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Alexander Dityatin

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Aleksandr Dityatin
Personal information
Born (1957-08-07) 7 August 1957 (age 67)
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Gymnastics career
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
Country represented Soviet Union
RetiredYes
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1980 Moscow Team
Gold medal – first place 1980 Moscow All-around
Gold medal – first place 1980 Moscow Rings
Silver medal – second place 1976 Montreal Team
Silver medal – second place 1976 Montreal Rings
Silver medal – second place 1980 Moscow Pommel horse
Silver medal – second place 1980 Moscow Vault
Silver medal – second place 1980 Moscow Parallel bars
Silver medal – second place 1980 Moscow Horizontal bar
Bronze medal – third place 1980 Moscow Floor Exercise
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1979 Ft. Worth Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1979 Ft. Worth All-around
Gold medal – first place 1979 Ft. Worth Vault
Gold medal – first place 1979 Ft. Worth Still rings
Gold medal – first place 1981 Moscow Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1981 Moscow Parallel bars
Gold medal – first place 1981 Moscow Still rings
Silver medal – second place 1978 Strasbourg Team competition
Silver medal – second place 1978 Strasbourg Still rings
Bronze medal – third place 1978 Strasbourg All-around
Bronze medal – third place 1978 Strasbourg Floor exercise
Bronze medal – third place 1979 Ft. Worth Horizontal bar
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1979 Essen Pommel horse
Gold medal – first place 1979 Essen Still rings
Silver medal – second place 1975 Bern Parallel bars
Silver medal – second place 1979 Essen Parallel bars
Bronze medal – third place 1975 Bern All-around
Bronze medal – third place 1975 Bern Still rings

Aleksandr Nikolaevich Dityatin (Russian: Александр Николаевич Дитятин, born 7 August 1957) is a retired Russian gymnast, three-time Olympic champion, and Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. Winning eight medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics, he set the record for achieving the most medals of any type at a single Olympic Games. The American swimmer Michael Phelps has now twice equalled this record, at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.[1] Dityatin competed for the Leningrad Dinamo sports society.

Biography

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Dityatin was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) on 7 August 1957. At the age of 15, he was given special dispensation to take part in the senior USSR championships. Two years later, he won the Spartakiades in USSR, an event which was followed by a growth crisis in which he grew 12 cm in one year. At the age of 18, as part of the national team, he came third in the European championships, which were won outright by compatriot Nikolai Andrianov.

Dityatin's first Olympic success was at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where he won two silver medals: on the rings and in the team competition. At the 1980 Summer Olympics, after years of being second to teammate Andrianov, 22-year-old Dityatin won a record eight medals in the Moscow Games where he won the all-around title and seven more medals, including two golds to add to his historic achievement of the perfect 10, a feat which had only been recorded by Romania's Nadia Comaneci and the Soviet Union's Nellie Kim in the Olympic Games by then. Shortly after the 1980 Olympics, Dityatin was seriously injured while training, which ended his career. He was the most successful athlete at the 1980 Summer Olympics. As of 2017, he is the only athlete who won a medal in each of the eight gymnastics events at one Olympics.

To add more to the impressiveness of his performance at the 1980 Olympics, not only did he medal in every event, which, of course, suggests an excellent standard of performance throughout the entire competition, but throughout his 24 performances (the maximum # of performances a male gymnast can have throughout an Olympics), he scored no lower than a 9.800 out of 10 throughout those 24 performances, and on 18 of those performances, his score was at least a 9.900.

Dityatin is the first athlete in Olympic history to win eight medals in one Olympic Games. He was also the first male gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of ten in an Olympic competition, a feat he accomplished in the long horse vault.

Dityatin graduated from Leningrad Lesgaft Institute of Physical Education. He was awarded Order of the Badge of Honor (1976), and Order of Lenin (1980, for guarding the State Border of the USSR). Between 1980 and 1995, Dityatin was the head coach of a sports team from Leningrad (Leningrad OKPP).

In 2004, Dityatin was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[2]

The annual Alexander Dityatin Cup competition is held in his honor in Russia.

Achievements (non-Olympic)

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Year Event AA Team FX PH RG VT PB HB
1975 European Championships 3rd 3rd 2nd
World Cup 3rd
USSR Championships 1st 1st 2nd 2nd
USSR Cup 1st
1976 USSR Championships 1st 3rd
USSR Cup 3rd
1977 USSR Championships 3rd 2nd
University Games 2nd
USSR Cup 3rd
1978 World Championships 3rd 2nd 3rd 2nd
World Cup 1st 3rd 2nd 1st 3rd 3rd
USSR Championships 1st 2nd 3rd
1979 World Championships 1st 1st 1st 1st 3rd
World Cup 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd
European Championships 1st 1st 2nd
USSR Championships 1st 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd 2nd 3rd
1980 USSR Cup 1st
1981 World Championships 1st 1st 1st

See also

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References

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This article contains information from the website http://www.gymnast.ru/, incorporated into the Wikipedia with permission from its author E. V. Avsenev.

  1. ^ Facts & figures Archived 2007-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "ALEXANDER DITYATIN". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 31, 2007.
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