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Assembling Stephen Nedoroscik close, Sam Mikulak gave the American pommel horse expert an impossible challenge
With the first Olympic medal for the United States men’s gymnastics team in sixteen years just one routine away, Mikulak advised the pommel horse expert not to give it his all. That 80% would enough, even though Mikulak was well aware that Nedoroscik never performs at 80% in anything, whether it’s his sport or completing a Rubik’s Cube.
“You have to trick yourself,” advised Mikulak, a coach and three-time Olympian. “Keep your wits about you; don’t let the chaos overwhelm you.”
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The Worcester, Massachusetts native, who is 25 years old, normally has no trouble with it. The decisions that Nedoroscik has made over the past decade, effectively deciding to devote himself to a single pursuit, centering on an event that has long been a weakness for the U.S. men’s national team program, need a specific kind of monomania.
Sure, there’s some monotony about it. Why wouldn’t there be?
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“I don’t know how I don’t lose my head,” Nedoroscik stated before the Games. However, there is always more to do when I go to the gym. Something could be done better.
Establishing a claim
In order to get to the event finals later in the Games, he perfected his set during Saturday’s qualification. Things were different, though, on Monday night. Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, and Frederick Richard had put the United States in contention for a medal run for the first time since Beijing 2008 with 17 consecutive flawless routines.
After Juda and Malone hit their sets, the United States had a reasonably good lead. However, Nedoroscik was determined not to merely cling on, even though he had some wiggle room. He would like to make his point.
Not only to himself, but also to everyone who questioned his legitimacy for being there.
In the forty-five seconds that followed, Nedoroscik’s hands darted from side to side of the horse while his legs swung in every direction imaginable.
His four teammates and the large American support base inside Bercy Arena cheered as he got closer to a medal that had appeared far away for a team that had placed fifth in its prior three Olympic appearances.
It was clear to Nedoroscik that his mission was accomplished as he approached his dismount. The party started even before he stepped on the mat.
The years of hard work, the mental and physical challenges, the moments of doubt about continuing, and the eccentricities he’s accumulated along the way—from the non-prescription goggles he occasionally rocks to the chef’s kiss and the camera he occasionally makes—had culminated in that moment.
His 14.866 was “the exclamation point” that the U.S. men’s program was hoping would give them a boost before the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and he delivered.
“I was like, ‘Alright, let’s run it back and go out there and do our thing,'” Nedoroscik said at the time.
Providing much-needed support
Something that the United States has been struggling with for quite some time when competing on a global scale. After qualifying, the 2012 Olympic squad was named. Then, in the finals, they rode pommel horse, and as they fell off one fall after another, their medal chances faded.
Nedoroscik was well-versed in the past. One of the reasons he seemed to favor pommels was because of this. Another is that he possesses an abundance of all the necessary qualities, especially imagination, strength, and stamina.
He says he was a “late bloomer” when it came to the event. He learned to push through those early setbacks.
He attributed his lessons in fighting, staying on task, and embracing regularity to his early experiences of running into problems on the apparatus. That, I believe, has remained with me all this time.
Pommel horse gives gymnasts more leeway to “color inside the lines” and “make things up as they go along” than other events that need meticulous planning and months (if not years) of practice. Did I omit something? Perhaps you can compensate by attempting a different exercise later on.
He describes it as “flying through the air,” albeit it’s more like levitation in reality.
On Saturday, Nedoroscik will fly into the event finals, where he has an opportunity to add another medal to his collection before returning home
He was matched with Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland for first place among the eight finalists with a qualifying score of 15,200.
He intends to go with the flow of the current. But no matter what happens on Saturday—or in his life overall—it will be hard to beat Monday night, when the guy with the spectacles and curly hair who became an Olympic social media celebrity dealt a blow to his sport, his colleagues, and himself.
While sitting next to the group who would go on to become U.S. men’s gymnastics aristocracy, he added, “I’m really proud of these guys.” I adore you all, my boys.
