Brian RichmondThere are those judges/officials that soar to the top of their profession. Some work a few years at the high school level and then move on.
That’s not true of one of the finest international gymnastics judges this country, let alone state, has produced. And, he’s all Colorado.
Brian Richmond has been true to his Colorado roots. He was a semifinalist participant at Jefferson High School in the 1970 Pommel Horse.
Upon graduation and enrollment into CSU, Brian became a participant, coach and judge. He coached from 1971 to 1988, with his 1984 Poudre winning the CHSAA boys’ state title. He earned the NHSGCA coach of the year honor in 1984-85. He was his team’s captain at CSU.
But it’s Brian 45 years of dedication to gymnastics and its officiating that we are focusing on here.
Let’s start with the facts: Brian has worked over 35 state girls’ championship and has 20 boys’ state meets to his credit.
Impressive as that is, Brian has judged the biggest meets in the country and on the international stage. He has judged the China cup, The Goodwill Games, USA Championship (at least 15 times since 1985), Olympic Nationals, NCAA Championships and other collegiate conference meets.
Brian was inducted into the National Gymnastics Judges Hall of Fame in 2011.
Not content with judging, he also serves as the announcer for many of the nation’s biggest meets, including the 1979 World Trials.
He has owned and run several gymnastics clubs in northern Colorado, seeing many of the girls who trained at them win state honors for CHSAA.
No one cares or works harder at what he does, and the decisions he makes as a judge are, and always have been, the decisions that are right for the sport, the gymnast and the team. His greatest thrill is to see how the high school girls improve from one meet to the next.
