Whether it is in the gymnastics mat or on the dancing stage, Stephen Nedoroscik seems to shine in both. Stephen found huge success in the mat this year as he won the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics. He has since then continued his successful journey at DWTS. After this, he is expected to return to gymnastics with a gold medal in the LA Olympics on his mind. However, throughout his journey, Stephen Nedoroscik hasn’t forgotten his humble beginnings at his college.

During his appearance on the podcast, Stephen Nedoroscik was asked about his time at Penn State. While the 2024 track and field season may be over, Hunter Woodhall’s streak of success continues to shine. The Paris 2024 Paralympics gold medalist graced the star-studded lineup at GQ’s Men of the Year 2024 award show. But the 25-year-old wasn’t the only track and field star turning heads—Woodhall arrived with his wife, Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall.

He felt that it had the best equipment while also listening to the advice of his club coach, who told him that the college is the best place for him to train his pommel horses. But, after he entered the college, the competition absolutely floored him there. “So I went to Penn State, and I immediately was like, Oh crap. Like these guys are insane at gymnastics. Like I came from a small club gym up in Massachusetts and then to like walk into a collegiate university and see, you know, the fantastic gymnastics that is collected from around the nation in this one gym. I was like, you know, blown away,” said Stephen.

The gymnast decided that he had to do more routines to get to the level of his other teammates. However, he later decided to stick to specializing in pommel horse instead. Eventually, he ended up loving the college experience very much. He loved it so much that eventually he ended up training at the college’s gym for two and a half years after his graduation.

“I stuck around because I resonated with the coaching staff so well. And then even like the team, like the guys that were below me, I loved all the guys so much; they were like still a team to me even after I graduated. So I stayed around for two and a half years and then finally left, and you know, I still visit Penn State as much as I can.” Thus, the gymnast loved his time at Penn State. This was also because, during his childhood, he had no one to look up to. But after entering the college, he found many such people.

Stephen Nedoroscik opens up about having no role models until he entered Penn State

In the same podcast, Stephen Nedoroscik admitted to having no one to look up to during his childhood. This is because the pommel horse specialist did not enjoy watching the sport back then. “Like I enjoyed doing the sport so much, but I never really had a role model in it whatsoever,” he said. However, when the gymnast arrived at Penn State, he finally found what he was looking for. He started aspiring to become as good as his competitors.

“When I started to think about who it is I look up to, and the conclusion that I really got to is that the people I look up to are my competitors, and like I look up to the people that I’m worried about, you know, the people that I’m worried can beat me.” So, the gymnast started working hard to match everyone who was better than him. This made him a much better gymnast than before and slowly made him stand out from his teammates. Thus, the idea really worked out for him, which is why he still follows this thought process. Let’s see if this leads him to bigger and better things in the future.