SAROSOTA, Fla. — Of all the events in gymnastics where athletes train nearly all their lives— the floor, parellel bars, high bars or rings— Stephen Nedoroscik needed only one.
"It's the one I’ve done solely for the last seven years, and proudly," Nedoroscik
The pommel horse, making him a medal-winning Olympian in Paris.
We talked to him at EVO Gymnastics in Sarasota, his home gym, just days before leaving for Paris with no idea what was in store.
Olympics
U.S. men's gymnastics team wins bronze at Paris Olympics
"I’m just so honored and excited and it’s one of those opportunities maybe you get once in a lifetime," Nedoroscik said.
The pommel horse has been the focus for this Massachusetts native since competing at Penn State and after college, winning U.S. championships on pommel horse four years in a row.
But he always had the Olympics in sight.
“I’m looking forward to just being in the village, surrounded by all the athletes from around the world who have worked their lives to get to this point," said.
All to become one of the athletes everyone is talking about, Team USA's pommel horse specialist.
Complete coverage of the Paris Games
"I’m ready to get out there and show the world what I can do,” Nedoroscik said.
And did he ever.
Dubbed a Clark Kent look-alike, with a Superman moment.
When the weight of winning a team medal was on his shoulders, he nailed his sole purpose on the team.
His pommel horse performance securing Team USA's bronze medal, ending the team's 16-year streak without a win.
Americans can't seem to get enough of him, partly because of what's become his iconic look. Stephen was diagnosed with strabismus, or being cross-eyed, hence the glasses that have made a statement.
But it's also his self-proclaimed quirky, nerdy self that's winning over hearts.
“I’m just a normal guy," Nedoroscik said. "I’m like that sort of nerdy guy that was in your math class. I love chess. I love Rubik's cubes. I’m an electrical engineer. There’s a certain stigma that comes with being a horse guy and it’s that you’re kind of quirky kind of nerdy, I just want people to know I’m just a regular dude who’s managed to find his talent on pommel horse and has gone very far with it.”
He says he'll likely lean on that electrical engineering degree in the future. But for now, he says he has no plans of slowing down in the sport that's putting him, his team and his best event under the best light.