Stephen Nedoroscik at the 2024 Paris Olympics; with Rylee Arnold on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ on Nov. 26, 2024.Photo:Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty Images; Eric McCandless/Disney
Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty Images; Eric McCandless/Disney
Stephen Nedoroscikremembers how hard it was being a kid who couldn’t toss a football with friends.
Diagnosed at birth with two eye conditions, the Team U.S.A. Olympic gymnast always had trouble judging distances and seeing in bright light. “In the sunlight, trying to catch a football with no depth perception, you can imagine how difficult that would be,” he tells PEOPLE.
Strabismus is a disorder in which the eyes don’t line up, which can cause three-dimensional and blurry vision, perCleveland Clinic. Coloboma is an area of missing tissue that can cause vision loss, low vision, and light sensitivity, according to themedical center.
When Nedoroscik started in the gym at age 4, his limited sight made it hard to perform on the vault and high bar. “I’d miss the bar," he recalls. Eventually, he gravitated to the pommel horse, where “everything is in my hands.”
He learned to tackle the event without his corrective lenses for nearsightedness. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, hewon bronzeandinspired “Clark Kent/Superman” memesfor his glasses-on/glasses-off transformation. “It’s just the coolest thing of all time,” he says of going viral. “I just finished my team final and turned on my phone to hundreds of thousands of people talking about me and my eye condition.”
Stephen Nedoroscik closing his eyes in the moments before he took the stage on the pommel horse at the 2024 Paris Olympics.NBC
NBC
And while he’s proud of his success, he’s equally proud of being a role model for others with similar conditions. While at the Olympics, Nedoroscik met a young boy who also had a coloboma and was nervous about signing up for sports. However, after seeing the gymnast win big at the Olympics, he asked his mom if he could join soccer — with Nedoroscik’s encouragement.
“I was like, ‘Dude, you can do anything. Just trust yourself and enjoy life, man. You got it,’ " he says.“I love this sport, but being able to give people motivation means the world to me.”
Tess McCracken and Stephen Nedoroscik arrive for the 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on September 15, 2024.Chris Chew/Shutterstock
Chris Chew/Shutterstock
Nedoroscik has learned how to navigate life with cross-vision — even eye surgery at age 8 did not solve the issue. Throughout his childhood, he wore glasses that darken in sunlight.
And yet he found his way around the dance floor, placing in the top four in this season’sDancing with the Stars.
“Towards the end of training these dances, I didn’t miss her hand at all because I knew where it was going to be, and I had the confidence to go and reach for it,” he says.
Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold perform in the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ semifinal on Nov. 19, 2024.Eric McCandles/Disney
Eric McCandles/Disney
The two are now preparing to be apart for the longest time yet as Nedoroscik embarks on the 68-cityDWTStour starting in January as a co-host.
TheDWTSadventure “was such a joy,” he says — but it was just the start for the Olympic medalist. “I’m thinking of new things I want to pursue."
source: people.com
