Two-time Olympic bronze medalist Stephen Nedoroscik — affectionately dubbed Pommel Horse Guy online — is setting the record straight.
Nedoroscik, 25, became a viral sensation during the 2024 Paris Olympics for his pommel horse skills, bespectacled Clark Kent vibes, and appearing to nap while waiting to compete in the men’s team gymnastics final on July 29. (“This Ken’s job is horse,” reads a popular meme shared via X that shows the athlete with his eyes closed.)
Nedoroscik appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, August 13, and was quizzed by host Jimmy Fallon whether he was indeed getting a little shut-eye during the competition.
The gymnast noted that he was the last to compete in the team final so he had to wait “around five hours to compete and represent.”
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“We get there earlier and then warm up and then march out and compete,” Nedoroscik explained. “So, finally, when it got to [pommel] horse, I needed to calm down. So all I’m doing there is I’m tilting my head back and doing my breathing exercises and visualizing a lot — like a hundred times.”
The visualizing paid off because Nedoroscik and his fellow Team USA gymnasts — Brody Malone, Fred Richard, Asher Hong and Paul Juda — secured the bronze medal in the men’s team final. It marked the U.S. men’s gymnastics team’s first medal in 16 years.
“It was just the greatest moment of my life, I think,” Nedoroscik told reporters after his performance. “[I’m] so happy to have been there.”
Days later, on August 3, Nedoroscik won a second bronze medal in the men’s pommel horse final, placing behind Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan and Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov.
Reflecting on his newfound fame, Nedoroscik recently told GQ that he didn’t realize he was going viral until his girlfriend filled him in.
“Funny enough, it took three hours after that competition for me to even check my phone, because right afterwards, of course, with how drug testing works out here, I got chosen,” he said in an interview published on August 4. “So I didn’t really see anything for three hours until I finally got to go and sit down for dinner with my family. And I only got about 15 minutes with them, and my girlfriend goes, ‘Dude, have you looked at your phone?’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ She’s like, ‘You’re trending on Twitter.’ And I was like, ‘You’re joking me.’ It’s insane.”
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Nedoroscik thinks that people can relate to him because he’s, in his words, “a nerd.”
“I totally am. I love math. I’m an electrical engineer. I like to think that I’m just a regular dude who happens to be really good at pommel horse,” he told GQ.
