who lived on a farm in Northern Colorado. When he was 7, he attended his first gymnastics class with a friend which was the start of his phenomenal career!
When Yul was 10, his family made the move to Denver so Yul could train under the coaching of Vladimir and the Artemev Family (who are our current 5280 Men’s program coaches). In the next few years, he started winning state and regional meets and earned a place on the USAG Junior National team!!
Yul’s NCAA History at OU
Yul earned a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma and won his first NCAA all around title in 2016 and has since been on a success streak taking medals at National, International and World competitions. His single achievements are too long to list but we dare you to google him!
In Spring 2020 Yul graduated from Oklahoma University as one of the most decorated gymnasts in NCAA history. He was also the recipient of the Nissen-Emery Award, a prestigious award that goes to the top male collegiate gymnast in the country. And he achieved all of this while earning his bachelor’s degree and graduating from OU in May of 2019!
Check out this impressive list of achievements in just a few years!
- 2020 Winter Cup vault champion and parallel bars bronze medalist
- Member of the 2019 World Championships team. Advanced to the all-around final
- 2019 U.S. all-around, floor exercise & parallel bars silver medalist
- 2019 NCAA team & still rings silver medalist and pommel horse bronze medalist (Oklahoma)
- 2019 Nissen Award winner
- Three-time American Cup champion (2017-19)
- 2019 Winter Cup all-around champion
- Member of the 2018 World Championships Team. Advanced to the all-around and floor exercise finals
- 2018 U.S. all-around, floor exercise & vault silver medalist and still rings & parallel bars bronze medalist
- 2018 NCAA team, all-around, floor exercise, vault & parallel bars champion and pommel horse & still rings silver medalist (Oklahoma)
- 2017 World floor exercise bronze medalist. Also placed 7th in the all-around
- 2017 U.S. all-around & floor exercise champion and parallel bars silver medalist
- 2017 NCAA team, floor exercise & still rings champion, all-around silver medalist and parallel bars & high bar bronze medalist (Oklahoma)
- 2017 Winter Cup all-around, still rings & parallel bars champion and floor exercise & vault silver medalist
- 2016 NCAA team & all-around champion, parallel bars silver medalist and floor exercise bronze medalist (Oklahoma)
After COVID closed down the OU gym, Yul decided to come back to train for the Olympics at 5280 Gymnastics, where he grew up under the wings of the Artemev Family.
Artemev Family Gymnastics History
Sasha Artemev Olympic History
Did you know that 5280’s coach Sasha helped earn Team USA a Bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing?
In 2006 Sasha won 3 titles at the US National Championships (all-around, pommel horse and p bars). He was also the only member of the American Men’s Team to win a medal at the 2006 World Championships and the first U.S. gymnast since Kurt Thomas in 1979 to win a world championship medal on pommel!! In 2007 leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games: Sasha was the first gymnast to land a triple-twisting yurkencho vault which helped him earn 4th AA in the U.S. Nationals
At the 2008 U.S. Nationals, Sasha was the pommel champion for the second consecutive year. After the Olympic trials in June of that year, he was named as an alternate to the men’s team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. On August 7th of that year Morgan Hamm was injured and Sasha was officially added to the Men’s Olympic Team!
During the 2008 Olympics Men’s Team Finals Competition: The US Men’s last event was pommel and the team was teetering between winning a podium bronze medal and 4th place. Sasha was the LAST competitor on the LAST event for Team USA and his routine could either make or break the team’s chance to win an Olympic medal…
Sasha’s flawless pommel routine as the last competitor of the last event for Team USA in Finals locked in their Team Bronze medal victory at the 2008 Olympic Games! His incredible performance made gymnastics history! The USA Men’s team has not earned an Olympic medal since the 2008 Olympics.
We couldn’t be more proud to have Sasha and (his father and coach) Vladimir call 5280 home. Speaking of coach Vlad, did you know that he is a retired Belarusian artistic gymnast who competed for the Soviet Union? He was a member of the national team from 1977 through 1987 and earned the Soviet National All Around title in 1982 and 1984. He was set to compete in the 1984 Olympics but was unable to due to the Soviet boycott that year.
Here’s a very special photo taken in 2008 after the Beijing Olympics – pictured is coach Sasha who was key to the USA men’s team bronze medal in the 2008 Olympic Games and his 2 biggest supporters, his father and coach Vlad and 5280 Gymnastics founder Jim! We miss our founder Jim everyday and honor him by fulfilling his mission for 5280
Yul’s Olympic History
June 3-6, 2021 – 2021 US Gymnastics Championships competition at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
After 2 days of competition, Yul placed 2nd All Around with a combined total score of 167.950 which earned him a spot in the 2021 Olympic Trials which were June 24th-27th.
June 24-27, 2021 – 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Gymnastics at The Dome at America’s Center in St Louis, MO.
Yul officially earned a spot on the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Mens Gymnastics Team at this competition alongside Brody Malone, Sam Mikulak, and Shane Wiskus! Check out the below video of his amazing performance at Olympic Trials that earned him a spot on the 2021 Men’s Olympic Team!
June 29, 2021 – Yul returns back to Colorado and as an official member of the Tokyo Olympic Team! Check out this awesome video of his return to 5280 Gymnastics!
July 24 – August 8, 2021 – 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
The American Team qualified to the Team Finals (which is a feat in itself) and on July 26th Yul along with the rest of the U.S. Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Team took 5th in the Team Finals Competition at the Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, Japan. Yul also qualified to the Floor Exercise event final.
August 1, 2021 – Yul placed 6th in the Men’s Floor Final, finishing with a score of 13.533 to cap off his first Olympic Games.
Relive the Olympic excitement and check out these news articles about Yul:
- 9 News
- Japan Times
- Dallas Weekly
- Yahoo News
- Washington Post
- USA Today
- FanNation
- TeamUSA
- The Oklahoman
- The Oklahoman pt 2
- 5 Fast Facts you Need to Know about Yul
We couldn’t be more proud of Yul and all of his incredible accomplishments. He is now back at 5280 Gymnastics training for the 2024 Paris Olympics! We are so lucky to have him inspiring and mentoring the next generation of boys (and girls) at 5280!
Yul’s Most Recent Accomplishments
- 2024 HNI All Around Champion
- 2023 Winter Cup All Around Champion
- 2023 DTB Pokal Team Champions
- 2023 Pan American Championships Team Champions & All Around Champ
- 2023 Named to Senior National Team for 8th time in a row
- 2023 World Championships Team USA Bronze (3rd) (6th time going to Worlds)
- 2023 Swiss Cup Champion
- 2023 Arthur Gander Memorial Champion
- 2022 DTB Pokal Team Champions
- 2022 Pan American Championships Team Champions & 2nd AA
- 2022 2nd Place at Arthur Gander Memorial
- 2022 Swiss Cup Champion
- 2021 Arthur Gander Memorial Champion
- 2021 U.S. parallel bars champion, all-around silver medalist and floor exercise & still rings bronze medalist
- 2021 Winter Cup parallel bars champion and all-around & floor exercise bronze medalist