A Worcester native is just one competition away from joining the USA Olympic gymnastics team.

"The USA has one spot to give out," Stephen Nedoroscik said in a recent interview with Spectrum News 1.

Just one spot left and Nedoroscik wants it. He is headed to the Olympic trials to make the USA gymnastics team. 

"My whole life I wanted to be an Olympian," said Nedoroscik.  "Making it to the Olympic trials is a really big deal, especially for someone like me who only does one event." 

Nedoroscik's specialty is the pommel horse. He's on the men's gymnastic team at Penn State. He laid the foundation for his career at a gym in Sterling 18 years ago. 

"He was just a little crazy," said Bob Donahue, his childhood coach at Sterling Academy of Gymnastics and Dance. "Right off the bat, you noticed (Nedoroscik) was crazy." 

What You Need To Know

  • Stephen Nedoroscik heads to the Olympic trials for the one open spot on the USA gymnastics team
  • He is a 'specialist' gymnast, specializing in pommel horse
  • He grew up in Worcester and trained at a gym in Sterling
  • He competes for the open spot June 24 and 26 in. St. Louis

Nedoroscik grew up on Indian Lake and had plenty of room to jump, swing and flip around. He said he was pretty much born to be a gymnast.

"I was really just a monkey as a kid. I had a crazy good grip strength," Nedoroscik said. "I was just in a really good environment to become a gymnast."

Like most athletes, it took Nedoroscik a while to find his confidence. It wasn't until high school when he discovered his love for the pommel horse. 

"If you took a time machine and went back to when he was 11 or 12 and said Stephen is going to be in the Olympic trials we would of said 'How?'" joked Donahue. 

Now, Nedoroscik has no shortage of titles on his long list of accomplishments and hopes he'll be adding another next week. 

"I'm so excited to be going to the Olympic trials," said Nedoroscik. "I am going to be swinging my absolute hardest to earn that plus one spot."

Nedoroscik heads to St. Louis on Monday to compete for that one spot on Thursday and Saturday.