Stephen Nedoroscik is embracing his new fame as a quirky, bespectacled video gamer who recently 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 around his neck, he smiled and laughed, amazed by his rise to fame and the attention his gymnastics specialty is getting.
The 25-year-old U.S. gymnast won third place in the pommel horse on Saturday, just five days after helping the American men’s team earn bronze—its first Olympic medal in 16 years. Along the way, he’s won over viewers with his charming personality and nerdy interests.
Videos and photos of Nedoroscik taking off his glasses and preparing for his pommel horse routine have gone viral. Many memes and tweets compare him to Clark Kent changing into Superman.
“The memes are hilarious and I’m loving them all,” he said.
Besides the internet attention, Nedoroscik and his glasses have highlighted a condition called coloboma, where part of the eye tissue is missing. Fans have thanked him for being a role model for kids who 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 wanted him to meet the gymnast.
“It was also my first time meeting someone outside my family with that condition. That was so cool to see that. And, you know, he was just so happy.”
Nedoroscik is enjoying his time now, but before 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.’”
