Stephen Nedoroscik Ends 16-Year Medal Drought for Team USA Male Gymnasts with Stellar Performance in Paris

 

American men hadn’t medaled as a team in Olympic gymnastics since the last days of George W. Bush’s administration. To address this, USA Gymnastics hired a specialist.

The strategy paid off.

The U.S. men clinched the bronze medal in Monday's team final, their first team Olympic medal since 2008.

Stephen Nedoroscik qualified for the Olympic team based solely on his exceptional pommel horse routine. He waited on the sidelines for nearly three hours during the first five rotations before taking his place on the pommel horse. Nedoroscik remained warm and focused, appearing to meditate before his routine on the NBC broadcast. When it was his turn, he delivered a stellar performance, securing a podium finish for Team USA.

What made Nedoroscik, 25, a unique and somewhat controversial Olympic selection is that he competes in only one of the six events. High-level gymnasts are typically expected to compete in several, if not all, events. However, Nedoroscik’s specialization on the pommel horse gave Team USA its best shot at a team medal and individual Olympic glory.

Nedoroscik, a Penn State alum, was the only American man to qualify for an individual apparatus final in Paris. Fred Richard, who won all-around bronze at last year’s world championships, and Brady Malone, the 2022 world champion on the horizontal bar, also contributed to the team. Richard and Paul Juda qualified for the all-around final, while Nedoroscik secured a spot in the pommel horse final with a high score of 15.200.

In the men’s team final, three gymnasts from each team performed in six events: floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. Each team had three performances per event, with all scores counting.

"Nedoroscik’s scores on pommel horse are significantly higher than everyone else’s, adding tremendous potential to the team’s score," said NBC Sports gymnastics analyst Tim Daggett, a 1984 gold medalist.

Nedoroscik’s strength in the pommel horse compensated for the U.S. team’s relative weakness in that event, making him invaluable despite not competing in all-around gymnastics.

"That one routine from Nedoroscik gives Team USA a full point advantage over the next competitor," Daggett explained.

In the three years between the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, the U.S. men’s program worked to increase its difficulty scores to compete with Japan, China, and Great Britain, the regular medalists in the team event. Japan won gold, China took silver, and Great Britain finished fourth.

The men’s relative lack of difficulty made Nedoroscik’s specialization crucial.

"We’re in a much better position now," high-performance director Brett McClure said at the Olympic trials. "We’re aiming for the podium, and that’s our goal."

McClure estimated that the U.S. men’s scoring potential, including Nedoroscik’s routine, ranked third in the world behind China and Japan. Despite struggling with consistency in the qualifying round and placing fifth, the team’s skills had increased in difficulty since last year's world championships, where they also won bronze.

The men's Olympic medal drought contrasted sharply with the U.S. women, who have medaled in every Olympics since 1992, winning gold in 1996, 2012, and 2016. The women's team, filled with gymnasts performing the world’s most difficult skills, often had a buffer to overcome falls. The U.S. men, without the same advantage, could finally compete with the best when they executed their routines well.

On Monday, they performed close to flawlessly while other top teams had falls.

In Tokyo, Russia won men's team gold, Japan took silver, and China bronze. The U.S. finished fifth, missing the podium. Russian gymnasts are not competing in Paris due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The men’s all-around final is scheduled for Wednesday at Bercy Arena in Paris.