You’ll Flip for Why Stephen Nedoroscik’s Girlfriend Tess McCracken Says They’re a Perfect 10 -InfoExpress
Stephen Nedoroscik and Tess McCracken first met in college, and they’ve been sticking the landing ever since.
Eight years into their relationship, the gymnast duo have perfected their routine—and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I think it's really that we just get each other,” Tess told E! News in an exclusive interview from the 2024 Paris Olympics, adding the key is all about, “Being able to have the intellectual conversations, the gymnastics conversations—we very frequently end up having debates”
And in typical fashion of athletes who need a cool head under pressure, Stephen, 25, and Tess, 26, keep things calm.
As she explained, “Neither one of us gets worked up. We disagree, we go back and forth with our logic, we think about it. And that's really great.”
Because at the end of the day, there’s no other place they’d rather be than with each other.
“We're each other's person,” Tess summed it up. “We don't get tired of each other. We don't feel like we need like that break. I think that has really helped over the last eight years—just keep us solid. And it's been a great time.”
Most recently, that great time carried the pair all the way to the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Tess was there to support Stephen as he helped lead his team to a bronze medal win—their first medal in 16 years—with a near-perfect pommel horse routine.
But while Stephen—who is a two-time NCAA Champion, has placed first in two World Cup events and, in 2021, became the first American World Champion on the pommel horse—makes the event look almost effortless, it doesn’t make it any easier for Tess watching from the sidelines.
“It is the most stressful thing I've ever done,” she confessed. “I wear a Fitbit, and my heart rate easily goes over 140 beats a minute when he goes. Even before he goes, just thinking about the fact that he's about to go, it starts climbing.”
In fact, Tess is such an empathetic viewer that when she watches from home on the TV, she has an interesting routine.
“I will pause the broadcast before he goes and then wait until like, Twitter or someone says how he did,” she admitted, “and then I'll go back and watch it, because I can't take the anxiety.”
“It's so much harder than when I competed,” she added. “Beam was my best event, and competing beam was easier than watching him go.”
But as difficult as it was to watch him compete on the pommel horse at the Olympics—which ultimately earned the high score of 15.200—Tess and Stephen have been reveling in his newfound stardom after he became an online sensation.
Including all the memes that have come with it.
“My favorite so far has been the ‘and your friends Steve, do-do-do-do-do-do-do Steve,’” Tess said of the Garfunkel and Oates TikTok sound. “I love that one.”
And while she noted Stephen, too, has loved the many comparisons that have been made, including those to Lebron James and Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, Tess said the 25-year-old is currently preparing for his pommel horse individual final on August 3.
“He is trying to get locked in,” Tess explained. “He had a lot of media the last few days, a lot of appearances and interviews. Ad he kind of put his foot down and said, “I need to focus and get back dialed in. I'm only training from here on out through Saturday, and then we can talk again afterwards.’”
But while Stephen’s individual medal fate remains undecided at this point, read on for some of the most memorable moments to come out of Paris so far.
Elmo's got a t-rex, a go fish card and a selfie with Olympians Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles.
France's Felix Lebrun was extra careful while serving during table tennis.
Team Germany's Leo Neugebauer landed hard during the long jump.
Olivier Perreau of France didn't exactly jump over the actual Eiffel Tower, but close enough.
The women of the 500m race were going so fast, you could barely see their legs moving.
BMX bikers head straight for the cameras during the semifinal race.
Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher of Team Great Britain were in perfect sync during the synchronized diving competition.
Canada's Wyatt Sanford took quite the punch from Uzbekistan's Ruslan Abdullaev.
LeBron James proved once again he knows his way towards a slum dunk.
Kim Yeji of Team Republic of Korea was busy prepping during the Women's 10m Air Pistol Final.
Egypt's Omar Assar leapt for the ball during an intense game of table tennis.
Cassandre Beaugrand of Team France was excited (and exhausted!) after winning gold in the women's individual triathlon.
Team Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and Team USA's Simone Biles and Suni Lee posed for a selfie during the Gymnastics Women's All-Around Final medal ceremony.
Nigeria's Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah jumped for the ball during her match against France.
Men's foil windsurfing embraced the wind as they raced to the finish.
For Simone Biles, the limit to greatness does not exist.
Caroline Marks of Team USA surfed her way closer to a medal.
Suni Lee's balance beam routine was captured from a bird's eye view.
Gold medalist Jiayu Yang of China lapped compatriot Hong Liu.
France's Florent Manaudou had a cheeky greeting for the crowd.
French cyclist Anthony Jeanjean lost his shoe during a fall at the men's BMX freestyle park final. The Olympian went on to brush off his tumble and snagged the bronze medal with his second run.
Diving practice never looked so fun.
Team USA's Katie Ledecky was ecstatic after winning gold in the women's 1500m freestyle final.
Japan's Shinnosuke Oka held his nation's flag behind him as he celebrated earning the men's all-around individual gold medal.
Men's individual triathalon athletes dove into the newly cleansed Seine River.
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson from Great Britain were perfectly in tune with each other.
Felix Dolci of Team Canada sent the crowd a heart after he redid his high bar performance following a fall due to a broken grip.
Cassandre Beaugrand of France crossed the finish line for the women's triathalon.
The U.S. women's rugby team celebrated the country's first ever medal in the sport with their bronze win.
Argentina's Jose Torres Gil went all in during his BMX freestyle performance.
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