Tess McCracken said she didn’t need to give boyfriend Stephen Nedoroscik a pep talk before the Team USA gymnast nailed his pommel horse routine at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
The 25-year-old Nedoroscik helped Team USA secure bronze in the men’s artistic gymnastics team final — their first medal in 16 years — and earned the nickname “Mr. Pommel Horse.”
“I have never been more nervous watching Stephen compete than I was Monday night watching the men of Team USA vie for their bronze medal,” McCracken, his girlfriend of eight years, said in a recent interview with Impersonal Foul, adding she was “on edge” while in the stands at Bercy Arena.
“My heart rate gets very high just sitting there. It was at 120 beats per minute before they had even fully rotated to the final rotation for pommel horse and reached over 140 beats per minute while he was going.”
McCracken, who was a gymnast at Penn State, explained the couple didn’t talk much before he competed.
“I did not give Stephen any words of wisdom or any pep talk really before the meet. He really just stays in his zone on meet days leading up to it,” she said.
“Not even really texting back and forth really. Just letting him get into the headspace that he needs to be in.
“Then about 20 minutes before march out happened, he texted me, ‘Alright, wish me luck.’ So I said, ‘Good luck’ and that’s it. It’s all he needs. He doesn’t need me to tell him he’s gonna go out and kill it. He doesn’t need me to tell him to focus. He’s got it.”
2024 PARIS OLYMPICS
Nedoroscik became a viral meme this week when he was seen sitting with his eyes closed while preparing for the competition.
The Penn State alum later explained on the “Today” show that he was doing breathing exercises while visualizing his routine over and over in his head.
Nedoroscik, a pommel horse specialist, performed a stunning rotation as the last Team USA gymnast to compete in Monday’s event.
He finished with a score of 14.866 to seal Team USA’s bronze medal victory, surpassing Great Britain by two points. The Americans were in seventh place before Nedoroscik’s routine.
McCracken said she and Nedoroscik celebrated with Team USA and their families at a private gathering after the competition.
“After the men won their bronze medal, luckily, the US organizers had planned ahead and reserved out a restaurant across the street from the arena,” she said.
“It was just really nice to get to go somewhere with all of the families afterwards and celebrate because we were spread out throughout the arena.
“The athletes showed up once they were released from the arena to have some dinner. That was amazing — just getting to see him for the first time since we’ve been here since they’re restricted to the [Olympic] Village and the arena, so that was really lovely.”
McCracken isn’t staying with Nedoroscik in Paris, as athletes’ significant others aren’t allowed to join them inside the Olympic Village.
“People did keep asking me if I was going with him and I would say ‘with’ is a stretch. I’m going to Paris to watch him, but he’s a part of the USA delegation,” she said.
“He’s with all of the athletes and all of the organizers, and I just had to come here on my own, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Nedoroscik, a Worcester, Mass., native, won the 2024 U.S. pommel horse championship.
He won two national titles in pommel horse competition and was a four-time All-American at Penn State.
McCracken said she will be in the arena to support Nedoroscik when he competes for gold in the event final on Saturday.
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