Stephen Nedoroscik: Still thriving and striving for Tokyo 2O2One

If anyone was made to handle a pandemic and the state of constant isolation the world is currently in, it’s Stephen Nedoroscik.

At a time when everyone is adjusting to–and often struggling with–a new normal, the Penn State and Team USA pommel horse standout seems to be thriving in “quarantine” when I talk to him over the phone from his apartment on Penn State’s campus on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

“It’s not difficult, honestly,” Nedoroscik laughs as we discuss his relatively unique situation. The college senior has no roommates and doesn’t seem bothered by it a month into staying at home. 

He spends approximately six days a week alone. The only time he sees other people is when he goes to the store with his friends, because he doesn’t have a car.

“I’m definitely an introvert. I’m hardly affected by this.”

And if I wasn’t on the phone with him, it’d be hard to believe.

This is the same college senior who just had his final NCAA season cut short and a very realistic chance at an individual Olympic berth unexpectedly ripped away. But the nonchalant ease of his voice is clear. I can tell he’s not sugar-coating things. In a world where it seems like everyone is going stir crazy or continuously panicking, Nedoroscik is the definition of calm, cool, and collected.

Just a guy and his [pommel] horse

Like most of us, the 21-year-old “can’t keep track of days anymore.”

Beyond his weekly trip to the store, which is basically the only time he gets to talk to someone in person, he’s very strict about his isolation. Besides those excursions “into the unknown”, he hardly goes outside, only leaving his apartment to take out the trash. Oh, and to workout.

“I go outside once every day,” he says, matter-of-factly. “I start off by doing a set of sprints [in] the parking lot across the street. I do six sprints in two minutes, and it’s probably a good 100-foot sprint. I do six of those, and I get pretty warmed up from that.”

Then, it’s back inside for wrist rehab and a stretch. The Melbourne World Cup gold medalist borrowed a pommel horse drill station from Penn State and uses it for the majority of his workout.

“I can do all my elements on the pommel. I can also do some endurance work for my routine on it–doing all the skills I can and then doing an additional 20 circles. Immediately after that, I go into some strength on the floor, like stalder practice to mimic a dismount. I get a decent workout in.”

The goal is to keep his routine fitness up, with the true test of this time away from the gym set for a date in the future unbeknownst to him and the rest of the gymnastics world.

“I’ll find out if I’m doing a good job when I finally get back to a real horse. I’m just lucky that I have something I can workout on. A lot of guys don’t have that.”

Indeed, Nedoroscik doesn’t have to worry about the next time he’ll be able to vault or do a full floor routine. As a horse specialist, all he really needs is the raised set of pommels currently taking up residence in the middle of his living room floor. Although he can’t do a complete routine start to finish, he can get pretty close. That’s not to say he’s at an advantage over other elite gymnasts, but it’s an interesting dynamic to consider.

“I am the least affected. I have the best disadvantage? I don’t know how to word that,” Nedoroscik quips. “I am disadvantaged the least.”

Destiny delayed by reality

Nedoroscik’s glass-half-full mindset, combined with his unyielding drive, is what will set him apart from his peers in the next 15 months leading up to the postponed Tokyo Games, even after the fallout from COVID-19 eliminated his chance–by no fault of his own–at an individual, nominative Olympic berth.

Every U.S. Olympic hopeful has been impacted by the pandemic, but it’s safe to say, Nedoroscik’s path was easily the most influenced by the series of unfortunate events that transpired in mid-March.

After representing the Nittany Lions in a meet against Illinois and Michigan on March 7, Nedoroscik boarded his first flight of a multi-leg journey to Baku, Azerbaijan, to compete in the second-to-last meet of the Individual Apparatus World Cup series.

“We had a connection in Dallas. When I got to Dallas, we were preparing to board our flight to Doha. It was kind of there that I had some talks with people. [We were] pretty aware that going to Azerbaijan might be a risk. The way I looked at it, the worst thing that could happen is I come back to the U.S. and don’t get to compete. But, at least I’m giving myself the chance by going there. What if nothing happened? Then, at least I would have been there, and I would have competed.”

