STOUGHTON, MASS. (WHDH) - An Olympic gymnast from Stoughton wants to backflip his way into the history books.

Bronze medalist Frederick Richard will try to set a new world record with more than 1,001 backflips in 24 hours.

He is taking on the challenge to raise money for gym equipment for children in Africa.

“I’ve done a lot of backflips. I’ve probably done about 1,000 combined, but now I have to do 1,000 today. The most I did in one day was 500, but I’m going to have to do over 1,000 to break the record, and I want this to be a successful day in raising this money for these kids and just make it a lot of fun because this sport’s fun,” Richard said.

The event will be open to the public starting at 5 p.m. Friday at Premier Gymnastics in Stoughton.

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