The gym at EVO Gymnastics in Sarasota, Florida, hums with the kind of intensity that forges champions. When a 30-year-old gymnast made the bold move to shift his training base there, he wasn’t just changing zip codes; he was stepping into a new intensity level altogether. And training alongside world-class pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik meant the margin for easing in was slim to none. So how does he recall the initial days?
For Donnell Whittenburg, who had previously trained at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Salt Lake City, the change was jarring. “It took me probably a solid month to get used to it,” he admitted in a recent candid interview on Neutral Deductions. “It was a big, drastic change. Just the amount of workload compared to what I was doing at Salt was a little bit drastic.”
So how did the seasoned 30-year-old elite gymnast respond to the ramped-up intensity?
“I was dying my first week,” Donnell confessed with a laugh. “Like, I was just like, man, I cannot… I was like, Y’all got to chill. I’m 30! Like I was like, I need a break a little bit.” But what seemed like too much at first became fuel for a different kind of growth. As he gradually found his rhythm, Donnell began aligning with the EVO philosophy—a system also embraced by Stephen Nedoroscik, known for his precision, stamina, and relentless attention to detail on the pommel horse.
This alignment didn’t happen overnight, though. “I kind of figured out how I was going to integrate into their program… it took me time to really see their training plans,” he explained. “But I feel like those little extra things—that’s probably going to be the thing I need to really take it to that next level.”
October 23, 2023, Santiago, Chile: DONNELL WHITTENBURG competes on the pommel horse during competition held at the Centro de Entrenamiento de los Deportes Colectivos in Santiago, Chile. Santiago Chile – ZUMAs146 20231023_fap_s146_067 Copyright: xAmyxSandersonx
Was it the camaraderie? The structured grind? Or simply the unspoken push that comes with sharing a gym with champions like Nedoroscik?
“There’s obviously some back and forth,” Donnell said. “But I have respect for them and they have respect for me, and we always try to find that middle ground.” Now the question lingers—after enduring that initial shock, has Donnell found his competitive edge again in this new environment beside Stephen? Or is the best still yet to come? Meanwhile, Nedoroscik keeps rising in his glorious career wave.
Stephen Nedoroscik’s pommel horse path to Olympic glory
In Worcester, Massachusetts, a four-year-old Stephen Nedoroscik was a “spider monkey,” climbing everything in sight. By 2003, his parents enrolled him at Sterling Academy, launching a gymnastics journey that would redefine American pommel horse history. Early on, he tackled all apparatuses, but by high school, his knack for pommel horse shone through, earning Junior Olympic titles in 2015 and 2016. Why did he zero in on one event?
Paris 2024 Olympics – Artistic Gymnastics – Men’s Qualification – Subdivision 1 – Bercy Arena, Paris, France – July 27, 2024. Stephen Nedoroscik of United States looks on. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli
At Penn State from 2017 to 2020, Nedoroscik’s focus sharpened. He snagged NCAA pommel horse titles in 2017 and 2018, and the 2020 Nissen-Emery Award as the nation’s top senior gymnast. Despite a fall at the 2020 Olympic Trials crushing his Tokyo dreams, he bounced back. In 2021, with a broken hand, he won gold at the World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan—the first American to claim pommel horse world glory. But how did he turn setbacks into triumphs?
Fast forward to Paris 2024, Nedoroscik, now 26, delivered a clutch 14.866 routine, securing Team USA’s first men’s gymnastics team medal in 16 years (bronze, 257.793). His individual pommel horse bronze (15.300) cemented his legacy. Training at EVO Gymnastics in Sarasota, he’s now eyeing the 2028 Olympics. Can “Pommel Horse Guy” rewrite history again? Well, time will tell.
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