The quirky stories that define Stephen Nedoroscik, Team USA’s pommel horse hero

Matt Carbone sat in his car on Tuesday as construction near his family’s gymnasium brought traffic to a halt. A police officer approached and asked Carbone the question that’s been on the mind of many residents in Sterling, Mass. and nearby Worcester these days.

“Are we doing a parade for Stephen?” the officer asked.

Carbone, whose family has owned Sterling Gym for 32 years, was tickled at the thought, even if he’s still unsure of the answer.

Ever since Monday afternoon when Stephen Nedoroscik took off his glasses and calmly yet confidently approached the pommel horse at the Paris Olympics, those in this town where he trained and those watching around the country haven’t been able to get enough of him. As the pommel horse specialist maneuvered his way through his routine and secured the bronze medal for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team — the first team medal for the U.S. men since 2008 — the impressionable, young male gymnasts at Sterling Gym watched on TV.

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Stephen Nedoroscik beat the odds to earn an Olympic moment, and then he nailed it

This is the same place where Nedoroscik, from ages 6 to 17, bounced through the doors full of energy and quirkiness. At times, he was so energetic he was a distraction. But, he was also beloved. Teammates referred to him as a “positive instigator.”

“Our phone’s been ringing all day with people in the area calling and wanting to sign up their sons and wanting them to do competitive gymnastics,” Carbone said this week. “We’re already seeing the Olympic bump. … This is the recognition that the sport has desperately needed.

“Men’s gymnastics needed Stephen.”

There are just 15 men’s gymnastics programs left at the collegiate level and only 12 are Division I. Nedoroscik competed at Penn State where he was a four-time All-America honoree and won two individual NCAA titles on pommel horse.

“Having lost so many programs over the years it’s been very frustrating for us as coaches because we want these guys to have the future of being able to compete in college,” said Liz Gonzalez, who along with her husband, Bob, trained Nedoroscik at Sterling Gym. “It’s nice that the men’s program has started to get some recognition because in the past it’s been mostly about the women’s program.”

Liz and Bob — in Paris this week — laughed as they watched Nedoroscik hopscotch through the Olympic rings on the floor before his pommel horse routine. Surely anyone watching assumed he was just jumping around and warming up. They knew this was Stephen being Stephen. Never too serious, always down for a laugh.

“Pommel guys are typically just geeky and nerdy and wonky,” said Bob Gonzalez, who before getting into coaching competed in all-around at the University of Massachusetts. “They’re not necessarily drawn to the acrobatic part of gymnastics. They’re very meticulous. … The very beginning part of pommel horse training is very boring. The kids that like doing that boring part are just not your typical kid.”

Memes of Nedoroscik sitting and waiting 2-plus hours to compete went viral this week, while phrases like Pommel Horse Guy, America’s Pommel Horse Hero and the Clark Kent of Pommel Horse spread across the Internet. Meanwhile, those who know Nedoroscik have reflected on the stories that define his personality.

“Between pommel horse and a Rubik’s Cube and whatever math problem he’s solving, that’s kind of what all is going through his mind,” said Ben Cooperman, one of Nedoroscik’s former teammates at Penn State.

“If we were in the car and he’d get stuck on a problem, he’d whip out a piece of paper and just start solving a math problem,” Cooperman said. “He has that kind of mind.”

As the last man to compete in the men’s gymnastics final, USA’s Stephen Nedoroscik rested up before competing.

But when it was time to hop on the pommel horse, he delivered an #Olympics moment.@DanaONeilWriter on the odds he beat to get there ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/LSWUcon7g1

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 30, 2024

Already one of the breakout stars of the Olympics, Nedoroscik will be eying a gold medal on Saturday when he competes in the men’s pommel horse finals at 11:16 a.m. ET.

This week, The Athletic spoke with some of Nedoroscik’s former teammates, coaches and supporters to hear their best stories of America’s Mr. Pommel Horse.

