The Collapsar: When Nedoroscik and the American Gymnastics Team Jump onto the Bars and Rejoinders

Tim Daggett, an NBC Sports gymnast who won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, said that Nedoroscik’s score on pommel horse is so high that he adds a lot of potential score to the equation.

NBC put a countdown clock for “Nedoroscik Pommel” in the bottom corner of its video feed. Observers were obsessed with the fact that he appeared to sleep with his eyes closed.

Superman, Captain America, and Barbie’s Ken were all compared on social media. Fans were interested to know that he had just posted a picture of a puzzle in under 10 seconds.

U.S. men’s gymnastics, chasing its first Olympic team medal since 2008, decided to switch up its strategy this time around. Although all five members of the team qualified for the Games, not all of them will compete in multiple events (there are six overall).

By the time Nedoroscik had shed his warm-up suit and glasses, the U.S. was clinging precariously to its third-place spot and counting on him to keep them there.

It was under the weight of that pressure that Nedoroscik jumped onto the handlebars. After 40 seconds of spinning and screaming, he stuck his dismount with a smile and a fist pump.

His teammates hugged and hoisted him into the air. They already knew what just happened: USA men’s gymnastics had won bronze, its first Olympic team medal in 16 years.

The Little Monkey Boy: What a Dorky Adult Will Become in Paris and What Tokyo (and Tokyo) Needs for a Gymnast?

A native of Massachusetts and Penn State graduate, Nedoroscik studied electrical engineering and competed in gymnastics for four years.

He said he would crawl up the walls and scare the babysitter by shimmying up the door. I was called the little monkey boy because my parents thought I would do a good job in gymnastics.

He said he climbed the 15-foot rope all the way to the top on his first day at the kids gym.

“When you go from a club gym to a collegiate gym, you see just how talented gymnasts really are in this nation,” he said. “And purely just wanting to be the best at pommel horse at Penn State, I decided to specialize. I have remained with that ever since.

“When I was very, very young people would tell me, ‘One day you’re going to be an Olympian!’ ” He said so. I was a little kid back then. And now look at me — I’m a dorky adult, going to the Olympics.”

He told NEPM he is very proud of making it to Paris, given the up and downs of the last three years, and also the fact that he did not qualify for Tokyo.

Winners of an Individual All-Absolute All-Radius Gold at Gymnastics World Championships were Team USA’s Nathaniel Richard, Justine Edwards, Zhang Boheng, and Xi

Two nights after Team USA’s perfect performance in men’s gymnastics, the flaws came back for two US gymnasts hoping to win a second medal.

Richard, the 20-year-old social media star who won an all-around bronze medal at last year’s Gymnastics World Championships, was thought to be Team USA’s best shot at a medal. Juda’s appearance in this final was unexpected — the U.S. had expected Brody Malone to appear instead, but Malone’s own errors during the qualifying round on Saturday cost him the opportunity.

The men’s individual all-around medal for the United States was lost on Wednesday at the Bercy Arena in Paris.

In any individual all-around final, gymnasts must perform as close to perfectly as possible. Major errors can result in a deduction of half a point, and a fall can cost an entire point — devastating setbacks in a sport in which margins of victory are often measured in tenths or even hundredths.

Richard and Juda finished 10 and 13th in the preliminary round. On Wednesday night, Juda finished 14th, followed by Richard in 15th.

China, Japan, Great Britain, and Ukraine each had a strong contender. Japan’s Oka Shinnosuke won gold, followed by China’s Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng in silver and bronze.