It was still unclear, at least to the general public, how and to what extent this distant, seemingly unknown disease called coronavirus would impact the U.S. and the world. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was still determined to host the Olympics on time in July, and Nedoroscik needed two wins in the final two meets of the series to have a chance at punching his own ticket to Tokyo–the same way Jade Carey has all but officially earned her berth.

“I got to Baku, and I had a couple really, really great workouts. I felt super prepared,” Nedoroscik says. “The day before [qualification], I was woken up at like 5 a.m. and was told that there’s all sorts of news [from] the U.S. about people having trouble coming back to the country. There were a lot of things that weren’t clear at the time. One of them was that we [didn’t know if we’d] be able to get back into the country. So, we packed our stuff and went to the airport and bought some plane tickets for later that day. More news kept coming out about things surrounding citizens. It was all very blurry at the time, but with how fast news was coming, we decided that it was the safest option to go back to the U.S. Because, at the time, if we didn’t get back before Saturday, then we would have been quarantined for 14 days… Taking 14 days–two weeks off–in gymnastics is a huge reset. That’s like months of building endurance and skills that would have been thrown away. So, we made that decision and came back.”

The events of what has since been dubbed “Black Thursday” are a blur for Nedoroscik. At the time, he just wanted to get back to the U.S. and not be stranded in a foreign country. What happened next came out of the blue.

“After my first flight, which was only two hours, I looked at my phone. I was going through Instagram and stuff, and I saw a bunch of news of people saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe my gymnastics career is over.’”

Already confused by the day’s events and barely into his 20-plus-hour trip home, Nedoroscik was informed the NCAA gymnastics season had been cancelled.

“That kind of hit me hard,” the senior says, undoubtedly thinking about what could’ve been. “At least I’m still training, and I still do the sport. I’m not retired yet or anything like that. My heart really does go out to the seniors this year that are officially done with gymnastics now.”

The Baku World Cup would eventually be cancelled after qualifications, leaving the fate of the competition up in the air. The IOC would officially postpone the Olympics two weeks later, and on April 9, the International Gymnastics Federation announced that the qualification results from Baku would be counted as the final results for the series.

“I kind of heard, a while ago, that that was something that might happen, but it was pretty disappointing to hear that it [is] official now and that the Baku World Cup won’t be repeated. Honestly, I tried my hardest. I did everything I could to compete at those World Cup series events. I think I could have done a really good job… But my individual route of getting [to Tokyo], unfortunately, has come to an end.”

Having that opportunity taken away would probably make many question continuing on, especially when the endgame meet is still over a year away, but that meet is the Olympics and this is Stephen Nedoroscik–one of the best pommel horse-workers in the world and one of the U.S. men’s best bets at an Olympic medal.

Now, his path to becoming an Olympian and having a shot to earn that medal is largely in the hands of his U.S. teammates. The men will look to earn +2 spots in addition to the four-person team they already qualified at 2019 Worlds. Those opportunities will come via the All-Around World Cup series, which the U.S. currently leads thanks to Sam Mikulak’s winning performance at the 2020 American Cup, and the Pan American Games.

While “the dream is still there,” it’s a waiting game. Those additional berths won’t be awarded until this time next year, but Nedoroscik has “complete trust in the USA team.” He’ll be rooting on his fellow national team members while focusing on proving that he can be one of the guys to fill those final two spots. (The main four-person team will almost certainly consist of all-arounders.)

Life’s little victories pave the way

Other gymnasts, including Simone Biles, have said the hardest part about the Olympics being delayed is the mental aspect of resetting. What was a three-month sprint has now turned into a 15-month marathon.

Nedoroscik isn’t in that same headspace.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all because now I’ve got a full year-and-a-half to get even better. Quite frankly, I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t training routines. It had to have been like three years ago… The fact that all these competitions are canceled in the summertime, it doesn’t affect me so much, because I’m just going to continue to do my same workout regimen. Hopefully, I get good enough or even better for next year. I’m looking forward to it.”

