Who Is Stephen Nedoroscik? Pommel Horse Gymnast at Olympics

As if the United States’ men’s gymnastics team securing its first Olympic medal since 2008 wasn’t headline-worthy enough, the event’s real show-stopping star came in the form of glasses-wearing pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik. Read to learn more about the 25-year-old who secured the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and went viral in one night! 

To anyone watching NBC’s live coverage of the gymnastics all-around men team final event on Monday night, the looming countdown clock for “Nedoroscik Pommel” was contrasted by a calm — sometimes slumbering — Stephen Nedoroscik, pommel horse specialist for the United States.

With the bronze medal in reach for the three different teams going into the gymnastics team final, it came down to Nedoroscik’s 45-second routine to end Team USA’s 16-year podium drought.  

Glasses off and game face on, Nedoroscik mounted the horizontal bar and delivered the highest-scoring pommel horse performance of the day, exactly what team needed to hold off Great Britain and Ukraine men's gymnastics teams and win the bronze by a 2.266-point differential to the eventual fourth place finishers.     

In addition to Nedoroscik‘s clutch pommel horse routine, the USA gymnasts A posted crucial scores on high bar with a 14.833 from Frederick Richard and Asher Hong’s 14.833 on vault to seal their bronze medal fate. 

Meet viral gymnastics sensation Stephen Nedoroscik 

The Paris stadium erupted once Nedoroscik stuck the landing and viewers at home took to social media, making Nedoroscik viral not only for his clutch performance but also innocuously ‘nerdy’ appearance.  

Comparisons ran rampant from Captain America to Clark Kent, and his pommel specialization earned him endless parodies to Barbie’s one-job-wonder Ken: “This Ken’s job is horse,” says one user on X.  

Who is Stephen Nedoroscik? 

Born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts , Nedoroscik attended Penn State where he majored in electrical engineering and became a two-time NCAA national champion on the pommel horse while competing on the gymnastics team. 

He is a four-time pommel horse champion and took home the gold medal on the pommel horse at the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He is tied for the most U.S. pommel horse titles in U.S. history.  

His signature glasses — sadly not worn for the purposes of cosplaying as superman’s civilian alter ego — are for strabismus, or crossed eyes, a condition that can lead to double vision.  

Outside of the gym, Nedoroscik’s hobbies include Killer Sudoku and competitive cubing (he can solve a Rubik's Cube in under 10 seconds).  

Stephen Nedoroscik’s path to the Olympics  

Notoriously the most technically difficult event in men’s artistic gymnastics, pommel horse has been a sore spot on Team USA’s lineup for several years.  

Originally hoping for a spot in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Nedoroscik missed a place on Team USA’s squad after a costly fall during the trials.  

Nedoroscik had a second chance at his dream during the trials for the 2024 Summer Olympics  and realized that dream when he was named to the team in June of this year.  

A score of 14.850 on the final day of the trials was enough to punch his ticket to Paris as a pommel horse specialist — an acquisition that paid off ten-fold for Team USA on Monday night. 

“This feels almost like, you know, my vengeance, right? Coming back swinging,” Nedoroscik said about qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games. 

What’s next for Stephen Nedoroscik? 

The only member of Team USA to qualify for the final of any individual apparatus, Nedoroscik will compete in the pommel horse final, slated for Saturday, August 3.  

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