1952- American gymnast Before Mary Lou Retton, before Nadia Comaneci, even before Olga Korbut came the gymnast whose prodigious talent and upbeat personality served to make her a representative of her sport. America's Cathy Rigby never won an Olympic medal, but she was much-honored in international competition and helped boost gymnastics in the United States. Following her competitive caree…
1977- American gymnast Most notable sports figures cannot—and would not want to—claim that their fame is derived from a single moment. This, however, is the case with Kerri Strug. Before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Strug had earned a reputation as a solid performer in the gymnastics world. The shy, reserved Strug, however, was never a household name like some of her other,…
1976- American gymnast Dominique Dawes changed U.S. amateur sports forever by becoming the first African American to represent the United States in Olympic gymnastics. Her lifetime achievements are impressive, including a clean sweep at the 1994 U.S. National Championships and three appearances in the Olympic Games (1992, 1996, and 2000). Her reputation has been defined by powerful and risky perfo…
1942- Romanian gymnastics coach Visionary Romanian-born coach, Bela Karolyi, revitalized the field of elite women's gymnastics competition during the 1970s and 1980s. The sport, which was traditionally dominated by women in their late twenties, became a bastion of underage ingenues under Karolyi's watchful eye. By introducing very young girls to the sport and providing them with inte…
1977- American gymnast Shannon Miller is the most decorated American gymnast. Over the course of her thirteen-year career as a Shannon Miller gymnast, Miller won fifty-nine international medals and forty-nine national medals. Over half of these medals were gold. She competed in two Olympics, in 1992 and 1996, and won a total of seven Olympic medals—two gold, two silver, and three bro…
1961- Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci made her mark on the gymnastics scene and on the world with her breathtaking performances at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. At the age of 14 Comaneci became the first gymnast to earn a perfect ten score in Olympic competition. In two Olympic appearances Comaneci earned five gold, three silver, and one bronze medal. After she retired from the sport…
1934- Soviet gymmast Gymnast Larisa Latynina won 18 medals in Olympic competition, and is the most decorated Olympian to date in any sport. She competed in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Olympics, as well as at the world championships in 1954, 1958, 1962, and 1966. She is the only gymnast to have won medals in every event on the program in two different Olympics. Ravnovesie, Moscow, 1975. Gimnastika K=S…
1978- Ukrainian gymnast As an Olympic champion, Lilia "Lily Pod" Podkopayeva affirmed her status as the premiere women's gymnast with gold medal wins in the European Championships, Worlds, and the Olympics. At age seventeen and holding the top titles at every level of competition, Podkopayeva was the first athlete ever to win multiple medals while representing the Ukraine. Kno…
1958- American gymnast Bart Conner was the first U.S. male gymnast to receive a gold medal in international competition. He is credited with helping to bring the American men's gymnastics team to a first place finish at the 1984 Olympics and is remembered as the only American male gymnast to win a gold medal at every level of competition. Address: c/o IMG Speakers New York, 825 7th Avenue, …
1968- American gymnast Mary Lou Retton burst onto the gymnastic front with all the vivaciousness she could muster, and in doing so, took the world by storm. She changed the way people thought of a gymnast, not having the typical physique for the sport. Retton was very muscular, a change from the petit, smaller gymnasts fans were used to seeing catapulting off the balance beam and swinging around t…
1955- Belarussian gymnast Olga Korbut brought qualities to Olympic gymnastics that few had seen before. She brought innovation—her backwards flips from the balance beam and the uneven bars became a staple of the sport's repertoire. She brought youth—Korbut and her American peer Cathy Rigby were the standard-bearers of gymnastics' new breed of teenage prodigies. And she …
