"I had a surgery when I was little and it still affects me" - Stephen Nedoroscik explains what's 'wrong' with his eyes

By Riddhi Acharya

Modified Nov 22, 2024 00:48 GMT

Stephen Nedoroscik had an incredible campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with his role as a pommel horse specialist playing an integral role in Team USA's bronze medal finish. However, the road to sporting greatness has come with its challenges for the gymnast, and he recently opened up about the eye condition he deals with.

Nedoroscik showed promise as a gymnast during his collegiate career, storming to the national title on the pommel horse in 2017 and 2018. In 2021, the American began to make a name for himself on the senior international circuit, winning the 2021 U.S. National Championships in his event, before repeating the feat at the World Championships.

At the Paris Olympics, the 26-year-old helped USA claim a team bronze while finishing third in the pommel horse individual event. Recently, Stephen Nedoroscik made an appearance on ‘The Squeeze’ podcast and opened up about the eye conditions he deals with.

The gymnast revealed he struggles with bad vision, combined with strabismus and coloboma.

“I have a few things wrong with my eyes. Generally I have bad vision just like normal people bad vision not too bad. Then I have strabismus which is the typical like crosseyed, where one of your eyes actually goes a little bit inward sort of that lazy eyes. I had surgery when I was little but it still affects me to this day,” he said.

‘Then I have coloboma which is kind of when your iris, the colored part of your eye, doesn't form the full ring around your pupil which means that like you have this hole in it. In my case it pretty much has made my pupil ginormous and I barely have any iris,” he went on to add.

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Stephen Nedoroscik explains how his conditions affect his everyday life

Stephen Nedoroscik explains how his eye conditions affect his everyday life (Image Source: Getty)

While Stephen Nedoroscik’s eye conditions haven't held him back from establishing himself as one of the nation's top gymnasts, the American still has to deal with multiple side effects in his day-to-day life.

On the same podcast, the pommel horse specialist revealed that he had no depth perception due to strabismus, saying,

“Some things that go along with those eye conditions, with having the cross eyed strabismus I have no depth perception which is really tricky in any sport really. I was kind of lucky to find gymnastics, it's a sport where depth perception doesn't really matter as much as it does in other sports.”

Stephen Nedoroscik went on to explain that due to his coloboma, he also struggled to be in places with bright lights for too long,

“With coloboma and how big my pupils are I am incredibly sensitive to lights in general. Anytime I'm outside in the sun and sometimes when I'm indoors at a competition having those lights right on me really affects me as well. So those are kind of just like the small battles that I fight throughout every day.”

Nedoroscik's struggle with bright lights often leads to migraines, forcing him to wear sunglasses while at a major competition like the Olympics to lessen the impact n

“A side effect to either of those (is) migraines. Especially the light sensitivity, if I’m outside for too long or if I'm in a really bright environment for too long, I will get a migraine. There's even funny pictures of me at the Olympics where I was getting a migraine from the lights. So one of the days when we were in the competition hall, I'm just wearing sunglasses and everyone thought I was just trying to look cool.”

After the Paris Olympics, Stephen Nedoroscik has been using his newfound fame to increase the popularity of men's gymnastics as a sport. He is currently competing on Dancing With The Stars and is scheduled to perform in the final next week.