Stephen Nedoroscik has been called several nicknames on his long and winding journey to Olympic success in Paris this summer.
The 25-year-old sealed the first Olympic medal in 16 years for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team with his pommel horse routine during Monday’s final.
Nedoroscik has become an internet sensation, with fans calling him “the pommel horse guy” and even comparing the bespectacled gymnast to Clark Kent.
But during his youth he was known as “the spider monkey”, when he “climbed the walls and scared the nannies.”
“On my first day[at school]I climbed a rope to the top. After that, I was invited to join the gymnastics team. We accepted and that was it,” Nedoroscik recently revealed.
Stephen Nedoroscik helped the U.S. men’s gymnastics team win bronze in Paris on Monday
The gymnast earned a score of 14.866 on the pommel horse on Monday to secure a medal for her team.
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Twenty years later, his nerve-free display on the pommel horse helped Nedoroscik win bronze alongside teammates Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda and Asher Hong.
Nedoroscik suffers from strabismus, a condition more commonly known as squint. It can cause double vision, but the gymnast was not wearing glasses when he scored 14.866 on the pommel horse on Monday.
Nedoroscik told the Today show that he is “representing people who wear glasses well,” revealing that while his vision “isn’t necessarily clear… the thing about the pommel horse is that if I leave them on, they’ll fly off somewhere.”
“When I get on a pommel horse, the most important thing is to feel the material. I can’t even see when I’m doing gymnastics. Everything is in my hands, I can feel everything,” he explained.
Nedoroscik has become an internet sensation, with fans comparing the gymnast to Clark Kent.
He won two national championships while studying electrical engineering at Penn State, but “messed up” qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
On Saturday, Nedoroscik will compete for gold in the individual pommel horse event. Before Monday’s team final, Nedoroscik solved a Rubik’s cube in 9.3 seconds, just shy of his personal best time. He is also a fan of Killer Sudoku and reportedly spent nearly 50 hours solving one puzzle.
He had already become the first American gymnast in history to make the Olympic team as a single-event specialist.
It was about a decade ago that the Massachusetts native decided to pursue pommel horse, an event that has long been a weakness for the U.S. men’s national team program.
Nedoroscik’s girlfriend, Tess McCracken, posted old photos with the gymnast.
“I don’t know how I don’t lose my mind,” Nedoroscik admitted before the Games. “But every day I go to the gym and there is still something to do. There is still something to improve.”
He rose to stardom after his performance in Paris and Nedoroscik’s girlfriend, Tess McCracken, posted old photos with the gymnast after his bronze medal.
The couple celebrated their eighth anniversary and McCracken shared snapshots from every year since 2016.
Fans on social media joked that she was marking her territory, to let the world know that Nedoroscik is already engaged.