Peter Vidmar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Peter Glen Vidmar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country represented | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | June 3, 1961|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Men's artistic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | UCLA Bruins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Peter Glen Vidmar (born June 3, 1961, in Los Angeles) is an American gymnast and two-time Olympic gold medalist. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won gold in the team final and pommel horse, and silver in the individual all-around. [1]
At age 18, Vidmar was the youngest member of the U.S. team that won a bronze medal in the 1979 World Championships. He qualified for the 1980 Olympic team, but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. Vidmar was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal. [2]
At the 1984 Summer Olympic games in Los Angeles, Vidmar won gold medals in the men's all-around team competition and the pommel horse competition, and a silver medal in the men's all-around individual gymnastics competition. With three Olympic medals, he is one of three athletes inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame twice. He was inducted as an individual, then as a member of the 1984 U.S. men's gymnastics team. [3] [4]
He is an alumnus of UCLA. [5] In 1983, Vidmar won the Nissen Award (the "Heisman" of men's gymnastics). [6]
Vidmar hosts the annual Peter Vidmar Men's Gymnastics Invitational at Brentwood School in Los Angeles. He has been a gymnastics anchor for both CBS and ESPN. He is currently a motivational speaker as well as a co-chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee Summer Sports Summit. In 1998 Vidmar was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. [7]
Vidmar and his wife, Donna, have five children. [8] He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [9]
Vidmar was selected to be the chef de mission for the 2012 Olympics, where he would have represented all U.S. athletes and marched in the opening ceremonies. His selection drew criticism from LGBT activists and athletes, including Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, because in 2008 Vidmar donated money to and publicly campaigned for Proposition 8 that banned same-sex couples from being married in California. Vidmar resigned his position to avoid his presence from being detrimental to the U.S. Olympics. [10] [11]
Vidmar was named chairman of the U.S. Gymnastics Board of Directors in December 2008. [12] He left his role at USA Gymnastics in December 2015 to serve as a mission president for the LDS Church in the Australia Melbourne Mission. [13]
Barthold Wayne Conner is a retired American Olympic gymnast. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He owns and operates the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Oklahoma, along with his wife, Romanian Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comăneci. In addition, both Comăneci and Conner are highly involved with the Special Olympics.
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The men's pommel horse competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The qualification and final rounds took place on July 29, 31 and August 4 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. There were 71 competitors from 19 nations, with nations competing in the team event having 6 gymnasts while other nations could have to up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won in a tie between Li Ning of China, in the nation's debut in the Games, and Peter Vidmar, with the United States' first gold medal in the pommel horse since 1904 and first medal in the event since 1932. The bronze medal went to another American, Tim Daggett. The Soviet Union's eight-Games podium streak in the event ended with no Soviets competing due to the boycott.
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