Who Is Pommel Horse Hero Stephen Nedoroscik? Meet the Olympic Gymnast (and Viral Meme!) Capturing Hearts (2024)

Stephen Nedoroscikproved himself to be the Clark Kent of the pommel horse at the 2024 Olympics.

The Olympic gymnast helped propel his team to win bronze at the men’s gymnastics team final at the Paris Olympics — their first medal in 16 years. While the team is composed of five men — including Paul Juda, Fred Richard, Brody Malone and Asher Hong — Nedoroscik was the only member to qualify for a single event — pommel horse — at the team final on July 29, whereas his teammates each performed across the other five events. Despite his seemingly smaller role, his high score ultimately clenched the team's bronze win.

“It was just the greatest moment of my life, I think,” the athlete told reporters, including PEOPLE, after excelling at his routine. “[I’m] so happy to have been there.”

In addition to being an Olympian, Nedoroscik quickly became an internet sensation thanks to his thick glasses, which social media users likened to Clark Kent. Though he was previously referred to as the “goggles guy” for the sports glasses he wore while he competed, Nedoroscik went sans glasses during his performance, explaining that he doesn’t need his eyes to see the pommel horse.

“I don’t think I actually use my eyes on pommel horse,” he told The Washington Post. “It’s all feeling. I see with my hands.”

So who is Stephen Nedoroscik? Here’s everything to know about the pommel horse hero who helped the U.S. men's gymnastics team secure their first Olympic medal in nearly two decades.

He is from Massachusetts

Nedoroscik was born on Oct. 28, 1998, and raised in Worcester, Mass. He grew up attending the Sterling Academy of Gymnastics in Sterling, Mass., where he was cheered on during a watch party of the men’s team finals.

"My parents started this business in 1992 with the smallest of dreams," owner Matt Carbone told NBC Boston. "But 32 years later, we now have an Olympic bronze medalist, and he's still going on to compete in event finals on Saturday. It's absolutely incredible."

Carbone remembered Nedoroscik as a “goofy” boy, whose banner now hangs in the gym for other children in the academy to look up to.

"He was a typical goofy little boy that would play around on the equipment and get in trouble at times and just had fun with gymnastics," Carbone said.

He went to college at Penn State

Nedoroscik committed to Pennsylvania State University in his senior year of high school to join their gymnastics team, announcing his decision on Instagram in November 2015.

“It took a long time to decide but I'm excited to announce I've verbally committed to Penn State, and in the process of signing the letter of intent, can't wait for college!” he wrote in the caption of his announcement.

The athlete enrolled at Penn State in August 2016 and graduated four years later in December 2020 with a degree in electrical engineering. Since he finished school during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nedoroscik celebrated his graduation at home with a televised commencement.

“No recruiting trips. Didn’t know collegiate gymnastics was an option until junior year,” he wrote in his graduation post on Instagram. “Penn State took a serious risk in taking me in, and I will forever be grateful for that opportunity.”

Penn State is also where he met his girlfriend of nearly a decade, Tess McCracken, who competed on the women's gymnastics team as a student there.

The pommel horse is his specialty

Unlike the other gymnasts on the U.S. men’s team, Nedorocsik is a specialist in just one skill: the pommel horse. His task includes spinning around the figure and performing a 45-second routine filled with skills and tricks that he’s trained for years but often may need to improvise in the moment depending on a number of factors.

Picking a specialist for the Olympics was a controversial move. However, the pommel horse is where the U.S. men’s team has historically struggled and Nedorocsik was the U.S. selection committee’s answer to the problem.

“I was completely aware of it,” Nedoroscik told the Post of the criticism he received. “I really wanted to make the Olympic team, and I knew that there was going to be backlash to it. I do one event compared to these guys that are phenomenal all-arounders. And I am a phenomenal horse guy. But it’s hard to fit on a five-guy team.”

Nedoroscik can solve a Rubik’s cube in under 10 seconds

Nedoroscik isn’t just a one-trick pony — he can also solve a Rubik’s cube at an incredibly fast speed. Before his performance at the finals on July 29, the gymnast posted a photo of his Instagram Stories of himself completing a Rubik’s cube in 9.321 seconds, writing “Good omen” above the image.

Per his TikTok bio, his personal best is 8.664 seconds.

He is also known for his thick glasses

The Olympian has made waves on social media not only for his incredible athletic prowess, but also for his thick glasses. Nedoroscik has strabismus, a condition where one eye is turned in a direction that's different from the other. Commonly known as crossed eyes, the athlete has control over which is the dominant eye, demonstrating his ability to switch in an August 2022 TikTok.

After his performance, social media users began comparing Nedoroscik’s appearance to that of Clark Kent, who also wears thick glasses when he’s not his alterego, Superman. Even NBC’s official Olympics account shared a post on X comparing a side-by-side photo of Nedoroscik with Christopher Reeves as Kent, calling the gymnast "the Clark Kent of pommel horse.”

“I think they’re awesome," Nedoroscik said on TODAY of the comparison posts a day after his performance. "You know, representing the people that wear glasses well."

However, during competition Nedoroscik takes his glasses off, explaining on the show that he doesn’t need them to perform well or see the pommel horse.

“When I go up on the pommel horse, it’s all about feeling the equipment,” he said. “I don’t even really see when I’m doing my gymnastics. It’s all in the hands. I can feel everything.”

He became a meme after a photo of him getting in the zone went viral

Before his turn was up at the finals, Nedoroscik was getting himself in the zone, leaving the arena at one point to practice in the warmup gym. Minutes before he was up, a camera captured Nedoroscik leaning his head back and sitting with his eyes closed and glasses on — a meme that quickly went viral.

"I'm doing my breathing exercises," he shared on TODAY. "We always try to keep our heart rate down and through that five minutes I'm sitting there, I'm just visualizing my routine over and over ... that's all I'm doing in my head."

Nedoroscik helped his team secure the bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics

After his teammates performed in the five other events for the artistic gymnastics men’s team finals, it was Nedoroscik’s turn to secure a medal for the team. He nailed his routine, earning a score of 14.866 and a bronze for Team USA.

Though he was last after a “long day,” Nedoroscik told reporters, including PEOPLE, he was happy to go last.

“I framed that in my head as a positive, like I can be the exclamation point,” he said.

With his teammates cheering for him on the sidelines and his coach’s pep talk, Nedoroscik knew when he finished his performance that they had found success.

“I kind of, in that moment, was like, ‘Alright, let’s run it back, then. Let’s go out there and do our thing,' " he said. “I have [coach] Sam Mikulak as just like, the greatest coach of all time. He’s up there, helping me keep the nerves in check. He knows exactly what to say to me. So when we got that chalk bucket, he kind of just settled me down and said, ‘You’re ready for this.’ I went up there, did my routine and during that dismount, I was just like, already smiling.”