They say you never forget where you came from. For gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, who helped Team USA achieve something it hadn't done since 2008, that's a gym in Sterling, Massachusetts.
The Worcester native pommel horse specialist did his part Monday to earn bronze in the men's team event — America's first trip to the podium in 16 years.
The Sterling Academy of Gymnastics, where Nedoroscik was once a member, cheered him on at a watch party.
"My parents started this business in 1992 with the smallest of dreams," said Matt Carbone. "But 32 years later, we now have an Olympic bronze medalist, and he's still going on to compete in event finals on Saturday. It's absolutely incredible."
"They see the big, giant banner on the wall, they look up to it, they want to be like that," boys gymnastics coach Jon Rydzefski said. "It shows if you work hard enough, you can potentially be doing what Stephen's doing."
It was at the academy that Nedoroscik had his humble beginnings.
"He was a typical goofy little boy that would play around on the equipment and get in trouble at times and just had fun with gymnastics," Carbone said.
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That free spirit turned into an unstoppable force on the pommel horse.
"A lot of athletes will look up to the legends of their sports in basketball, baseball and football and all that. These guys don't have a whole lot to look up to until the Olympics or the World Championships hit," Carbone said. "And now one of their own teammates has made the world stage. He's going to be incredible for them to look up to."
His success is inspiring even the youngest of gymnasts as they grab the same handles as an Olympic medalist.
"He encourages me to, like, train hard," said fifth-grader Alec Wild. "Work really hard. Eat healthy."
"They loved it, they absolutely loved it. And now they're all revved up and ready to train even harder, so that they can try to get there someday," Carbone said.
