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US gymnast Alec Yoder to document Tokyo Olympics as photographer
Alec Yoder celebrates after finishing his pommel horse routine at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials. (Courtesy: Alec Yoder)

US gymnast Alec Yoder to document Tokyo Olympics as photographer

Jake Rice - BVM Sports Intern Writer

Updated:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BVM) — Sports and photography are a match made in heaven. Think of the LeBron James-Dwayne Wade lob; Muhammed Ali over Sonny Liston; Michael Jordan’s free-throw line dunk; Tommie Smith-John Carlos and the 1968 Olympic podium; Brandi Chastain winning the 1999 World Cup. 

With that in mind, sports and photography are on par with collaborative legends such as peanut butter and jelly or Batman and Robin. 

The aforementioned hold a common denominator: two different entities coming together harmoniously. Sure, Batman, LeBron and jelly are stand-alone greats, but when mated with their partners in crime, one may as well celebrate the unions with Luke Combs’ “Better Together” or “At Last” by Etta James. 

But one particular individual has been blessed by the sports gods in that the athlete and the photographer share the same name: Alec Yoder. Yoder will represent Team USA as a specialist gymnast for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and document it from his point of view with a Canon EOS R camera. 

The Olympian’s love of gymnastics came well before his interest in visuals. 

At 3 years old, Yoder and his mom attended a “mommy-and-me” gymnastics event and this would kick off his career in the sport. 

“For as long as I can remember, I always loved the sport,” Yoder said.

Alec Yoder posing for a feature photo. (Courtesy: Alec Yoder)

While the Indiana native flipped in the gym, at home he would flip through VHS tapes of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. As a young gymnast, this is where Yoder would first think of becoming an Olympian. Those thoughts would later become more of a reality when he began training under USA Gymnastics Hall of Famer, Coach Gene Watson.

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“When I came to [Gene] I didn’t have the best basics and in gymnastics, the basics are crucial,” Yoder said. “He helped me bring those up as well. He didn’t just help me get really good skills, he helped me from the very bottom.”

Watson has since passed, but it was under his tutelage that both Watson and Yoder would finally understand that the young gun had the potential to take his craft to the highest of levels.

“In 2013 was probably the first time where I thought that this is something I could do,” Yoder said.

With the iconic duo established, Watson would watch his protégé blossom in the junior national and international ranks. Yoder finished first on the pommel horse (PH) at the 2012 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championship; the following year he placed third in the same event. At the 2013 P&G Championship, Yoder would walk away, again, in first in the PH and sixth in the all-around (AA).

More dominance would ensue in the 2014 Men’s Junior Olympic National Championship. Yoder placed first in the AA, PH and the horizontal bars (HB) with a seventh-place finish in the still rings (SR) and an eighth-place result in the floor exercise (FX). 

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To cap his junior career, the future Olympian would place third, seventh and eighth in the PH, HB and AA, respectively, at the 2015 Winter Cup Challenge. He placed fifth in the PH at the 2015 P&G Championship.

In international competition, Yoder showed more of the same. In 2013, the Hoosier placed second in the AA at the International Junior Mexican Cup. A year later, Yoder would compete in the Junior Pan American Championship, Pacific Rim Championship and the Youth Olympic Games. In the Jr. Pan Am Championship, Yoder would leave with a first-place finish in team, PH, SR and PB with a runner-up finish in AA and an eighth-place mark in HB.

At the Pacific Rim event, Yoder took another first-place finish in team and PH. He followed that up with another runner-up finish in the AA, third-place in SR and fourth and fifth in the HB and PB, respectively. The Youth Olympic games gave Yoder third, fourth and seventh–place finishes in the AA, PB and PH events.

Around this time, Yoder developed a close bond with gymnastics legend Simone Biles. Yoder is well aware of her status as a world-class athlete, but to him, she’s a world-class friend. 

“Everyone sees her as Simone Biles the gymnast and for me she’s Simone Biles the person,” Yoder said. “She’s awesome and she’s super down to earth, humble and supportive, so I’ve got a lot of love and appreciation for her, it means a lot. Obviously she’s been very successful in the sport, she knows what it takes and so it’s great to have relationships like that with people who understand what it takes.” 

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Also to note, Yoder’s interest in photography and videography started in the junior ranks.

“Back in high school I used to make GoPro videos of my friends and so I really enjoyed doing that,” Yoder said. “My editing process was very limited and so was my gear but it was really fun to just be with my friends and capture it.”

Soon, the time came to pick a college and compete in collegiate ranks. Yoder chose Ohio State, about three hours away from his hometown of Indianapolis. Yoder had been homeschooled for most of his life and chose Ohio State because he wanted to be “pushed” and entrenched into a “team” environment — two things he never experienced much of due to his schooling. 

But outside of athletics, the sheer size of Ohio State’s campus allowed Yoder to branch out and meet new people. Adding to that, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio are very similar cities in the Hoosier’s eyes, and that it made him feel at “home.”

In the Buckeye state, Yoder would hone his craft further and major in sports industry. 

