Who is pommel horse hero Stephen Nedoroscik : NPR

NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer time Olympics. For extra of our protection from the video games head to our newest updates.

Transfer over, Clark Kent. America’s latest glasses-wearing (and glasses-shedding) superhero is Pommel Horse Man.

Stephen Nedoroscik was not precisely a family title going into Monday’s males’s gymnastics all-around finals. As Staff USA’s resident pommel horse specialist, he was there to compete in only one occasion, which occurred to be scheduled for final.

However within the hours that the 25-year-old waited on the sidelines, he began to draw consideration.

NBC put a countdown clock for “Nedoroscik Pommel” within the backside nook of its video feed. Observers obsessed over the truth that he gave the impression to be sleeping at instances, along with his eyes absolutely closed.

Social media was flooded with comparisons, from Superman and Captain America to Steve Kornacki and Barbie’s Ken (who famously has one job). Curious followers found Nedoroscik’s Instagram, the place he had posted simply hours earlier than about fixing a Rubik’s dice in beneath 10 seconds.

“Good omen,” he’d written.

Nedoroscik grew to become a hero in a single day. However he arrived in Paris as a little bit of a controversial determine.

U.S. males’s gymnastics, chasing its first Olympic crew medal since 2008, determined to modify up its technique this time round. Though all 5 members of the crew certified for the Video games, not all of them will compete in a number of occasions (there are six total).

Moderately than assign all 5 spots on the crew to “all-around” gymnasts who compete on every equipment, the U.S. determined to allot one slot on the crew to a specialist: Nedoroscik. He’s competing solely on pommel horse, a notoriously troublesome equipment and a weak spot for a lot of groups.

However not this yr, a minimum of not for Staff USA.

“What it comes right down to is that [Nedoroscik’s] scores on pommel horse are a lot increased than all people else on that one occasion that he provides an amazing quantity of potential rating,” stated Tim Daggett, an NBC Sports activities gymnastics analyst who himself received gold within the 1984 Olympics.

By the point Nedoroscik had shed his warm-up swimsuit and glasses, the U.S. was clinging precariously to its third-place spot and relying on him to maintain them there.

It was beneath the load of that strain that Nedoroscik hopped onto the handlebars. After a dizzying 40 seconds of spinning (by him) and screaming (by the group), he caught the dismount with a smile and a fist pump.

His teammates hugged and hoisted him into the air. They already knew what simply occurred: USA males’s gymnastics had received bronze, its first Olympic crew medal in 16 years.

Nedoroscik later informed reporters that he had finished his greatest to channel nerves into pleasure.

“I’ve finished this 1,000,000 instances at this level, and I simply tried my hardest to get pleasure from each second of that routine,” he stated.

And he answered a query on many peoples’ minds: He can see with out his glasses, however doesn’t suppose he’s utilizing his eyes in any respect.

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

Nedoroscik’s journey didn’t finish on Monday. He’s the one member of Staff USA who certified for the ultimate of any particular person equipment (you’ll by no means guess which one). The pommel horse closing is slated for Saturday, and he’ll be chasing gold.

Nedoroscik’s path to the pommel horse — and Paris

Nedoroscik is a local of Worcester, Mass., and a 2020 graduate of Penn State, the place he studied electrical engineering and competed in gymnastics all 4 years.

He acquired into the game early, across the age of 4, he informed New England Public Media earlier this month.

“I’d crawl up the partitions, I’d shimmy up the door and it scared the babysitter,” he recalled. “And my mother and father simply referred to as me their ‘little monkey boy,’ they usually determined, ‘Hey, this child most likely would do an excellent job if we put him in gymnastics.’

On his first day on the youngsters’ gymnasium, he stated, he one way or the other climbed the 15-foot rope all the way in which to the highest — setting twenty years’ of gymnastics into movement.

As a teen, Nedoroscik stated he didn’t understand how good he was on the pommel horse till a visiting coach marveled that he might at some point be a nationwide champion. Positive sufficient, one yr later, he received the Junior Olympic nationwide title on pommel horse. By the point he acquired to varsity, he made that his focus.

“If you go from a membership gymnasium to a collegiate gymnasium, you see simply how proficient gymnasts actually are on this nation,” he stated. “And purely simply desirous to be the perfect at pommel horse at Penn State, I made a decision to specialize. And I’ve caught with that ever since.”

Nedoroscik initially had his sights set on the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, sporting his signature goggles. However the crew in the end introduced one other pommel horse specialist after he fell on the trials, in keeping with the Washington Publish.

He went on to win gold on this planet championships later that yr and has continued to compete, dominating nationwide and world competitions. His 4 U.S. pommel horse titles are tied for probably the most in U.S. historical past, in keeping with USA Gymnastics.

After he was named to the Olympic crew in late June, a shocked Nedoroscik informed reporters that his longtime dream had come true.

“After I was very, very younger folks would inform me, ‘In the future you’re going to be an Olympian!’ ” he stated. “Again then I used to be only a dorky little child. And now have a look at me — I’m a dorky grownup, going to the Olympics.”

He informed NEPM that he’s particularly proud to have made it to Paris given the ups and downs of the final three years, and the frustration he felt about not qualifying for Tokyo.

“This virtually seems like my vengeance, proper?” he stated. “Coming again swinging.”

NPR’s Becky Sullivan contributed reporting from Paris.