‘He’s a kid you remember for sure’

Worcester Technical High School doesn’t have a boys gymnastics team. It was here where Nedoroscik studied Electro-Mechanical Engineering. Michael Meagher, a robotics teacher at the school, taught Nedoroscik for four years.

Meagher laughed when thinking about the happy-go-lucky kid who grasped everything he taught. Those at Worcester Tech used to have no idea Nedoroscik, who was fairly muscular but maybe 5-foot-6, was an athlete.

“That quirky, nerdy guy, that’s Steve. … He’s a kid you remember that’s for sure,” Meagher said. “He was a solid student, was in school all the time and then there were a couple days where he was out. When he came back I said ‘Steve, where the hell have you been?’ He goes, ‘Oh, I was at the Junior Olympics.’ I go, ‘What? Doing what? He goes ‘Oh, I compete on pommel horse.’ We never knew this! I go, ‘Come on. How’d you do?’ He goes ‘Oh, I won.’ It was just as nonchalant and as unassuming as that. … He had his knowledge to do the school program, but extracurriculars, you’d have no idea!”

During semester breaks in college, Nedoroscik returned home to talk to Meagher’s students about engineering. Meagher hopes he’ll return again this year, now as Worcester Tech’s first-ever Olympian.

“The last thing he’d say was ‘Oh yeah, as a freshman at Penn State I won NCAAs on pommel horse,’” Meagher said. “That’s Stephen. … I could not be happier for this young man. Him going viral just cracks me up.”

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‘How many people would take a gag gift in stride and make it a brand?’

During Nedoroscik’s freshman year at Penn State, the upperclassmen thought the perfect Secret Santa gift for him was a pair of Rec Specs. Nedoroscik has an eye condition where his pupils are permanently dilated. At 25, he still doesn’t have a driver’s license because of his vision.

“He did have a surgery when he was younger, but it didn’t work for him,” said Liz Gonzalez. “He’s had to deal with this problem as a gymnast his whole life. … He never complained about it. It was always just something we knew about him and he had his glasses and sometimes he’d look at you sideways and it looked weird, but that’s all it was.”

Nedoroscik doesn’t wear his thick black glasses when he competes. He navigates the pommel horse by feel. His college teammates knew if there was one person who could wear goggles and bring his own style to the sport it was him.

Nedoroscik kept the bit going for years.

“We thought it would be funny if he almost turned it into a brand with Rec Specs like you know how Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in the NBA,” said Cooperman, who purchased the goggles. “They weren’t prescription though! It was just kind of for fun, but he ended up wearing them in competition because that’s the kind of guy he is. While he takes his crap seriously, he likes a good laugh. He wore them for years and I believe he actually forgot them when he won World Championships so now they’re kind of retired. They lived out their full life and it was a cool part of his brand.”

Stephen Nedoroscik won two NCAA national titles on pommel horse while at Penn State. (Matt Marton / USA Today)

Taking away the Rubik’s Cube

Nedoroscik was obsessive and passionate about learning pommel horse. But, at a young age, he first competed in all disciplines. The problem was he wasn’t as interested in the other events.

As most young kids would do, Nedoroscik goofed around when it wasn’t time for pommel horse. His coaches sent him to the lobby as a punishment to gather himself. But Nedoroscik was always one step ahead. He brought his Rubik’s Cube with him to keep him busy.

“He loved it,” said Bryan Perla, who trained alongside Nedoroscik at Sterling Gym and then competed at Stanford. “The coaches were like well, this isn’t very fair. He can’t do gymnastics, but he enjoys what he’s doing! They had to take away the Rubik’s Cube.”

Nedoroscik got the other boys in his gymnastics cohort into the Rubik’s Cube. While nobody was as good as he was, that too became another way they’d compete.

“He’d always make the most of everything,” said Ian Skirkey who also trained at Sterling Gym. “I’ve never met anybody in my entire life like him. Everything was always an adventure.”

‘He was always fascinated with trying to get up to rooftops’

As a sophomore, Penn State sent Nedoroscik with freshman gymnast Brennan Pantazis to Las Vegas for a competition. Pantazis hadn’t talked much to his teammate before the trip but he quickly learned Nedoroscik was a coffee connoisseur. He once came back from an international competition with an espresso maker and got his college housemates, including Pantazis, hooked on it. Nedoroscik has since migrated to energy drinks.

