“Shining in the face of adversity,” is a quote that goes perfectly with post-Olympics viral sensation Stephen Nedoroscik. Battling the world and his internal struggles, the 26-year-old way of flipping off his naysayers was a shiny bronze medal for the US gymnastics men’s team in 16 years.

With the meteoric rise of names such as Simone Biles, Rebeca Andrade, Jordan Chiles, and more, audiences have shown particular interest in women’s gymnastics. At the same time, men’s gymnastics has steadily lost ground due to a lack of prominent names at the national and international levels. And this is where the magic of Stephen Nedoroscik comes in. He not only won a couple of Olympic medals but also seems to know how to sell the fame game. However, it’s not like he intended to do any of this. For the 26-year-old, it was all about proving the world wrong, albeit through some medical conditions, and a recently revealed allergy. However, before we get to the meat of the story…

In a recent interview with Mythical Kitchen on YouTube, Nedoroscik was seen in a different avatar. Well, definitely the man the world is accustomed to, but with a lot more honesty. At one point, the host, Josh Scherer asked him while the two were enjoying a seemingly “6,300 calorie meal”, “How strict do you keep your diet?”

To this, the gymnast laughed and replied, “I’m definitely not the best athlete to ask dietary advice on because like this is my cheat meal, but I’m talking like once a week, I have a cheat meal,” before adding, “Like if I was just eating chicken and rice every day, I’d probably be depressed. Like I, like every single night, this is funny. I have mint chocolate chip ice cream. Do you really? Literally every single night. And there’s a reason to it. If I don’t have an extra like 600 calories in my diet, I will lose weight. And that’s a very bad thing for me.”

However, his food-loving self has a lot of unfortunate restrictions. As the duo progressed toward dessert after munching on hot dogs, pizzas, buffalo chicken dip, and tortillas among many other things, Scherer asked his guest, “So tell me about Tiramisu?”

“Recently I was diagnosed with a condition called EOE (eosinophilic esophagitis). Basically my throat swells up when I eat certain foods. So I had to stop eating ice cream for a while. So I had to find a substitute for ice cream for like the last six months. We found that tiramisu is such a good food for my throat. And because I need to make sure I get those calories, like I said, like, it’s important that I don’t lose weight during this, like, Olympic cycle. so I had to make sure I was eating something super high in calories, and this right here is my solution,” the gymnast revealed.

For the unversed, eosinophilic esophagitis is a rare digestive disease and an allergic inflammatory condition where white blood cells migrate to the esophagus in large numbers, and builds up in the lining of the tube. As per reports, milk protein can trigger the condition. Though not life threating, these allergies can ne painful with food getting stuck in the throat, accompanied by pain in the chest and abdomen, and heartburn. Perhaps these struggles are what drives him to prove people wrong…

In a heartfelt confession, the young star also opened up about his viral fame, and how that was not what he intended to achieve at all. As per the gymnast, “Making the team, it was very unlikely I made it. And I was so blessed to be a part of it. And there was an immediate community hatred that I made the team. Not hatred, but there’s a negativity behind it because I only do the one event. So, like I immediately knew I had something to prove.”

Having said that, the gymnast-turned-dancer must get some added applause as his throat condition is not the only medical condition Stephen Nedoroscik has to battle.

Stephen Nedoroscik has a few other medical concerns 

Stephen Nedoroscik has a similar appearance to DC’s Clark Kent. One of the main reasons for the same is his identical specs. Now, Nedoroscik has a pretty solid reason for wearing them. He has been dealing with an eye condition named coloboma. It is known to be a childhood condition with complications in the retina, iris, or optic disc. Another struggle that Nedoroscik had grappled with was strabismus. This is a case of cross-eye, which the Olympian had to battle with his special glasses.

But when it came to the pommel horse, he knew they’d just get in the way. As he told TODAY, “It’s not necessarily clear, but the thing about pommel horse is if I keep them on, they’re gonna fly somewhere.” So, he takes them off and relies on his finely tuned senses to guide him through his routine. “When I go up on the pommel horse, it’s all about feeling the equipment. I don’t even really see when I’m doing my gymnastics. It’s all in the hands — I can feel everything.” Winning two bronze Olympic medals was a powerful statement that Nedoroscik is so much more than his medical conditions. But his list of medical conditions does not end here!

Adding to his woes further, Nedoroscik also opened up about his struggles with ADHD. Speaking about how gymnastics changed his life post ADHD, Nedoroscik stated, “Gymnastics is my life and I mean, it taught me, you know goals. How to set goals, go after goals. And as someone who was a reckless kid, I have ADHD, and like, you know, it’s a great thing to be a part of.” Thus, battling through several obstacles, Stephen Nedoroscik stands as one of the biggest pioneers of men’s gymnastics at the moment.