US Men's Gymnastics Bronze Medal: A Triumphant Comeback
US Men's Gymnastics Bronze Medal: A Triumphant Comeback
Blake Swanson
Olympics
2024-07-31
It’s official – the U.S. men’s gymnastics team have won an Olympic medal for the first time in 16 years. The nation’s heroes include Brody Malone, Fred Richard, Paul Juda, Asher Hong, and Stephen Nedoroscik who were visibly over the moon at securing a third-place finish.
The gold and silver medals were contested between Japan and China, with the former walking away from the event in first place with a total score of 259.594, beating Team China who scored 259.062 by just 0.532 points.
So, how did the U.S. men’s team get on? They scored 42.799 from the floor exercise, 42.466 from the pommel horse, 42.732 from the rings, 44.032 from the vault, 43.399 from the parallel bars, and 42.365 from the horizontal bar. This gave them a total of 257.793, meaning they nudged Great Britain into fourth place with a score of 255.527 and a gap of 4.067 points.
However, despite an incredible overall team performance, social media has gone wild for the person they’re calling “pommel horse guy” – otherwise known as Stephen Nedoroscik. The 25-year-old caught the eye of millions around the world for his antics throughout the event. Notably, he ended up waiting for three hours to compete on the pommel horse and spent that time napping, solving Rubik’s cubes, and playing charades. With his thick black-framed glasses, many have since compared him to Clark Kent and he certainly lived up to that role, removing his glasses to become Team USA’s Superman on the pommel horse to secure a treasured medal.