During that same trip to Vegas where the two struck up a lifelong friendship, Pantazis learned that Nedoroscik loved a good rooftop view.

“We’re in Vegas and we’re a little bit bored or whatever and he was always fascinated with trying to get up to rooftops at hotels,” Pantazis said. “Nothing crazy like breaking in or anything, but usually if you take the stairs all the way up there’s usually a door up there. We go up there at night time in Vegas and just sit there and look around. He was always trying to find rooftop access! I guess the height intrigues him. It was cool. That same trip, we had an early flight and had to be in the lobby of the hotel at like 3 in the morning. We wake up, we’re doing some last-minute packing and we’re on the way out the door and Stephen’s like ‘Brennan, I think we gotta go up to the roof one last time!’ So we went up to the roof again.”

A few weeks ago, Pantazis booked a last-minute trip to Paris. He was in the arena during Nedoroscik’s pommel horse performance. Nedoroscik had his two hardest moves at the front of his routine. After he spun around on one arm and cleared it, Pantazis knew his friend was closing in on a medal for the U.S.

Afterward, he met up with Nedoroscik and his family to celebrate.

Brennan Pantazis celebrated with his former Penn State gymnastics teammate after Stephen Nedoroscik clinched the bronze for Team USA. (Photo courtesy of Brennan Pantazis)

“He was on Cloud 9,” Pantazis said. “But, he’s exactly how he is off camera as he is on camera. He just kind of grabs your attention.”

‘We all bonded over being kind of geeky’

The pommel horse specialist group chat — yes, such a thing exists — was buzzing on Monday. Many of Penn State’s former pommel horse specialists were congratulating Nedoroscik and laughing at the many memes. There’s the Superman one. There’s one with a chicken nugget wearing Nedoroscik’s glasses. The one of him, eyes closed, visualizing has taken on a life of its own.

mood pic.twitter.com/V4OlwMk0xh

— Penn State Men’s Gymnastics (@PennStateMGYM) July 29, 2024

“He was freaking out about getting like top five trending on Twitter or something,” said Jack Baldwin, who was a pommel horse specialist at Penn State.

“We both were engineers, just kind of dorky guys on the team, but that was kind of true for a lot of the pommel horse specialists that were there,” Baldwin said. “Stephen was electrical engineering. I came in mechanical engineering. The guy after me was aerospace, (the next guy) was like software engineering so we all bonded over being kind of geeky.”

Baldwin and Nedoroscik, with just one discipline to work on, sometimes had extra time on their hands during practices. This is when Nedoroscik would find ways to prank teammates and make everyone laugh. He was the ultimate good vibes guy for the team.

“He’s very positive, very passionate about horse, but just very, very, very energetic,” said Baldwin. “He was super fun to be around. Sometimes after a tiring day, he was almost too energetic (laughs). I’d have to be like we gotta calm down a little bit, I’m tired.”

Nedoroscik would unwind by playing Rocket League on XBox, the video game that can best be described as soccer with cars. He now plays on his computer and even brought it with him to Paris just in case he’d have time for a game. So far, his friends are certain he’s been too busy to play.

“Whenever I go online and go on Discord it shows you what game is playing and he’s usually on Rocket League,” Baldwin said. “He was pretty good. He was always in the living room playing or just looking up clips about how to get better at Rocket League.”

Sam Davis, one of Nedoroscik’s longtime friends and training partners, is his teammate on Rocket League. Davis is in Paris this week to support his friend.

“He’s definitely better than me,” Davis said. “We’re ranked pretty high. Not anything like top 100, but we’re definitely in the higher percentile.”

Said Baldwin: “That’s probably the first thing he’s gonna do when he gets back, to be honest, probably play a game of Rocket League.”

(Top photo: Photo by Daniela Porcelli / Eurasia Sport Images / Getty Images)