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Gymnast and pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik showed up to the Olympics to do one thing and one thing only: help the men's Team USA gymnasts break their 16-year medal drought. He did just that via his stellar performance on the pommel horse on Monday, but he also did something else along the way. He captured the fascination of the internet.
Nedoroscik, 25, attended the Olympics only to compete on the pommel horse, working as a specialist designed to propel Team USA to a medal. Thanks in part to his performance, they won the bronze in the team final on July 29, marking their first medal since 2008. But only competing in one Olympic event means a lot of waiting (about three hours, according to NBC News), and during his wait time is when Nedoroscik won over the internet. Sitting on the sidelines and wearing his square-framed glasses, Nedoroscik became known as “pommel horse guy” on X as users united around their new “#1 favourite Olympic athlete.”
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Referred to (lovingly!) as both a “nerdy kid” and “little dork” in different tweets, the Worcester, Massachusetts, native's glasses drew quite a bit of attention as he wore them on the sidelines. They gave Nedoroscik a studious appearance that apparently some didn't expect from a pommel horse beast.
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Appearance aside, Nedoroscik appeared frequently on the television feed of the event, laughing and hanging out with the team. He kept spirits high — until it got a little sleepy in there. People REALLY loved when it seemed like Nedoroscik was … taking a brief nap? (NBC News says he was meditating, but the internet likes the nap story better.)
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But when it came time to perform, the glasses came off and the crowd went wild.
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Nedoroscik scored 14.866, and he seemed to know his performance was medal-worthy as soon as he landed on the ground. Pommel horse guy, you will always be famous (or at least for this week you will!).
This feature originally appeared on Teen Vogue.
