Stephen Nedorowsky had a job in Paris — helping Team USA's male gymnasts snap a 16-year medal drought.

The American men did not receive a medal George W. The Olympic gymnastics team, since the dying days of the Bush administration, So USA Gymnastics hired an expert to fix it.

Their gamble paid off.

The U.S. men won the bronze medal in Monday's team final, their first team Olympic medal since 2008.

Stefan Nedorozic qualified for the Olympic team on his strength alone Pommel horse Regular.

He was forced to sit on the sidelines for nearly three hours during the first five rounds before hosting America in his special event. Nedoroszky was warm and focused, meditating on the NBC broadcast before his regular shows.

When the time came, he hit it out of the park and finished with a podium finish for Team USA.

Making the 25-year-old Nedoroszczyk a unique — and somewhat controversial — Olympic selection — she only does one of six events. Generally high-level gymnasts are expected to be representatives in many, if not all, events.

The math worked out well Penn State alum Nedorozic And he gave Team USA its best shot at winning a team medal and individual Olympic glory.

However, he was the only American to qualify for the individual apparatus final in Paris Fred Richard won the all-around bronze at last year's Worlds Championship and Brady Malone won World title on horizontal bar in 2022.

Richard and Paul Juda qualified for the all-around finals. Nedorozic qualified second for the pommel horse final with a tremendous score of 15.200.

In the men's team final, three gymnasts from each team performed in six events – floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

There is no limit or minimum number of events a gymnast can perform as long as all six events receive three performances from each team. All marks are calculated.

« It's coming to what it is [Nedoroscik’s] The pommel horse's scores are higher than anyone else's on that one event, so she adds up to a huge amount of scoring, » said NBC Sports gymnastics analyst Tim Daggett. 1984 Gold Medalist.

Nedoroszic's strength is a weakness for the rest of the U.S. team, making him more valuable to the team score than an all-around gymnast with similar strengths to other athletes.

« That one routine by Netoroskik basically gives Team USA a full point over the next guy in line for America, » Daggett said.

In the three years between the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, the U.S. men's program increased their starting values, or difficulty scores, to close the gap against Japan, China and Great Britain.

Japan took gold, China silver and Great Britain fourth.

The lack of difficulty in the men's team made Nedorosque a gamble.

« We're in a very different position right now, » high performance director Brett McClure said of the Paris Olympic team at the Olympic trials. « We're going to control our own destiny. We're going to get back on that stage. That's the expectation, that's our goal. »

McClure rated the U.S. men's scoring ability, including Nedoroszczyk's pommel horse routine, third in the world heading into Paris behind only China and Japan. In qualifying, they struggled with consistency and finished fifth.

The feats performed by the current team have increased in difficulty by more than a point since last year's world championships, where the US team also won a historic bronze medal.

The U.S. women's men's Olympic medal drought, which has won a team medal at every Olympics since 1992, has been stark contrasts. They won gold medals in 1996, 2012 and 2016.

The women's team is loaded from top to bottom with gymnasts who perform some of the world's most difficult routines, giving them an equal buffer for multiple falls. American men don't have the same advantage, but when they perform well they can finally hang with the world's best.

They were faultless on Monday, while other top teams suffered slumps.

In Tokyo for three yearss Before, Russia won the men's team gold, host Japan won the silver and China the bronze. Great Britain in fourth and the Americans in fifth missed out on the podium. Russian gymnasts will not compete in Paris due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The men's all-around final will be held on Wednesday at Percy Theater in Paris.