The Pommel Horse has always been one of the apparatus’s the American men’s gymnastics team has difficulty with. Enter Stephen Nedoroscik! The 25-year-old has always loved it. So much so that his parents installed one in their backyard. After consistently practicing it for hours, it soon became his signature routine. The elite gymnast won a world championship gold medal on the apparatus back in 2021. And on Saturday night, amidst loud cheers from the stands, Nedoroscik stepped onto the mat to bring it home to the French capital.

The gymnast is often spotted wearing goggles while competing. He first got the eyewear during his time at Penn State from his teammate Ben Cooperman. “They were a Secret Santa gift from a teammate.” He wore them during a meeting and did incredibly well. “We joked that they must have some magic in them, so I kept wearing them.” But he wasn’t wearing them this time around. Can he see without him, you might ask? Yes, he can. “They’re more for show than anything. They don’t have prescription in them.” Maybe the magic was present in Stephen Nedoroscik all along!

The curious case of Stephen Nedoroscik’s glasses

After Stephen Nedoroscik claimed the pommel horse title at the National Championships in 2021, a website started selling T-shirts with his  goggles on it. And just like that, they now had their very own fan club! Even though everyone loved the eyewear, he soon realized they won’t be ideal for when he performs on the mat. When it was his time to shine at the Bercy Arena, the 25-year old decided to go down the Clark Kent route and enthrall everyone in the stands. With 45 seconds on the clock, his only job was to do what most American male gymnasts dreaded, delivering a perfect routine on the Pommel Horse.

When Brody Malone fell during his time on the mat, Nedoroscik knew he had to deliver. At his first ever Olympics, he outperformed 2x Olympic champion Max Whitlock and scored an impressive 15.20. At the men’s gymnastics finals on Monday, Team USA was back for another shot at winning their first Olympic team’s medal since 2008. As the day went by, the Pommel Horse specialist patiently waited for his turn while he cheered his teammates on.

After nearly 3 hours of an intense final, Nedoroscik was up in the final rotation of the evening. Even though a score of 15.20 put him on the top, the same score helped him secure the second place in the finals. He is the only American male gymnast to have made it to an individual apparatus final in the French capital. Even though the gymnast wore his glasses early on in his career, the decision to take them off at a major competition like the Summer Games truly paid off.

Why did he decide to shift his focus to Pommel Horse?

Stephen Nedoroscik wasn’t always a specialist. Did you know he used to compete in all apparatuses as a young gymnast? However, as time went by he realized he wasn’t excelling in the rest of them. His childhood coach, Bob Donahue at the Sterling Academy of Gymnastics helped him move past that hurdle. “He was talented, but not progressing the way we thought he could, which was frustrating. But everyone could see how well he was doing on pommel horse. It’s so unusual of an event, and you can be very helpful to a college team if you’re good at it.” The gymnast decided to follow the unusual path of honing his skills, and the rest is history! 

The 25-year-old started focusing on pommels in high school, and claimed his first Junior Olympic title. He became a part of the Penn State Nittany Lions in 2017. During his freshman season, he claimed the NCAA National Champion title on the apparatus. He returned in 2018 to defend his title at the NCAA championships, and was instrumental in Penn State finishing sixth on the table. Nedoroscik then went on to claim his first elite-level title at the Winter Cup challenge.

In 2019, the gymnast returned to the U.S. National Championships and achieved a better result than the last, placing second on the apparatus. However, he won his first international medal at the 2020 Melbourne World Cup. With this, he was on his way to contest at the Baku World Cup. But his senior NCAA season abruptly ended when COVID-19 restrictions were put in place. “My coach knocked on my door at 5 a.m., and said, ‘We just got notice that we have to leave immediately because of the pandemic.” While it wasn’t the best outcome, he still was hoping to earn an Olympic spot.

However, every event he was looking forward to was canceled. With the Olympics postponed to a later date, he didn’t get the chance to earn his spot. But he received the highest honor in college men’s gymnastics that same year – the Nissen Emery Award. In 2024, things have been looking exceptional for Stephen Nedoroscik. Despite missing out in 2020, he will now be contesting at the men’s pommel horse finals on August 3 at the French capital. Will he be able to shine when it matters the most? We will soon find out!