'Pommel Horse Guy' Gave Elmo Exceptional Advice During Adorable Online Interaction

You could say Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik is a specialist in many ways. He specializes in appearing to be snoozing ; whipping off his glasses like Clark Kent ; solving the Rubik’s cube ; coordinating outfits with his cat ; and — of course — being Team USA’s “nerdy pommel horse specialist.”

Last Monday, Nedoroscik propelled the U.S. men’s gymnastics team to bronze — his team’s first medal in 16 years — with an iconic performance on the pommel horse in the men’s team final. The Penn State alum won another bronze on Saturday in the men’s gymnastics individual pommel horse final.

Stephen Nedoroscik (left) with his teammates, Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda and Asher Hong, as they pose for a photo with their bronze medals during the men's artistic gymnastics team final on July 29 in Paris.

And all of this specialization has impressed many online — including Elmo , who was so in awe of the 25-year-old Olympian that he expressed his desire to be a bit more like Nedoroscik.

“Mr. Stephen Nedoroscik, Elmo wants to be a specialist too!” the furry Muppet wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. “Elmo was thinking he could be the giggle specialist or maybe a monster-hug specialist. Elmo will keep thinking! #ParisOlympics .”

Instead of responding to the innocent “Sesame Street” character with burdens that stem from a feeling of existential dread , Nedoroscik proved to specialize in yet another area: providing sage advice.

“Elmo, the great thing about specializing in something is you get to decide,” Nedoroscik responded Tuesday on X. “I think you’ll be a great specialist in anything you end up choosing!”

Although Nedoroscik’s words of wisdom to Elmo are something everyone could benefit from reading, we’d argue that Elmo is already a specialist in one area. He’s proven to have Ph.D.-levels of proficiency in being irrationally petty toward a pet rock .