What You Need to Know About Stephen Nedoroscik, America’s Pommel Horse Hero

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Make way for Clark Kent. America’s new bespectacled (and bespectacled-lost) superhero is Pommel Horse Guy.

Stephen Nedoroscik wasn’t exactly a household name heading into Monday’s men’s gymnastics all-around final. As the U.S. team’s resident pommel horse specialist, he was only there to compete in one event, which happened to be the last one.

But during the hours the 25-year-old waited on the bench, he began to attract attention.

NBC put a countdown to “Nedoroscik Pommel” in the bottom corner of his video. Observers were obsessed with the fact that he sometimes appeared to be sleeping, with his eyes completely closed.

Social media has been flooded with comparisons, from Superman and Captain America to Steve Kornacki and BarbieKen (who has only one job, as is well known). Curious fans discovered Nedoroscik’s Instagram, where he had published a few hours earlier an article about solving a Rubik’s cube in less than 10 seconds.

“Good omen,” he wrote.

Nedoroscik became an overnight hero. But he arrived in Paris with the image of a somewhat controversial figure.

The U.S. men’s gymnastics team, seeking its first Olympic team medal since 2008, has decided to change its strategy this time around. Although all five members of the team have qualified for the Games, not all of them will compete in multiple events (there are six in total).

Instead of awarding the team’s five spots to versatile gymnasts who compete on every event, the United States decided to award one to a specialist: Nedoroscik. He competes only on pommel horse, a notoriously difficult event and a weakness for many teams.

But not this year, at least not for Team USA.

“Ultimately, (Nedoroscik’s) scores on pommel horse are so much higher than everyone else’s on that single event that he adds a huge amount of potential scoring,” said Tim Daggett, an NBC Sports gymnastics analyst who himself won gold at the 1984 Olympics.

By the time Nedoroscik took off his warm-up suit and goggles, the United States was clinging precariously to third place and counting on him to keep them there.

It was under the weight of this pressure that Nedoroscik jumped on the handlebars. After 40 dizzying seconds of pirouettes (on his part) and shouts (from the crowd), he successfully completed the descent with a smile and a punch.

His teammates hugged him and lifted him into the air. They already knew what had happened: The U.S. men’s gymnastics team had won bronze, its first Olympic team medal in 16 years.

Nedoroscik later told reporters that he did his best to turn his nervousness into excitement.

“I’ve done this a million times at this point, and I just tried my best to enjoy every moment of that routine,” he said.

And he answered a question many people ask: he can see without his glasses, but he thinks he doesn’t use his eyes at all.

“It’s all about feeling,” he added. “I see with my hands.”

Nedoroscik’s journey didn’t end Monday. He’s the only member of the U.S. team to advance to the finals of an individual event (you’ll never guess which one). The pommel horse final is set for Saturday, and he’ll be gunning for gold.

Nedoroscik’s Journey to the Pommel Horse — and to Paris

Nedoroscik is a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, and a 2020 graduate of Penn State, where he studied electrical engineering and competed in gymnastics for four years.

He got into the sport early, around age four, he told member station NHPR earlier this month.

“I was climbing up the walls, I was climbing up the door, and it scared the babysitter,” he recalls. “And my parents called me their ‘little monkey,’ and they decided, ‘Hey, this kid would probably do a good job if we put him in gymnastics.’”

On his first day at the children’s gym, he said, he managed to climb the 15-foot rope to the top, setting in motion two decades of gymnastics.

As a teenager, Nedoroscik said he didn’t realize how good he was on the pommel horse until a visiting coach marveled that he might one day become a national champion. Sure enough, a year later, he won the Junior Olympic national title on the pommel horse. When he got to college, he made the exercise his goal.

“When you go from a club gymnastics to a college gym, you see how talented the gymnasts are in this country,” he said. “And just wanting to be the best on the pommel horse at Penn State, I decided to specialize. And I haven’t changed my mind since.”

Nedoroscik had originally planned to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, sporting his signature goggles. But the team ultimately brought in another pommel horse specialist after he fell during trials, according to the Washington Post.

He went on to win gold at the world championships later that year and continued to compete, dominating national and world competitions. His four U.S. titles on pommel horse are tied for the most in U.S. history, according to USA Gymnastics.

After being named to the Olympic team in late June, a stunned Nedoroscik told reporters that his long-held dream had come true.

“When I was really young, people would tell me, ‘You’re going to be an Olympian someday!’” he said. “I was just a nerdy little kid back then. And now look at me: I’m a nerdy adult going to the Olympics.”

He told NHPR he was especially proud of making it to Paris, given the ups and downs of the past three years, and the disappointment he felt at not qualifying for Tokyo.

“I almost feel like this is my revenge, don’t you think?” he said. “I’m coming back strong.”

NPR’s Becky Sullivan contributed reporting from Paris.