# Olympic athlete who’s won two medals at Paris 2024 while ‘rawdogging’ event explains how he does it

## Stephen Nedoroscik leaves his spectacles on the sidelines when he steps up for the pommel horse

If you need a master class in 'rawdogging', forget all these tourists taking a silent and screen-free flight without any sustenance, as it's Stephen Nedoroscik you want to talk to.

The 25-year-old has become something of a hero - or as the kids are calling him, the glasses G.O.A.T - in the eyes of sports fans after his unbelievable feat at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

He bagged his second bronze medal on Saturday (3 August) in the Men's Pommel Horse final for Team USA, following on from his team's third-place triumph in the Men's Artistic Team All-Around last Monday (29 July).

Nedoroscik - who has been dubbed the 'Clark Kent of the Olympics' - blew away viewers who were watching from around the world by earning a spot on the podium despite not wearing his trusty thick-rimmed glasses.

Although they would likely fly off while the gymnast is doing his thing, it's still a huge deal that he is 'rawdogging' his routines while likely having a much blurrier view than his competitors.

But he hasn't let his ailing vision hold him back.

Although you couldn't tell, Nedoroscik, who is described as a 'pommel horse specialist', has poor depth perception and is highly sensitive to light due to suffering from two conditions which means he has to rely on glasses.

Due to him having coloboma - which refers to a hole in one of the structures of the eye - as well as strabismus - which is the abnormal alignment of the eyes, also known as cross-eyed - he hasn't got his driving license.

Stephen Nedoroscik has scooped two bronze medals at the Olympics. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

But what he has got is sheer grit, determination and talent... as well as a well-thought out method behind his madness of rawdogging his events in the Olympics.

Speaking to TODAY, the Massachusetts-born star said he was proudly 'representing people that wear glasses' on the world stage and that he'd had an 'unforgettable' experience in Paris so far.

And in case you were wondering, he reckons being compared to Clark Kent and the countless memes his lack of specs has spawned is 'awesome' - so Nedoroscik will be going home as one happy chappy.

Hoping to encourage others who are visually impaired not to fear having to go glasses-less, he explained that although he's got a fuzzy view of the pummel horse, he makes it work.

Nedoroscik said: "It’s not necessarily clear, but the thing about pommel horse is if I keep them on, they’re gonna fly somewhere. When I go up on the pommel horse, it’s all about feeling the equipment.

"I don’t even really see when I’m doing my gymnastics. It’s all in the hands - I can feel everything."

The 25-year-old says it's 'all in the hands'. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

So, it's his sense of touch which allows him to triumph despite his poor eyesight - as well as the twenty years experience he has in gymnastics, which likely means that swinging around on a pommel horse is second nature to him now.

As well as this, in a TikTok video from 2022, Nedoroscik explained that he's able to alternate which eye is 'dominant'.

"I made this video to see if anybody can switch their dominant eye on command like I can," he said. "I sift my world viewpoint from one eye to the other. Like one camera to another two inches away."

Nedoroscik is also occasionally spotted in a pair of sports goggles, which he hasn't whipped out at the Olympics, that were gifted to him as part of Secret Santa present from his college teammates at Pennsylvania State University.

He says the novelty goggles, that have no prescription lenses, have become his good luck charm during competitions.

In a video in 2022, the gymnast said: "They are simply for fun, kind of my trademark. I like to have fun out there.

"From day one of competing with them, they had a little bit of magic to them."

It seems a blindfold is the only eye-covering that Nedoroscik needs to tick off his list now.

Featured Image Credit: BBC/Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images