How, might you ask, would a specialist already armed with a 6.8 difficulty-score routine aim to improve? And do so at home, not knowing when he’ll be able to return to the gym?

“I think I could get a couple more tenths in there. It’ll definitely be something I’ll train. Because, regardless of what I put in to get two more tenths, that’s going to be training my endurance way more than doing the 16.800 routine… That way, when I get to a competition, it’s like, when I do an easier routine, [that easier routine] is my 16.800. That would be the ideal situation, and that’s what I want to work toward.”

Just days after our conversation, Nedoroscik teased a Sohn-Bezugo connection on his Instagram page–a “dream connection” made possible by the extra time he now has to dedicate to training.

Even if he doesn’t compete the added upgrades, “That’s always kind of what I’ve had in mind when it comes to training routines. I always want to train a harder routine than what I’d be okay competing.”

And if he does upgrade to a 7.0 D-score, he’ll be right on par with reigning Olympic and World pommel horse champion Max Whitlock.

A month ago, it would’ve been valid to dive deeper into comparisons of Nedoroscik and other top pommel horse contenders, analyzing the field and speculating on podium possibilities, but that was then.

With his dream delayed (but certainly not lost), Nedoroscik is revelling in other victories from his couch in State College, Pennsylvania, and no, we’re not talking about his Rocket League wins or completing his binge of “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness”. (Hey, he can’t train 24/7.)

In addition to being the College Gymnastics Association’s Specialist of the Year, Nedoroscik was just named the Nissen Emery Award winner. Considered the “Heisman Trophy” of men’s gymnastics, the award is given to the year’s top senior collegiate gymnast who has an “outstanding record of achievement during his college career.” 

The two-time NCAA pommel horse champion and four-time All-American is the first specialist to win the award.

“It really stands out that Stephen is the only specialist to win the award in its history,” Penn State head coach Randy Jepson said in a statement. “That holds a special place amongst all of the all-around gymnasts that have been the perennial winners. That really says a lot to his level of expertise.”

If it isn’t clear from his resume and the many messages of “well deserved” congratulations, the truth comes into focus after talking with him for just a half hour–Nedoroscik is destined for greatness.

He’s talented yet humble, passionate yet level-headed, and most importantly, he continues to exhibit perseverance in the face of adversity.

If you ask me, those are the exact qualities that make up an Olympic champion, and if I had to bet on a member of Team USA to shock the world next summer, it would be Stephen Nedoroscik.

By Patricia Duffy, @patriciacduffy

Quarantine Quick Fire

• Go-to at home exercise? Working skills on the pommel horse drill. That’s my default.
• Favorite thing to do when you’re not working out or studying? Watching Netflix.
• Favorite quarantine show or movie? Tiger King, thus far!
• What’s a snack you find yourself regularly reaching for? Ah man, that’s a hard one… I usually go for an apple or nachos. I just make them; they’re really good. I do Tostitos and some melted cheese, some hot sauce, and I put it in the oven. I make some good nachos. 
• Do you prefer a structured routine, or are you just kind of going with the flow? I have to go with the flow because my wrist isn’t bothering me, so I just listen to my body.
• Are you stocked up on everything, or are you constantly running low? Oh, I’m stocked up. I bought way too many supplies. I’ll be good for a couple more weeks probably.
• Are you constantly tuned in to the news, or are you staying informed at a distance? I haven’t listened to the news. The only [news] I get is on Twitter when people ramble about it.
• Favorite restaurant to order in? I think my number one right now is Panda Express. I’ve ordered it a few times.
• Who do you talk with the most over the phone/virtually? My girlfriend or my mom.
• First place you’re going when this is over? The gym. That’s my number one. Beyond the gym? I want to go fishing with my friends–my teammates. That’s a big thing we did last summer. We went fishing all the time.