Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher join long list of Olympians as they will compete for the Mirrorball Trophy in the finals of Dancing With the Stars

By Janhavi Shinde

Modified Nov 20, 2024 05:46 GMT

Fresh off their respective Paris Olympics exploits, Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher are the latest Olympians to join the list of athletes competing for the coveted Mirrorball Trophy in the finals of Dancing With the Stars. Nedoroscik, who has been paired with Rylee Arnold, a pro dancer performed two routines during the semi-final round of the show.

In the first round, the pair earned a score of 25/30 (two 8s and a 9) for their Cha-Cha performance, while in the second routine, a ballroom dance, they left the fans in awe, securing an impressive score of 28/30.

The duo joined the other four pairs for next week’s final show, including Paris Olympian Ilona Maher and her partner Alan Bersten. Although the Olympian-included pairs finished in the bottom two places, they managed to earn the spots in the final as no eliminations were conducted in the ninth episode.

Before Maher and Nedoroscik, a few other Olympians have also competed for the Mirrorball Trophy. Former American gymnast and four-time Olympic medalist Shawn Johnson won the glamorous trophy during the eighth season of Dancing With the Stars along with his partner Mark Ballas. She secured a gold medal in the balance beam event and silver medals in the all-around, team, and floor exercise events at the 2008 Olympics in gymnast.

Another medal-winning gymnast at the sporting event, Laurie Hernandez also won the trophy during the 23rd season of Dancing with the Stars, where she partnered Val Chmerkovskiy, thus becoming the youngest ever champion. Hernandez clinched a gold and a silver medal in team and balance beam events, respectively, at Rio 2016.

"Pretty simple plans" - Stephen Nedoroscik anticipates his life after retiring from gymnastics

Stephen Nedoroscik of the United States celebrates his bronze medal win at the Paris Olympics (Image Source: Getty)

Stephen Nedoroscik recently revealed his plans after retiring from gymnastics. The Paris Olympic medalist pursued a degree in electrical engineering from Penn State University in 200

During a podcast with Shawn and Andre, he expressed his desire to pursue a career related to his academic preference.

"I'm loving every day of my life right now," Nedoroscik said. "But it is funny because I'm a lot busier than I ever could have anticipated and in general like those 5 to 10-year plans, it's going to be like I'm going to continue the sport until my body falls apart until I can't do it anymore and after that I'm going to be an electrical engineer—so pretty simple plans." (11:20 onwards)

Stephen Nedorosciksecured two bronze medals in team and pommel horse event at the Paris Games.