Gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik’s girlfriend, Tess McCracken, admitted she nearly fainted when he put in a performance on the pommel horse that helped Team USA secure its first Olympic medal since 2016.
“I was so dizzy from screaming that I almost passed out,” McCracken said. NBC News.
McCracken, a 26-year-old former Penn State gymnast, had only one thought as Nedoroscik performed a nearly flawless routine on the pommel horse in Paris: “Stay on the horse.”
Nedoroscik has since become a social media sensation, where he’s been compared to Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent. Naturally, that makes McCracken Lois Lane in the eyes of fans.
“There are people who tag me and call me ‘Lois Lane.’ I’m like, ‘OK, I’m not going to get mad about it,'” she told NBC News.
Gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik’s girlfriend Tess McCracken admitted she almost fainted on Saturday
Stephen Nedoroscik of the United States on the pommel horse during Saturday’s team final
The couple has been together for eight years since meeting in 2017 while studying and competing at Penn State.
McCracken has been slowly getting used to her boyfriend’s growing fame, which began when he made the Olympic team earlier this year.
“Internet success has been an unexpected side effect of this whole venture,” McCracken said.
“Seeing the general public and the Internet… still talking about him and creating all these memes… it’s been one of the best moments,” he continued.
“I love them so much I’ve retweeted almost all of them.”
Nedoroscik did his job for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, performing his only routine and then focusing on cheering and handing out water to his teammates.
With no margin for error and about 45 seconds to impress the judges, the pommel horse specialist – who does not compete in other apparatus – not only performed, but excelled.
“Today everything went very well, I controlled my nerves very well,” said Nedoroscik. “I worked my whole life to get to those 45 seconds.”
Competing in his first Olympics, the 25-year-old former world pommel horse champion was so good during qualifying that he edged out two-time Olympic champion Max Whitlock of Great Britain with 15.200 to his British rival’s 15.166.
Stephen Nedoroscik and his girlfriend Tess McCracken began dating in 2017 at Penn State
Both men will compete again in the apparatus finals next week.
Under the roof of the Palais Omnisports, Nedoroscik took over his position on the pommel horse after three U.S. teammates — Paul Juda, Frederick Richard and Brody Malone — did so. After Malone fell, Nedoroscik, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, who won two NCAA championships at Penn State, found himself under even greater pressure to fulfill his duty.
“This is just another day of gymnastics,” Nedoroscik said, laughing. “It’s definitely the biggest stage in the world. It only happens once every four years, but at the same time I get to put chalk on my hands and play the horse for the team, it’s no different.”
Nedoroscik, the only specialist on the U.S. team, has chosen to focus on what he does best: honing his skills on the pommel horse. His four U.S. pommel horse titles are the most in history.
“She did fantastic,” said Brett McLure, USA Gymnastics’ high performance director.
Nedoroscik will also compete in the Olympic team finals, when three men per country compete on each apparatus and all three scores count.