Stephen Nedoroscik is leaning into his newfound viral fame.
ET’s Rachel Smith caught up with the 25-year-old athlete after he and the rest of the men on the U.S. artistic gymnastics team took home the bronze medal at the 2024 Olympic Games on Monday, and he spoke about his experience in Paris.
“I feel amazing,” he told ET. “Getting that team medal last night, I mean, I barely slept and I woke up still excited about it. This whole day has been surreal. I’m just soaking it all in. It’s an unbelievable experience.”
Nedoroscik is an event specialist, as he only competes on the pommel horse. For the team finals, that event came last in Team USA’s rotation, meaning Nedoroscik had to sit back and watch his teammates — Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone and Frederick Richard — compete on rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar and floor exercise.
“It’s basically the worst-case scenario for me,” Nedoroscik admitted. “But at that point I kind of decided I wouldn’t be nervous, I would be excited for it because I could be the exclamation point at the end of the sentence. I could be the guy who finishes it.”
“I had this vision of all the guys preparing me perfectly to go up there and kill my routine, and I have to say, it was exactly what I expected it to be,” he continued. “It was an incredible experience.”
In fact, it all came down to Nedoroscik. Knowing that if he nailed his routine, Team USA would win a medal in the competition, Nedoroscik did just that.
“This is a team sport. We support each other. They did their job and did all the routines before me,” Nedoroscik raved. “Watching Brody Malone finish that pommel horse set, I was stuck in my zone, but I couldn’t help but crack a little smile because I was like, ‘Man, he really prepared me for this.'”
“As I was walking up to that pommel horse, I heard the guys, they were like, ‘Steve, you can do it. We trust you. We’ve got your back. You can do it.’ That was all I needed to hear,” he continued. “When I finally landed that pommel horse dismount, I think I was smiling before my feet even hit the ground because as I was doing that routine, I was like, ‘If I do this set, we’ll get a medal.’ It was a surreal moment.”
Nedoroscik’s teammates reacted to his score of 14.866 by cheering him on, a moment that “solidified” the realization that they had won him a medal.
“That was the moment I thought, ‘We’ve really done it,'” he said.
Unbeknownst to Nedoroscik, as he and his teammates celebrated, the internet found its newest crush. Memes even emerged comparing the bespectacled athlete, who removed his glasses before the event, to Clark Kent.
“It’s amazing,” he said of the internet love. “I was without my phone for a couple of hours after the competition and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be so fun to see all my friends who texted me.’ (When) I looked at it, I was like, ‘What’s going on?'”
“I mean, there are so many memes out there about me being a sleeper agent who wakes up and turns into Clark Kent Superman on the pommel horse,” Nedoroscik continued. “They’re hilarious. It’s an honor to be in that position. I’m glad people are enjoying the show that we men put on last night.”
No one on the internet has gotten over Nedoroscik’s girlfriend, Tess McCracken. In fact, she proudly changed her X bio to “Mrs. Pommel Horse.”
“Tess is the best,” Nedoroscik gushed. “First of all, (she’s) gorgeous. She’s so smart. We met eight years ago at Penn State when we were both freshmen on our respective gymnastics teams. The first time I met her, she was cracking her back. I thought it was kind of funny, so I introduced myself. We sat there and took an ADHD test or something basic… There was immediate chemistry. It wasn’t long before we started dating.”
Nedoroscik added of his girlfriend: “She has been my number one cheerleader for the past eight years. I am so honored to have her.”
Nedoroscik’s Olympic experience isn’t over yet. He will compete in the pommel horse event finals on Saturday, August 3. As for whether he thinks he’ll win a medal in the event, Nedoroscik said, “Fingers crossed, I think. I have a good feeling about how this week is going.”
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