Stephen Nedoroscik, Olympics Pommel Horse Star, Shines on The Tonight Show

"You were my favorite thing I saw in the Olympics," host Jimmy Fallon tells Nedoroscik.

Stephen Nedoroscik of the United States poses for a photo with his bronze medal on the pommel horse during the 2024 Paris Olympics. / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Stephen Nedoroscik, America's favorite pommel horse specialist, continues to revel in the glow of his double-bronze performance at the Paris Olympics. The Penn State graduate visited The Tonight Show on Tuesday, when host Jimmy Fallon marveled at Nedoroscik's story, medal-winning pommel horse routine and ability to solve a Rubik's Cube.

"You were my favorite thing I saw in the Olympics," Fallon said.

Nedoroscik became a USA Gymnastics star in Paris, where he won a pair of bronze medals with drama and flair. First, Nedoroscik clinched the U.S. men's first team medal in gymnastics since 2008 with his superb routine in the competition's last event. Nedoroscik unique prep (in which he appeared to be sleeping) and Clark Kentesque glasses made him a social media star.

A few days later, Nedoroscik returned for the individual pommel horse competition, in which he won another bronze medal. By scoring a 15.300 in the event, Nedoroscik won Team USA's first individual Olympics pommel horse medal since 2016.

"Going into that competition I had big dreams, big hopes, and to come out and look back and say, 'Oh my gosh, I actually did that,' is an unbelievable feeling," Nedoroscik told Fallon.

Nedoroscik did a play-by-play of his individual pommel horse routine and solved a Rubik's Cube in 15.42 seconds as part of his entertaining appearance on The Tonight Show. He almost certainly will return to Penn State this fall for an appearance at a Nittany Lions football game.

Nedoroscik, 25, graduated from Penn State in 2020 after winning two NCAA titles on the pommel horse. He grew up in Worcester, Mass., and now trains in Sarasota, Florida. According to his Olympics biography, Nedoroscik began climbing things around the house when he was 1, and his parents enrolled him in gymnastics at age 4. " The first day I was there I climbed a 15-foot rope, and within the next few days I was invited to join the team," Nedoroscik said in 2023.

His early success in junior events earned Nedoroscik an offer to join the Penn State men's gymnastics team. He enrolled at Penn State in 2017, when he won the first of two NCAA titles. Nedoroscik was pursuing a third in 2020 when the NCAA gymnastics championships were canceled. That year Nedoroscik became the first specialist to win the Nissen-Emery Award as the nation’s top senior gymnast.

After graduating from Penn State with a degree in engineering, Nedoroscik won four pommel horse titles at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships from 2021-24. In 2021, he became the first U.S. gymnast to win a pommel horse gold medal at the world championships.

Nedoroscik was among a school-record 30 athletes to represent Penn State at the Paris Olympics. Athletes and coaches with ties to Penn State won 14 medals at the Games. Check out Nedoroscik's appearance on The Tonight Show here.

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