4 days ago
Stephen Nedoroscik returns from Olympic fame, plans to ride the pommel horse through LA 2028
Stephen Nedoroscik was the breakout star of the Paris Olympic men's gymnastics competition as Pommel Horse Guy, earning team and individual bronze medals.
But after taking nine months off from the sport, he is not assured more glory at this week's Xfinity U.S. Championships
It's his first meet since the 2024 Games and, he hopes, his first meet on the road to a return Olympic trip at LA 2028.
'Three months leading up to a competition after a nine-month break is pretty crazy,' he said in a press conference Wednesday on the eve of nationals in New Orleans. 'So entering the gym after that long break, I kind of gave myself this little bit of buffer time to decide, is it worth pushing for USAs (national championships)? Or is it worth just taking my time with this comeback?
Nick Zaccardi,
'But, pretty quickly, I started getting my skills back, like within the first few weeks, and I started feeling really confident in myself. I said, 'You know what, why not just go for it?' The worst that happens is it doesn't go well, and that's something I'm OK with. But how cool would it be if I went here and did good and after only three months of training and nine months off and just be amazing? So I wanted to take this opportunity, give it my all and kind of be self-forgiving with whatever the result is. There's a lot of reasons I might not have come here, but I've moved past all of those, and I've decided I want to be here, and I want to give it my all.'
Nedoroscik followed the Paris Olympics by placing fourth on 'Dancing with the Stars' in the fall. He then toured with the show into April and played some chess.
He returned to gymnastics training in Florida in May. He said his pommel horse routine this week is 'probably insanely hard for me to do, considering the circumstances.'
He was the oldest on the five-man Olympic team, four of whom are competing this week.
'I'm 26 now. For a lot of gymnasts, that's kind of pushing it,' he said. 'But I've always told myself, I want to be done with the sport when my body's done with the sport. And I'm still getting better. I'm still getting better in the gym every day, and I feel like I'd be doing myself almost a dishonor to not see how far I could go with the sport. I want to continue going. When I start feeling myself, start plateauing and my body starts giving out, I think that'll be when I am finally ready to be done with the sport.'
The six-man roster for October's World Championships will be named after the two-day competition in New Orleans (Thursday and Saturday for the men).
There is no team event at this year's worlds. Just the individual all-around and the apparatus finals, including pommel horse (which Nedoroscik won at the 2021 Worlds).
To automatically secure a spot at 2025 Worlds, a gymnast must this week win one of the six apparatus titles with a difficulty score at least equal to the best posted at the Asian and European Championships back in the spring.
If fewer than six men do that across all of the events, then the rest of the team is chosen by a committee.
Patrick Hoopes, who actually outscored Nedoroscik on pommel horse at the Olympic Trials, is in the nationals field and has been competing all year — both internationally and as an NCAA champion for Air Force.
Hoopes had a 6.0 difficulty score at the World University Games last month. The top difficulty score from Europe and Asia was 6.2.
On June 28, Nedoroscik posted a training video of a 5.8 difficulty routine — with errors, he noted — in his first week back doing full sets.
He mixes that competitive mindset — including the ability to solve a Rubik's Cube in eight seconds — with a playful demeanor.
Nedoroscik captioned a recent post commemorating a year since Paris with a closing line, 'Stay loose n goofy.'
'You have to be a little bit crazy to do one event for as many years as I've done it,' he said. 'But for me, it's all about going after those marginal gains. How can I make this one thing I've done for 10 years a little bit better?'
