During this year’s Olympics, in the men’s gymnastics all-around finals, one athlete started attracting viewers’ attention. He mostly remained on the sidelines, waiting for his time to shine.
There were moments when he appeared to be sleeping, and at one point, he even solved a Rubik’s cube in under 10 seconds.
He was 25-year-old glasses-wearing Stephen Nedoroscik, the pommel horse specialist for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team.
He was there to compete only on the pommel horse, an event that was scheduled for last. People on social media compared him to Clark Kent, Captain America, and Barbie’s Ken, who is known for having just one job.
This year, the U.S. men’s gymnastics team was striving to earn its first Olympic team medal since 2008. They decided to tackle the challenge with a new strategy.
The five members of the team qualified to compete in the six gymnastics events in the Games. However, not all of them would participate in each event.
Nedoroscik was assigned to compete only on the pommel horse, which is a notoriously difficult apparatus. His scores on the pommel horse were much higher than everyone else’s and would help give the team a boost.
When it was Nedoroscik’s turn to perform, the U.S. was in third place. It was up to him to make sure a medal could be secured.
Despite being under a tremendous amount of pressure, he spun on the pommel horse for 40 seconds and successfully stuck the dismount, ending with a smile and a fist pump.
Romain P19 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
After his powerful routine, the U.S.A. men’s gymnastics won the Olympic bronze, taking home its first medal in 16 years. Nedoroscik was the only member of his team to qualify for the final of an individual apparatus.
Nedoroscik is a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, and a 2020 graduate of Penn State. During all four years at the university, he studied electrical engineering and competed in gymnastics. He got into the sport early in life at around four years old.
He loved to crawl and climb up on walls and doors, so his parents decided to put him in gymnastics. On the very first day of class, he managed to climb to the top of a 15-foot rope. As a teenager, a visiting coach commented on his incredible skill with the pommel horse.
A year later, he won the Junior Olympic national title on pommel horse. In college, he decided to specialize in the pommel horse.
Originally, he had wanted to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. But after he fell at the trials, the team went with another pommel horse specialist. Later that year, Nedoroscik won gold at the world championships and came out on top in many national and world competitions.
When he qualified for the Olympics, his longtime dream became a reality. He was named to the Olympic team in late June.
Nedoroscik is proud to have made it to Paris, where he ended up being the hero of his story. His achievements have cemented his reputation as one of the world’s top pommel horse specialists.
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