Stephen Nedoroscik, of United States, performs on the pommel during the men's artistic gymnastics team finals round at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (source: TASR/AP)
Stephen Nedoroscik, a “pommel horse guy”, recently secured the first bronze medal for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team in 16 years at the Paris Olympics.
It is also his first Olympic medal.
The 25-year-old American, who made headlines in 2021 as the first U.S. gymnast to win the world championship gold on the pommel horse, has now become an internet sensation, not just for his impressive routine at the Olympics but for his Clark Kent-esque glasses.
“Obsessed with this guy on the US men’s gymnastics team who’s only job is pommel horse, so he just sits there until he’s activated like a sleeper agent, whips off his glasses like Clark Kent and does a pommel horse routine that helps deliver the team its first medal in 16 years,” one fan posted on X.
Nedoroscik, who performs without his glasses during routines, told NBC News, “I don’t even really see when I’m doing my gymnastics. It’s all in the hands. I can feel everything.”
A native of Massachusetts, Nedoroscik is cross-eyed. He studied electrical engineering in Pennsylvania. He can also solve a Rubik's cube in under 10 seconds, another talent of his.
His success resonates not only with Americans but also Slovaks. His parents, John and Cheryl Nedoroscik, are first-generation Americans, with his father’s paternal grandparents having emigrated from the territory of northeastern Slovakia (Stará Ľubovňa district). Stephen has two sisters, Samantha and Anastasia Nedoroscik.
