Emily Chan
During this year’s Olympics, in the men’s gymnastics all-around finals, one athlete started attracting viewers’ attention. He mostly remained on the sidelines, waiting for his time to shine.
There were moments when he appeared to be sleeping, and at one point, he even solved a Rubik’s cube in under 10 seconds.
He was 25-year-old glasses-wearing Stephen Nedoroscik, the pommel horse specialist for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team.
He was there to compete only on the pommel horse, an event that was scheduled for last. People on social media compared him to Clark Kent, Captain America, and Barbie’s Ken, who is known for having just one job.
This year, the U.S. men’s gymnastics team was striving to earn its first Olympic team medal since 2008. They decided to tackle the challenge with a new strategy.
The five members of the team qualified to compete in the six gymnastics events in the Games. However, not all of them would participate in each event.
Nedoroscik was assigned to compete only on the pommel horse, which is a notoriously difficult apparatus. His scores on the pommel horse were much higher than everyone else’s and would help give the team a boost.
When it was Nedoroscik’s turn to perform, the U.S. was in third place. It was up to him to make sure a medal could be secured.
Despite being under a tremendous amount of pressure, he spun on the pommel horse for 40 seconds and successfully stuck the dismount, ending with a smile and a fist pump.
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