Penn State’s Stephen Nedoroscik is getting back on the pommel horse. When to watch

Former Nittany Lion Stephen Nedoroscik is getting the true modern Olympic experience at the Paris Summer Games. That is, he helped end the U.S. men’s gymnastics team’s 16-year medal drought and then immediately went viral — not just for his skill on the pommel horse, but for being Team USA’s very own Clark Kent.

If you missed his first success, or just want to watch him swiftly take off his glasses and dazzle the crowd one more time, you’re in luck.

Nedoroscik will mount his stallion (the pommel horse, which is really more nondescript beam with two metal handles than horse) again Saturday morning in the men’s pommel horse final, where he’ll have the chance to win an individual medal. The finals will air starting at 11:16 a.m. and can either be streamed on Peacock or caught live on NBC with cable.

Who is Stephen Nedoroscik?

The Penn State alumnus won big in the men’s gymnastics team final Monday afternoon, securing both the bronze and the hearts and attention of Olympic viewers across the internet. Since then, more than a dozen mainstream media outlets have published articles featuring the nerdy, bespectacled, unrelentingly meme-able athlete.

Even before he completed his routine — and he was the last competitor to do so — Nedoroscik was already generating buzz on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In a post that has since garnered 3.3 million views, one user noted her newfound obsession with Nedoroscik, describing him as “this one guy on the US men’s gymnastics team who looks like he’s getting his phd in anthropology and his only job is pommel horse.”

The sentiment is partially true: Nedoroscik in fact studied electrical engineering at Penn State, where he competed in gymnastics from 2017-2020 and won two national titles.

His job, however, is arguably pommel horse, as it’s the only event he competes in (His girlfriend’s bio on X is simply “Ms. Pommel Horse.”) Including Nedoroscik on the United State’s five-person men’s gymnastics team was initially criticized, but early analysis favored giving the pommel horse king a spot — and it paid off.

There’s been no shortage of Nedoroscik content since Monday.

Many are still hooked on the glasses he wears for his strabismus, or crossed eyes, which he discussed in a 2022 TikTok (He used to wear goggles at competition, which were a Secret Santa gift from a Penn State teammate, he told The Boston Globe in 2021.) The most widespread image of Nedoroscik captures him leaning against the wall — eyes closed, glasses on — waiting to compete.

Fans can’t get enough of the athlete off the gymnastics floor, either. His Rubik’s Cube personal best of 8.664 seconds — an identity he proudly lists in his TikTok bio just under “Olympian” and “World Champion” — has also caught people’s attention.

Nedoroscik’s rise to internet stardom proves that anyone can enjoy the Olympics: Even if you don’t follow sports, just root for the athlete you find most charming. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be a killer on the pommel horse, too.