He's the 'Clark Kent of pommel horse': Stephen Nedoroscik on Rubik's Cube, math videos and his nightly 700-calorie ice cream bowls

Yahoo

29-07-2025

'I love a challenge.'
The glasses. The contemplative breaks with his eyes closed. The one-armed spins. There's a reason why U.S. gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik emerged from the 2024 Paris Olympics with two bronze medals and a new nickname: 'Clark Kent of pommel horse.'
Nedoroscik parlayed his popularity into a stint competing on Dancing With the Stars, in which he placed fourth. Touring with the show hasn't given his body much of a break, he says during our conversation for Yahoo's OT Diaries.
'As gymnasts, we always say that if you take a week off, it's going to take a month to get back in shape,' Nedoroscik tells me. 'So, taking nine months off was quite a hurdle for me. I was scared of taking that time off.' This, after all, is a guy who likes to keep his body and brain busy — the latter with math videos and Rubik's Cubes.
But as he gears up for gymnastics competitions again, the bespectacled breakout star of Paris is feeling pretty good. Here's what he says about dancing, keeping his mind sharp and using ice cream to keep his weight up.
What a whirlwind of a year it's been for you! After getting bronze in the Olympics, you finished fourth on . Why was that show something you wanted to pursue?
It was a sort of victory lap for my success at the Olympics. So I thought to myself, I've earned this time off to dance and travel the country. One of the things that Dancing With the Stars did for me was show me that I can be confident and comfortable in environments that are not meant to be comfortable.
Being able to dance in front of millions of people, a sport that I have never done before, really raised my confidence level. Not only from a viewership standpoint of people watching me while I'm working on this craft, but also from the standpoint of competition: being in the zone, staying present and being able to execute certain things that are hard for me. So I do think that it has definitely increased my confidence, and I'm hoping to be able to show that off [in gymnastics] on the world stage soon.
The training is notoriously pretty rigorous. What impact would you say it had on your body?
Dancing With the Stars demands a lot out of your body, and we were dancing every day for a minimum of four hours. Toward the end, we were doing eight-hour days of dance, so throughout the whole process, I stayed in shape. Not only was I working cardio, but with the lifts that we were doing, I actually gained muscle mass in my arms and legs, which was amazing to me.
One of the best things about dancing was that I didn't have to support too much on my elbows or wrists. On the pommel horse, that's where we get injured. So being able to let those body parts relax a little bit was awesome. After dancing for nine months, my wrists are feeling great, and my elbows are feeling a little bit better.
Were you keeping up any other fitness routines during that time?
I don't usually do a whole lot of running or weightlifting or anything like that. In fact, the only thing that I really did during the Dancing With the Stars tour to stay in gymnastic shape was during our stretching sessions. I would do a few flairs, hit a couple of planches, do my minute hold of a handstand … just making sure that I was hitting those gymnastics basic conditioning elements. So that way, when I came back to the sport, I'd be feeling pretty good.
I've returned to [gymnastics] training as of [May], and now that I'm back to the sport, I'm realizing that maybe the stigma around taking time off isn't true. Maybe we can take a little more time off for our bodies. Honestly, my body's feeling a lot better than it was a year ago. I'm training five days a week, slowly getting back all the skills that I was training a year ago. In fact, I'm actually pretty far ahead of where I estimated myself to be. I'll be competing this summer in August at the U.S. Championships.
Gymnastics also seems to be a very mental sport. Did the time away from it feel like a reset for your mind?
A year ago, I was struggling in the gym as I was chasing that Olympic dream. So over these last nine months, I've just processed a lot of feelings that I've had regarding the Olympics and the whole process leading up to it. I'm reframing it in my head and trying to keep a positive mentality, so that I can gear up for the competition this summer and hopefully the world championships in the fall.
As if that wasn't enough, you've also been competing in chess and Rubik's Cube…
I'm kind of like a mouse running around on that thing that spins. I feel like I can't stop. So even when I'm not doing gymnastics, I move on to my other hobbies, like Rubik's Cube or chess or video games. I always have hobbies and things that take a really long time to get better at. That's kind of what I love. Pommel horse is the same way. Chasing those marginal gains and taking years to see the progress. That's just the type of guy I am; I love a challenge.
They all take a lot of focus, right?
In all my hobbies, there's this aspect of staying focused and locked in to what you're doing. It's one of those skills that's transferable in almost everything, and it's gotten me a lot throughout my life.
Do you have a specific approach to fueling your body or resting that allows you to stay on top of all of these physical and mental challenges?
For the most part, I'm very relaxed when it comes to nutrition. … I need to make sure to get enough calories, but I never really concern myself with where those calories come from. It's kind of well-known that I eat a lot of ice cream, because I struggle to get enough in me throughout the day to not lose weight. So every night I have a 700-calorie bowl of ice cream.
Sleep is another thing that I struggle with. Like I said, I keep spinning, I keep moving, and that is a problem for me when I'm trying to settle down for bed — especially when I wake up at 7 a.m. every morning for my workout. After the tour, I had to do a whole readjustment to what my schedule looked like so that I could sleep on time. I would say right now I'm averaging around seven hours of sleep a night, which isn't where I want to be. But I'm slowly chipping away at getting to bed closer and closer to the time that I'm projected to.
Is there ever a time when you're doing nothing? What does an actual day off from training, dancing or cubing look like for you?
I'm a pretty calm, laid-back dude. I love to just stay at home, whether that's watching a TV show or playing a video game with [my girlfriend] Tess or one of my best friends. It's kind of the day that I take for myself to sort of just charge back up for this next upcoming week.
That's good to hear! Let's wrap up with a round of rapid-fire questions …
Who is your No. 1 call when you have good news?
That's always going to be my mom. Every time.
What is your comfort watch?
I love The Office.
What is your guilty pleasure?
It's not a guilty pleasure; it's a proud pleasure of mine: my big bowl of ice cream every night.
What gives you the ick?
Honestly, not a lot of things give me the ick. Actually, nothing comes to mind. Even if something is weird, I always think, Oh, that was different and kind of cool, I guess.
What is something that you eat or drink every day?
If I could eat a food for the rest of my life and guarantee my survival, it's going to be mint chocolate chip ice cream. One thing apart from ice cream that I always have is a lot of water. I drink, minimally, a gallon of water a day.
What is your internet rabbit hole?
Math videos on YouTube. It's my favorite thing ever. People will upload hour-and-a-half-long videos, and I can't wait to get home and watch the whole thing. I'll rewind it so I understand it, so sometimes it takes me three hours to get through.
What is one go-to item that never leaves your bag?
My inhaler because I have asthma. It's the one thing I will always triple-check I have.
What song or album is your personal soundtrack right now?
I've been rotating the Beatles a lot recently.
What is a wellness trend that you swear by?
I don't know any wellness trends. But I do snore, so maybe I should try mouth taping.
Gymnastics aside, what are you best at?
Cubing. I actually just broke my record last week, 7.86 seconds.
What is a skill or hobby that you're trying to get good at?
One of the video games I play, Rocket League. I have a lot of hours and experience and years in it. I want to get better at it, and overall, I just want to rank higher.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Solve the daily Crossword