Stephen Nedoroscik is the internet’s new meme for “Beast mode activated.”
On X, Instagram and TikTok, users can’t get enough of the glasses-wearing, Rubik’s cube-solving athlete who has become the hometown hero of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team. Across the platforms, users have circulated an image of the 25-year-old American gymnast looking calm, cool and in mediation just before he helped score the bronze medal for the U.S. at the July 29 final.
“Clark Kent while sitting on the sidelines — Superman on the pommel horse,” one user commented on a viral photo of the athlete resting up and seated on the sidelines. He could be seen wearing glasses with his eyes shut, appearing to be calm.
“Nerves of steel!” another chimed in.
“Stephen Nedoroscik had to score big on pommel horse for Team USA in the last rotation,” @NBCOlympics wrote in a July 28 post on TikTok. “AND HE DID.”
The Nedoroscik mania comes as he dismounted from his July 29 pommel horse routine with a score of 14.866, according to NBC Sports.
On July 29, Nedoroscik sat on the sideline for almost three hours as his teammates performed routines for the first five events of the competition before his bottom-of-the-ninth moment. According to NBC News, Nedoroscik’s place on the team has been considered “somewhat controversial” because, unlike most high-level gymnasts who compete in multiple events, he performed just one.
His only event for the games boosted Team USA’s Men’s Artistic Team All-Around overall score to 257.793, clinching them the bronze.
According to NBC News, the team won its last medal in 2008, toward the tail end of the George W. Bush administration. The team’s 16-year dry spell prompted USA Gymnastics to tap him in hopes that he would deliver on his specialty, the pommel horse.
In the comments section of a post by @NBCOlympics on X about how he was “getting in the zone,” users called the viral image of Nedoroscik an “iconic picture.”
In the comments section of a post by @NBCOlympics on X about how he was “getting in the zone,” users called the viral image of Nedoroscik an “iconic picture.”
“That’s the new Superman,” a user by the name@Yankees44Giants wrote.
“I love this nerdy kid from Worcester who’s at the Olympics just to do pommel horse and only pommel horse and he is literally Team USA’s best chance at Olympic gold for just pommel horse. And today he’s literally just hanging out until it’s time for pommel horse. LOVE HIM.” a user by the name @megsokay wrote.
“To truly understand Stephen Nedoroscik’s nerd credentials, you need to know that he is in Paris for the Olympics and posting to his insta story about solving a Rubik’s cube in under 10 seconds,” author John Green said in a post.
In an interview with NBC News, Nedoroscik gave some insight into what’s been going on in his head as he prepares to compete.
“I didn’t know what we needed, but I knew I needed to do a good job,” Nedoroscik said. “I was feeling the nerves, but right before I went, these guys told me, ‘We trust you. We got your back.’ And when they said that, it all kind of went away.”