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The greenhorn Buckeye would burst onto the scene capturing medals and attention.

In 2016, Yoder was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week six times, Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Ohio State Scholar-Athlete, first team All-Big Ten and earned All-American honors three times. The freshman collected hardware by being runner-up in AA and PH at the Big Ten championship. 

Yoder also placed fourth in the HB and seventh on SR. From there came NCAA championship performances of which he still produced on a high level, as he was second on the PH, seventh on the SR and fifth in the AA on the biggest collegiate stage. 

As a member of the Buckeyes, Yoder and his teammates would capture a Big Ten team championship and a third-place team title in the NCAA championships. 

Following the season, Yoder would have shoulder surgery but was still able to compete in his sophomore year. On the flip side, 2016 would be the year Yoder would invest more into the visual arts. 

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“I got a camera in 2016,” Yoder said. “I didn’t use it as much as I thought I would, but I would use it every once in a while.”

Going into his sophomore season with a new camera and repaired shoulder, the Buckeye gymnast would once again produce in a slightly down year. Yoder earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, two All-American distinctions, a PB silver medal at the Big Ten Championship, another Big Ten team title and team runner-up at the NCAA championships.

In his first year as an upperclassman, Yoder would participate collegiately and internationally for his country. He would silver in the PH and AA at the Big Ten championship with a fifth-place in PB, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors again. The junior placed third in the AA at the NCAA championships, securing another All-American status.

Then, Yoder really shined in the red, white and blue. 

At the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Yoder placed first in the PH, fourth in the PB, fifth in AA and eighth in the SR. Then in the Doha World Cup, a bronze medal would be awarded to the Buckeye for his performance in the PH event. Capping off the year, another third-place finish in the AA at the World Team Selection Camp allowed him to compete for the U.S. on its World Team.

Following his international ventures, Yoder got a large whiteboard. This whiteboard would serve as a constant reminder of his hopes, dreams and goals.

“[The whiteboard] hangs on my wall and it’s a really good reminder for me,” Yoder said. “It’s a motivation to see what my scores look like versus what the best-in-the-world’s score looks like. That really gives me an opportunity to wake up motivated every day.”

In his final year as a student-athlete, Yoder would become a PH national champion. First team All-Big Ten, two All-America honors, a Big Ten PH title and PB runner-up would be bestowed to the Buckeye. The newly crowned king of the PH would graduate, retire from AA competition and turn pro. 

The subsequent years would be when Yoder would go on a tear in PH events and the darkroom.

Fourth-place would be given to Yoder at the 2019 national qualifier. Then 2020 would be a year to remember for a myriad of reasons. 

For starters, Yoder would taste gold as he won the 2020 Winter Cup Challenge in the PH event. Then, the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, Yoder made the best of this time. 

While trying to make the U.S. Olympic team, Yoder and the world learned that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be pushed back to 2021. 

So, Yoder continued to train.

“I just kept training, I just kept trying to get better and better,” Yoder said. “I think it was almost good for me that I had more time to prepare mentally and physically.”

Logically, the former Buckeye couldn’t train 24/7 so, he had a heart-to-heart.

“When lockdown hit, I was really forced to figure out what I wanted to do, what was something that I could do that was beneficial with my time,” Yoder said.

Consequently, the gymnast picked up his camera once again. 

“I picked up the editing side of videos and photos, started learning the ins and outs of the software,” Yoder said. “Trying to make good footage look great, how to stream clips along, how to sync it with music, how to make dynamic transitions, make it pop.”

Then he was hooked.

“Once I started doing that, I couldn’t put the camera down,” Yoder said.

Yoder was now training for both gymnastics and the visual arts.

In Columbus, where Yoder resides, he has worked with small businesses, athletes, the local car community and the Ohio State men’s gymnastics team. He hopes to bring light to the sport he loves as its media exposure is not on par with the likes of football and basketball. Moreover, he hopes to make content creation a career and do adventure vlogging and photography in the future.

However, when things opened back up for Yoder athletically, he didn’t look back.

The photographer would win the 2021 PH Winter Cup Challenge title, third place in the PB and second for the U.S. Gymnastics Championship. This gave him the invitation to the U.S. Olympic Trials for a shot at making the team. The result: PH gold. 

Yoder dawning Team USA apparel for the first time as an Olympian. (Courtesy: Alec Yoder)

Alec Yoder would be named an Olympian and represent Team USA as a PH specialist.

“It’s such a blessing,” Yoder said. “I’m trying to enjoy the moment for sure but I’m trying to remind myself that making the Olympic team isn’t the end goal, the end goal is bringing back a medal for my country.”

Then the thought of his late coach, Watson, chimed in. 

“A part of him would probably joke around and say ‘it’s about time’,” Yoder said.

Yoder and his teammates are now in Colorado Springs at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center getting ready for the Tokyo Games. And with him is his camera.

The Tokyo Games start on July 23 and end on Aug. 8; there Yoder will be shooting for gold and for content. If he is so lucky to get the perfect shot and stand on the podium with a gold medal around his neck, surely it will go together like peanut butter and jelly.

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