Stephen Nedoroscik of the United States celebrates his performance on Pommel Horse during the men’s artistic gymnastics team final at the Paris Olympics. (Photo by Daniela Porcelli/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
PARIS – A mechanical engineer, Rubik’s Cube-solving 25-year-old by day, and an Olympic medal-winning gymnast by night.
Stephen Nedoroscik, known online as “pommel horse guy,” performed the final event Monday that resulted in the first men’s gymnastics team medal for the U.S. since 2008.
And just five years ago, he was in Tempe, competing in the Arizona State Invitational in Tempe and winning his discipline for Penn State.
What a journey it’s been.
Making the U.S. men’s Olympics team wasn’t a sure thing for Nedoroscik. The Penn State graduate specializes in the pommel horse, and with limited spots on the team, the USOPC was taking a risk by choosing him.
He came to Paris to only compete on the pommel horse, and he needed to crush it.
He crushed it.
Nedoroscik scored 14.866 on the last event, which narrowly defeated team Great Britain for the bronze medal.
“As I was doing that routine, I was like, ‘If I hit this set, we (will) medal,’’ Nedoroscik said in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight” Tuesday. “I mean, it was just a surreal moment. And then when the guys picked me up, that right there solidified it for me. That was the moment I was like, ‘We actually did it.’”
Nedoroscik’s medal-winning performance took the internet by storm.
The cameras captured Nedoroscik with his eyes closed, head back and glasses on before he competed. His glasses are an important part of the wardrobe. Nedoroscik has strabismus – a condition that causes eye misalignment.
Social media users compared his glasses appearance to Clark Kent, Superman’s alter ego.
The comparison made even more sense when Nedoroscik took off his glasses, gripped the pommel horse and put together his heroic performance.
Nedoroscik continued his Superman-like performance in the pommel horse finals Saturday. He earned another bronze medal by scoring 15.300, right behind Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan and Kazakhstani gymnast Nariman Kurbano.
The rest of the men’s gymnastics team – Frederick Richard, Paul Juda, Brody Malone and Asher Hong – put together impressive performances to earn the medal.
The team placed fifth in the qualification event Saturday, placing behind China, Japan, Great Britain and Ukraine.
The second time around, the team stuck every routine, and Nedoroscik’s performance was the cherry on top.
“They used to have pictures in my gym of the past Olympic teams that medaled, and I always look at that like, ‘Man, what if I was one of those people one day?’ (and) now we are, which is crazy,” Richard said.
The 20-year-old University of Michigan junior shined at the team competition. He nailed every event, which was crucial for the team’s first medal in 16 years.
Both Richard and Juda placed top 15 in the all-around competition, which took place Wednesday night.
On the other hand, the women’s gymnastics team took home gold for the third time in the last four Olympics. The United States was the only team to earn a medal in both the men’s and women’s team competition – and the first time both teams captured a medal since 2008.
The women’s team controlled the lead after every event and won the team competition by 5.774 points.
Phoenix native Jade Carey commanded her only event, the vault, in the team competition by scoring 14.800 — right behind Simone Biles for the team’s top score. It’s the Mountain Ridge High School graduate’s second gold medal after she won the floor exercise individual competition during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It feels really, really, really special just to be part of the team and contribute last night, and just have so much fun doing what we love out there, so taking home a gold medal feels really special,” Carey told Oregon’s KGW News.
Both Biles and Sunisa Lee performed well in the qualifying, team and all-around competitions.
Biles took home her second gold medal in the all-around by scoring 59.131. She is the only American gymnast to win the event twice. Lee earned her second consecutive all-around medal by scoring 56.465 Thursday night. Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade placed second in the competition for the second consecutive Olympics.
U.S. gymnasts have now won the individual all-around event in six consecutive Olympics, dating back to the 2004 Athens Games.
The women’s team are heavily represented in each of the four event finals that will take place from Saturday to Monday.
Biles picked up another gold medal in the Saturday-night vault finals at Bercy Arena. She averaged 15.300 on her two attempts. It’s her seventh career gold medal — most of any U.S. gymnast. Carey picked up her third Olympic medal — a bronze medal — by scoring a 14.466 average on her two vault tries.
Additionally, Lee qualified for the uneven bars final, Biles and Lee will be battling in the balance beam final and Biles and Jordan Chiles will represent the United States in the floor exercise final.
The best women’s gymnastics team in the world will have plenty of opportunities to bring more hardware back to the United States.