While we bemoaned the fact that the US track team can’t seem to figure out how to put together a 4 x 100 relay team that can both run AND pass the baton, the men’s gymnastics team worked on ending their medal drought. It turns out the team usually failed to medal because they failed on the pommel horse.

PARIS—The U.S. men’s gymnastics team was on the brink of winning its first Olympic medal since 2008. And the only event remaining was the one that haunted the Americans most during the drought.

It’s a bedeviling apparatus with two handles called the pommel horse. And to a generation of American gymnasts, it might as well have been covered in baby oil.

But when the U.S. unveiled this year’s Olympic roster, it featured one unusual selection: a goggle-wearing, self-professed nerd named Stephen Nedoroscik. In a sport with six different disciplines, he was the lone team member picked to compete in a single event. – Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2024

It turns out that Stephen learned in high school that the only gymnastics skill he was good at was pommel horse, so instead of working to get better on the other disciplines, he focused purely on the pommel horse. Now he’s 25 years old, a graduate of Penn State in Electrical Engineering and can solve a Rubik’s cube in less than 10 seconds. A geek. And he wears thick glasses to help him see despite two rare eye conditions. He takes them off to perform on the pommel horse giving him the appearance of a laid-back Clark Kent turning into Superman.

You can see his entire routine here (1 minute). Or, watch the entire sequence from set-up through celebrations with his teammates (4 minutes and worth it).

It’s one of the best feel-good stories of the Olympics, and there’s more. Stay tuned.

Paul said “this one thing I do.” Not, “these 14 things I dabble in.” – Skip Gray

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way… (Philippians 3.12 – 15, ESV)