Who are Stephen Nedoroscik's parents? Gymnast's love for climbing as a child earned him fitting nickname

PARIS, FRANCE: Team USA's Stephen Nedoroscik was born to his parents John and Cheryl Nedoroscik on October 28, 1998, in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

The 25-year-old won two back-to-back bronze medals in the men's artistic team all-around final and the men's pommel horse final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He created history when he became the only American gymnast to qualify as a single-event specialist for the Summer Games. 

The bespectacled gymnast became an overnight internet sensation following his impressive pommel horse performance and has been dubbed "Clark Kent" of men’s gymnastics, however, Stephen has another nickname, given by none other than his parents.  

Stephen Nedoroscik's parents recognized his talent early on

Stephen Nedoroscik's greatest supporters, his parents, John and Cheryl Nedoroscik, lovingly gave him the nickname "spider monkey" because of his agility and athleticism. 

They enrolled him in a gym in 2003, when he was just five, as they noticed he loved to climb all over the furniture at their house.

During an interview with NBC News, the Olympian shared, shared his experience of going to the gym, saying, "On the first day there, I climbed a rope all the way to the top. After that, they invited me to join the gymnastics team. We accepted it, and that was it."

The Olympic bronze medalist’s mother Cheryl is a Client Experience Manager at BayStateSavings Bank, as per her LinkedIn profile.

A day before her son boarded the flight to Paris, Cheryl said to Spectrum News 1, "Everybody’s dream is to make it to the Olympics. Obviously, they all want to do well. But it’s such an obstacle to conquer. It’s just impressive," as per StyleCaster.

Nothing much is known about his father, John, except that he is extremely proud of his son’s accomplishments.

While speaking to Spectrum News 1, he shared, "It started to hit us last night when we met the old families from Sterling, where he used to practice. So, that’s when it started to pick up a little bit for me. I think you can’t prepare for this. I mean, this is the pinnacle of the sport. So, I don’t think he’s been this high before." 

Stephen Nedoroscik's mother shares how he competes on the pommel horse despite having strabismus

Stephen Nedoroscik's removal of his glasses before his pommel horse routines has been widely compared to Clark Kent's transformation into Superman.

During their recent appearance on ‘Fox & Friends’, Cheryl and John Nedoroscik opened up about how their son competes despite having strabismus, a genetic condition that hinders his ability to see clearly.

Cheryl shared, "His pupils don't constrict. They stay dilated all the time, and he has a section of his iris that's completely missing," and explained, "It's just pupil all the way to the edge and with that… you can have sight issues. It doesn't necessarily mean you will, but in his case, as well as I, we always had glasses."

His mother, who also has the condition, continued, "But we're very, very sensitive to light, and some people actually are blind in the eyes, when they have coloboma, but fortunately, ours we can see."

She noted, "But when he competes he really does not use his eyes to do the pommels. It's basically he knows where his hands belong, and he gets the positioning down right, so he can nail routines like he did the other night."