How Olympic gymnast was able to 'rawdog' event and win bronze medal

An Olympic gymnast was able to help win Team USA's first medal in 16 years, despite 'rawdogging' the event.

Stephen Nedoroscik is a member of the USA's gymnastics team, and specialises in a single event - the pommel horse.

Nedoroscik, 25, absolutely smashed the event on Monday (29 July) and even helped the men's team secure their first artistic gymnastics Olympic medal in 16 years.

The team came away with the bronze, which was an incredible achievement by all involved.

But what makes Nedoroscik's performance so special, it that he 'rawdogged' the event.

ICYMI, rawdogging refers to a new travel trend which sees people taking long-haul flights armed with absolutely nothing to occupy them.

Most of us like to get stuck into a book, several movies - or at least music - while flying. But if you're going to rawdog a flight, you're not allowed any of this, not even water.

People have reported spending upwards of eight hours on plane journeys, with nothing to distract them but their thoughts.

After watching Nedoroscik's incredible performance, viewers are saying the athlete actually rawdogged his Olympic event, due to the fact he wasn't wearing his glasses.

One person wrote on X: "As a glasses wearer its so deeply chaotic to me to see him take his glasses off to compete and then immediately put them back on.

"Can he... see without them? Is he just raw dogging the olympic pommel horse without being able to see?!?"

While another said: "Dude figured out how to raw dog the Olympics."

Nedoroscik suffers from from strabismus, which is the abnormal alignment of the eyes - also known as cross-eyed.

He also lives with a condition called coloboma, which refers to a hole in one of the structures of the eye.

This is Pommel Horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik. He didn’t move from his spot for two hours while he simply waited for his one special moment.

He mentioned that he is cross-eyed and that he can inexplicably switch his dominant eye. Before his routine, Nedoroscik removed his… pic.twitter.com/AP9pnStCHa

— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) July 31, 2024

Nedoroscik has spoken about how he manages to compete, explaining that when he takes to the pommel horse, it's all about 'feeling the equipment'.

In a video on his TikTok, from 2022, Nedoroscik explained that while one eye always faces inwards, 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 2inch away."

Speaking to TODAY, he explained what he can see while competing without his specs: “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.”