Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik also told ET all about his girlfriend, Tess.
Stephen Nedoroscik is leaning into his newfound viral fame.
ET's Rachel Smith chatted with the 25-year-old athlete after he and the rest of the men on Team USA's artistic gymnastics team took home the bronze medal at the 2024 Olympic Games on Monday, and he gushed about his experience in Paris.
"I'm feeling amazing," he told ET. "Getting that team medal last night, I mean, I barely got any sleep and woke up still excited about it. This whole day has just been surreal. I am just soaking it all in. It is just an unbelievable experience."
Nedoroscik is an event specialist, as he performs only on the pommel horse. For the team finals, that event came up last in Team USA's rotation, meaning that Nedoroscik had to sit back and watch as his teammates -- Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone and Frederick Richard -- competed on rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar and floor exercise.
"It's pretty much the worst case scenario for me," Nedoroscik admitted. "But in that moment I kind of decided that I wasn't gonna be nervous, I was gonna be excited for it because I get to be the exclamation point at the end of the sentence. I get to be the guy that caps it off."
"I already had this vision of all the guys just setting me up perfectly to go up there and nail my routine, and, I gotta say it, was pretty much exactly what I was hoping it would be," he continued. "It was an amazing experience."
Indeed, it all came down to Nedoroscik. Knowing that, if he nailed his routine, Team USA would medal in the competition, Nedoroscik did just that.
"This is a team sport. We had each other's back. They did their jobs and hit every single routine before me," Nedoroscik praised. "Watching Brody Malone finish that pommel horse set, I was locked into my zone, but I couldn't even help but give a little smile 'cause I was like, 'Dude, he just set me up so well for this.'"
"As I was walking up to that pommel horse, I heard the guys, they said, 'Steve you got this. We trust you. We're on your back. You've got this.' That's all I needed to hear," he continued. "When I finally got to land that pommel horse dismount I think I was smiling before my feet even hit the ground, because, as I was doing that routine, I was like, 'If I hit this set we medal.' It was just a surreal moment."
Nedoroscik's teammates responded to his 14.866-score performance by picking him up in excitement, a moment that "solidified" the realization that they'd medaled for him.
"That was the moment where I was like, 'We actually did it,'" he said.
Unbeknownst to Nedoroscik, as he and his teammates were celebrating, the internet had found its latest crush. Memes even popped up comparing the glasses-wearing athlete, who shed him eyewear before his event, to Clark Kent.
"It is awesome," he said of the internet love. "I didn't have my phone for a couple hours after the competition and I was like, 'Ah, it's gonna be so fun to see all my friends that have messaged me.' [When] I looked at it, I was like, 'What is going on?'"
"I mean, there's so many memes out there about me being a sleeper agent who wakes up and turns into Clark Kent Superman on the pommel horse," Nedoroscik continued. "They are hilarious. It is such an honor to be in that position. I'm glad the people are enjoying the show that us men put out last night."
No one's internet fandom beat out Nedoroscik's girlfriend, Tess McCracken, though. In fact, she proudly changed her X bio to read "Ms. Pommel Horse."
"Tess is the absolute best," Nedoroscik gushed. "First of all, [she is] beautiful. She is so smart. We met eight years ago at Penn State when we were both coming in as freshmen on our respective gymnastics teams. The first time I ever met her she was cracking her back. I thought it was kind of funny, so I introduced myself. We sat there and took an ADHD test or some baseline thing... Right away there was chemistry. It didn't take long for us to start dating."
Nedoroscik added of his girlfriend, "She's just been my number one cheerleader for the last eight years. I'm so honored to have her."
Nedoroscik's Olympic experience isn't over just yet. He'll compete in the pommel horse event finals on Saturday, Aug. 3. As for if he thinks he'll medal in the event, Nedoroscik said, "Fingers crossed I do. I have a good feeling about how this week's been going."
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