For Team USA, his pommel horse effort earned them a bronze medal.
USA Gymnastics engaged an expert to attempt to address the fact that American men hadn’t medaled as a team in Olympic gymnastics since the last days of George W. Bush’s presidency.
That risk paid off.
In Monday’s team final, the men from the United States earned the bronze medal, earning their first Olympic team medal since 2008.
Pommel horse alone was Stephen Nedoroscik’s ticket to the Olympic squad.
Before anchoring the United States in his speciality event, he was made to wait on the sidelines for over three hours throughout the first five rotations. Preparing for his routine, Nedoroscik seemed to be focussing on the NBC broadcast while staying warm and focused.
He performed well when it mattered most, helping Team USA achieve a podium position.
The 25-year-old Nedoroscik is a rare and somewhat contentious Olympic pick since he competes in only one of six sports. High-level gymnasts are often required to represent their country in many competitions, if not all of them.
For the former Penn State student, Nedoroscik, the maths worked beautifully, and he provided Team USA with its greatest chance to win both an individual Olympic gold and a team medal.
Although Brady Malone won the world title on the horizontal bar in 2022 and Fred Richard won the 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 championship. With a whopping 15.200, Nedoroscik qualified for the pommel horse final in second place.
Three gymnasts from each squad competed in six events during the men’s team final: floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.
As long as a gymnast participates in all six events and receives three performances from each team, there is no minimum or maximum number of events that a gymnast may complete. Each score is significant.
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 as 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. squad.
“That one routine from Nedoroscik gives Team USA basically a full point over the next guy in queue for the USA,” remarked Daggett.
The American men’s program has strived 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.
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China brought home the silver medal, Japan the gold, and Great Britain the fourth place.
The men’s team’s relative ease of play made the Nedoroscik gamble all the more important.
At 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 fate. We want to return to that podium. That is what we want to achieve and what is expected.”
Coming into 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 round and finished in fifth position.
Since the global championships last year, when the U.S. team also earned a historic bronze medal, the current squad’s abilities have improved by more than a point.
The United States women have won a team medal at every Olympics since 1992, a sharp contrast to the men’s lack of medals at the games. In 1996, 2012, and 2016, they were the gold medal winners.
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 on the planet. Although 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.
Three years ago in Tokyo, Russia won gold in the men’s team category, with hosts Japan taking silver and China taking bronze. 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.