PARIS — Stephen Nedoroscik, the bespectacled, Rubik’s Cube-solving, overnight sensation, proved he’s no one-hit wonder after winning the United States’ first medal in the team event.
On Saturday he won his own medal, namely bronze in the individual pommel horse, as the crowning achievement of a hectic week in Paris.
Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan won gold with a 15.533, followed by Kazakh Nariman Kurbanov with a 15.433, good for silver.
Nedoroscik scored a 15.300, good for a 6.4 for difficulty and an 8.9 for execution. That was better than the 15.200 he scored in qualifying.
As his score flashed across the video screen at the Bercy Arena, Nedoroscik, again wearing his signature rims, embraced McClenaghan and the two talked about competing again at the 2028 Olympics in LA. “Do it again,” Nedoroscik said with a smile.
Nedoroscik shot to instant fame in an otherwise obscure sport when he served as the closer for the Americans to win bronze in the team event for the first time since 2008. Nedoroscik is a pommel specialist and it was the final rotation of the team competition. Cameras caught him possibly napping during the event and that’s when his goggles became iconic.
Nedoroscik suffers from an eye condition that causes his pupils to be permanently dilated, requiring him to wear glasses and currently prohibiting him from driving. The 25-year-old from Massachusetts, who studied engineering while earning All-American honors at Penn State, eschews sports goggles.
Instead, he takes off his glasses just before the match.
“I don’t think I use my eyes on the pommel horse, it’s all feel,” he explained this week. “I see with my hands.”
The pommel is a unique skill in men’s gymnastics. Where other events favor acrobatics or pure athleticism, the pommel is more about precise, technical training. It often appeals to academics or engineers, like Nedoroscik, who will leave Paris with two bronze medals as one of America’s most popular Olympians.
Not bad for a pommel specialist.
