From ‘Monkey Boy’ to ‘Horse Guy’: Stephen Nedoroscik’s Meteoric Rise

The 25-year-old U.S. gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik achieved third place in the pommel horse event on Saturday, only five days after contributing to the American men’s team earning bronze, their first Olympic medal in 16 years.

PARIS, France — Stephen Nedoroscik is now reveling in his unexpected fame at the Paris Olympics, known as a geeky, glasses-wearing video gamer who won two bronze medals.

“It’s still just surreal to me. I wake up in the morning, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m a two-time Olympic medalist!’ It is so cool,” he told The Associated Press. With both medals around his neck, he smiled and laughed, amazed at his surge in popularity and the spotlight his gymnastics specialty is receiving.

Images and videos of Nedoroscik removing his glasses and focusing before performing on the pommel horse have gone viral, drawing comparisons to Clark Kent transforming into a superhero.

“The memes are hilarious and I’m loving them all,” he commented.

Beyond the internet buzz, Nedoroscik and his distinctive eyeglasses have increased awareness of coloboma, an eye condition characterized by missing tissue in the eye. Fans have expressed gratitude for his role-model status, especially for children who wear glasses.

“Just last week, for the first time, I met someone else with the same eye condition as me,” Nedoroscik shared — a young boy who eagerly wanted to meet him. “It was my first time meeting someone outside my family with that condition. It was so cool to see that, and he was just so happy.”

Nedoroscik reflected on his pre-routine preparation, describing how he kept calm and motivated himself. “I was doing my breathing exercises to keep my heart rate down. The whole time I’m telling myself, ‘you’re excited, let’s go out there and show people like, this is a performance! Let’s go and have fun with it.’”

The pommel horse isn’t typically a strong event for Americans. However, Nedoroscik, from Worcester, Massachusetts, excelled at it early on, starting with a childhood fascination for climbing ropes and walls, earning him the nickname “monkey boy.”

“When I was really little—basically before I could walk—I was already climbing up the walls in my house, scaring the babysitters. So my parents put me in a preschool gym,” he said.

Transitioning from “monkey boy” to “horse guy,” Nedoroscik credits his engineering studies at Penn State University for his gymnastics success.

“Horse guy culture is totally a thing. Many pommel horse specialists are engineers or really smart people. They’re kind of nerds. Honestly, they’re just fun, geeky people,” he explained.

With the Olympic pressure behind him, Nedoroscik is eager to explore Paris and enjoy the local cuisine. First on his list: escargot.