He helped Team USA win a bronze medal on the pommel horse.
Since the last days of George W. Bush’s presidency, American men have not won an Olympic gymnastics medal as a team. USA Gymnastics recruited a specialist in an attempt to change that.
Its risk paid off.
In Monday’s team final, the American men earned the bronze medal, earning their first Olympic team medal since 2008.
The pommel horse routine was the only thing that allowed Stephen Nedoroscik to qualify for the Olympic squad.
Before anchoring the U.S. in his speciality event, he was had to wait on the sidelines for over three hours throughout the first five rounds. Before his routine, Nedoroscik seemed to be concentrating on the NBC broadcast while remaining warm and concentrated.
He performed well when it mattered most, helping Team USA earn a podium result.
The fact that Nedoroscik, 25, competes in only one of six events makes him a special and often contentious Olympic choice. Elite gymnasts are usually required to represent their country in many events, if not all of them.
Nedoroscik, a Penn State graduate, had good math skills and offered Team USA the greatest chance to win both an individual Olympic gold and a team medal.
Despite Brady Malone’s 2022 world victory on the horizontal bar and Fred Richard’s bronze in the all-around at the previous year’s world championships, he is the only American male to have qualified for an individual apparatus final in Paris.
Paul Juda and Richard made it to the all-around final. With a staggering score of 15.200, Nedoroscik qualified for the pommel horse final in second place.
Three gymnasts from each squad competed in six events in the men’s team final: floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.
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A gymnast may participate in as many or as few events as they choose, as long as each of the six events receives three performances from each team. Every score matters.
Gold medallist Tim Daggett, an analyst for NBC Sports gymnastics, said, “What it comes down to is that [Nedoroscik’s] scores on pommel horse are so much higher than everybody else on that one event that he adds a tremendous amount of potential score.”
Nedoroscik is more important to the team score than an all-around gymnast with the same strengths as the other competitors since his strength also happens to be a weakness for the rest of the U.S. team.
“That one routine from Nedoroscik gives Team USA basically a full point over the next guy in line for the USA,” Daggett said.
The U.S. men’s program has sought to raise its start values, or difficulty scores, in the three years between the Olympics in Tokyo and Paris. This has helped them get closer to Japan, China, and Great Britain, who consistently medal in the team event.
China took home the silver medal, Japan the gold, and Great Britain the fourth.
The Nedoroscik gambit was even more important given how easy the men’s team had it.
During the Olympic trials, high performance director Brett McClure said of the Paris Olympic squad, “We’re in a much different position now.” “We will have the ability to direct our own course in life. We will return to that platform. That’s what we want to achieve and what is expected.”
Before Paris, McClure projected the men’s scoring potential for the United States to be third in the world, after Japan and China, and to include Nedoroscik’s pommel horse performance. They had trouble staying consistent throughout the qualifying phase, finishing in fifth position.
The U.S. team earned a record bronze medal in the world championships last year, but their skills have improved by more than a point.
The American women have won a team medal at every Olympics since 1992, a sharp contrast to the men’s lack of medals at the games. Gold medals were won by them in 1996, 2012, and 2016.
The women’s team has a buffer equivalent to several falls since it is stacked from top to bottom with gymnasts who execute the hardest feats in the world. Though they don’t have the same edge, American men can now compete with the world’s best when they play well.
On Monday, they were almost faultless while other elite teams faltered.
Russia won the men’s team gold, Japan got second place, and China grabbed bronze in Tokyo three years ago. Great Britain in fourth position and the Americans in fifth place failed to make it to the podium. Because of the continuing conflict in Ukraine, Russian gymnasts have decided not to participate in Paris.