PARIS (AP) — Stephen Nedoroscik is leaning into his newfound stardom as a geeky, bespectacled, Rubik’s Cube-solving video gamer who just won two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics.
“It’s still just surreal to me. I wake up in the morning, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m a two-time Olympic medalist!' It is so cool,” he told The Associated Press. With both medals hanging around his neck, he beamed and laughed as he marveled at his rise to fame and the attention his specialty in gymnastics is receiving.
The 25-year-old U.S. gymnast finished third in the pommel horse on Saturday, five days after helping the American men’s team earn bronze — its first Olympic medal in 16 years. Along the way, he’s captured the hearts of Olympics viewers with his endearing personality and nerdy tendencies.
Images and clips of Nedoroscik removing his glasses and centering himself before hopping on the pommel horse for a focused routine have gone viral. The memes and tweets have likened him to Clark Kent taking off his glasses and transforming into a hero.
“The memes are hilarious and I’m loving them all,” he said.
Internet fodder aside, Nedoroscik and his eyeglasses have brought visibility to an eye condition called coloboma, which occurs when part of the tissue that makes up the eye is missing. Fans have approached him thanking him for being a role model for children who need to wear glasses.
“Even just last week, for the first time, I met someone else who has the same eye condition as me," Nedoroscik said — a young boy whose mother said he really wanted to meet the gymnast. “It was also my first time meeting someone outside my family that has that disease. That was so cool to see that. And, you know, he was just so happy.”
Nedoroscik is relaxed and soaking up his moment now, but leading up to his routine, he was "doing my breathing exercises to keep my heart rate down. And like, the whole time I’m telling myself, ‘you’re excited, let’s go out there and show people like, this is a performance! Let’s go and have fun with it.’”
The pommel horse isn’t a specialty Americans typically excel in. But the Worcester, Massachusetts, native took to it early on after initially getting into gymnastics by climbing up ropes and walls everywhere he could. It earned him the nickname “monkey boy.”
“When I was real little – I’m talking like, basically before I could walk, I was already climbing up the walls in my house, scaring the baby sitters. So it didn’t take long for my parents to say, let’s put them in one of those preschool gyms,” he said.
He's gone from “monkey boy” to “horse guy” and says his background studying engineering at Penn State University is crucial to his success.
“Horse guy culture is totally a thing. A lot of horse specialists, you’ll see, are engineers or, you know, really smart people. They’re just kind of nerds. And honestly, kind of geeky people, they’re all just kind of fun,” he said.
Now that the pressure is off from the Games, Nedoroscik is hoping to actually enjoy Paris and food outside of the athlete's Olympic Village. First thing on the menu: Escargot.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Stephen Nedoroscik, of the United States, celebrates after winning the bronze medal during the men's artistic gymnastics individual pommel finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Stephen Nedoroscik, of the United States, celebrates after winning the bronze medal during the men's artistic gymnastics individual pommel finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Stephen Nedoroscik, of the United States, competes during the men's artistic gymnastics individual pommel finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television program, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.
The arrest of the American citizens included a member of the Navy, who Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a former navy seal who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain's embassy in Venezuela did not reply to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.
The U.S. State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of a U.S. military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”
“Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.
The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 allies of Maduro who were accused by the U.S. government of obstructing voting during the disputed July 28 Venezuelan presidential election, and carrying out human rights abuses.
Earlier this week, Spain's parliament recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the election, angering Maduro allies who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain.
Tensions between Venezuela's government and the U.S. have increased as well following the election, whose result sparked protests within Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.
Venezuela's Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said Maduro won the election with 52% of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.
Opposition activists, however, surprised the government by collecting tally sheets from 80% of the nation's voting machines. The tally sheets collected by the opposition were published online, and they indicate that Gonzalez won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
Despite international condemnation over the election's lack of transparency, Venezuela's supreme court, which has long backed Maduro, confirmed his victory in August. Venezuela's attorney general then filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week after it became clear he would be arrested.
Maduro has dismissed requests from several countries, including the leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide tally sheets that prove he won the election. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the U.S. is trying to overthrow him through sanctions and covert operations.
The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was held in Florida on money laundering charges. According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab had also helped Maduro to avoid U.S. Treasury sanctions through a complex network of shell companies.
FILE - Socialist Party President Diosdado Cabello gives his weekly press conference, in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, Aug. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists gathered at the presidential palace in support of his reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
