Famous 20th Century Gymnasts

Olga Korbut is a former gymnast who represented the Soviet Union in two Olympic Games, winning four gold medals and two silver medals. Nicknamed the Sparrow from Minsk, Korbut also participated in the 18th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships where she won two gold medals and four silver medals. In 1988, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. 

Known as Awesome Dawesome, Dominique Dawes is a retired star gymnast from the U.S. who was part of the gold-winning team at the Atlanta Olympics. She also became the first African-American to earn an individual Olympic medal, with her bronze. She is also part of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Nadia Comaneci is a Romanian former gymnast. One of the best-known gymnasts in the world, Comaneci has five Olympic gold medals under her belt. Credited with popularizing gymnastics around the world, Nadia Comaneci was honored by the Laureus World Sports Academy by including her in their Athletes of the 20th Century list in 2000.

Retired gymnast Mary Lou Retton, known for her trademark, The Retton Flip, made history by becoming the first American female gymnast to win an individual Olympic gold medal and was the first gymnast named to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. She later became a motivational speaker.

Věra Čáslavská was a Czechoslovak artistic gymnast who won 22 international titles, including 11 European Championships, four World Championships, and seven Olympic gold medals. The most decorated gymnast in Czech history, Čáslavská is the only gymnast to have won at least one Olympic gold in each individual event. In 1998, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Shannon Miller is a former artistic gymnast who is one of the most decorated US female gymnasts in Olympics history. She is the winner of seven Olympic medals, including the five she won at the 1992 Olympics, and 16 World Championships.  She is a member of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.   

Known as the Belarusian Swan, Svetlana Boginskaya started off as a figure skater before moving on to gymnastics at age 6. By 14, she was part of the Soviet national gymnastics team. The three-time Olympic champion is now settled in Texas and owns businesses that provide gymnastics camps and apparel.

Retired Belarusian artistic gymnast Vitaly Scherbo became the only male gymnast to win a world title in all 8 events. He has also won 6 gold medals in the Olympics and was the first person to win 4 gold medals in one day. The Scherbo vault has been named after him.

Daniela Silivaș is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She is best known for winning six medals (three gold, two silver, and one bronze) at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. She also earned six individual World Championships titles in her five-year tenure as a Romanian senior national team member. She became a coach after retiring in 1991. 

Legendary Chinese gymnast Li Ning not only has 3 Olympic gold medals in his kitty but is now also a billionaire entrepreneur and the owner of a self-titled sports apparel and equipment brand. Starting training at age 8, he later earned the unofficial title of the Prince of Gymnastics in China.

Simona Amânar is a Romanian retired artistic gymnast. A ten-time World Championship, 12-time European Championship, and seven-time Olympic medalist, Amânar also helped her country win four successive world team titles between 1994 and 1999. In 2007, Simona Amânar was made an inductee of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

American gymnastics legend Bart Conner is the only male gymnast from his country to have won gold medals at all levels of national and international competition. A 2-time Olympic gold medalist, he also has a journalism degree. He now runs a gymnastics academy with his wife and Romanian Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci.

Gymnast Dominique Moceanu was part of the Magnificent Seven, the women’s team that won the gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. After retiring, she has studied management and also penned a book. She also sued her father for misusing her earnings as a gymnast and won the case.

Kurt Thomas was a gymnast who became the first American male gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 1978. He won six medals at the world championship in 1979 and was also the James E. Sullivan Award winner that year. He appeared in the 1985 film Gymkata. 

Sandra Izbașa is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who won a gold medal at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. She also won seven gold medals at the European Championships during her illustrious career. Sandra Izbașa's best result at the World Championships came at the 2006 Championships where she won the silver medal in the Balance Beam event.

Aurelia Dobre is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who won three gold medals at the 24th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 1987. In the same World Championships, she won two bronze medals. In 1988, she helped her team win the silver medal at the Summer Olympics. In 2016, she was made an inductee of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Ecaterina Szabo is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who won four gold medals and a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She also represented her country at the World Championships and European Championships, winning 10 medals and five medals respectively. In 2000, Ecaterina Szabo was made an inductee of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Kerri Strug is a retired gymnast who was a member of the all-around women's gymnastics team that represented USA at the 1996 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal. She began training in gymnastics as a child. She was mentored by coach Béla Károlyi and made her way to the US national team. She became a teacher after retirement. 

Best known for her iconic portrayal of Peter Pan on Broadway, actor Cathy Rigby was initially a talented gymnast, too. A 2-time Olympian, she became the first female athlete from the US to win a world gymnastics medal. She also struggled with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

Kim Zmeskal is a retired artistic gymnast. She was the 1991 World All-Around champion and a member of the US team that competed in the 1991 World Championships and won a silver medal. She is also a three-time United States national all-around champion. She is currently a gymnastics coach and co-owns Texas Dreams Gymnastics with her husband, Chris. 

Jamie Dantzscher is a former artistic gymnast who was a member of the  American team that won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. She made her international debut at the 1996 City of Pope's competition in France and achieved All-American honors 15 times. She is a member of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. 

Agnes Keleti is a Hungarian-Israeli former artistic gymnast and coach. A former Olympic and world champion, Keleti won 10 Olympic medals including two bronze medals, three silver medals, and five gold medals. She is regarded as one of the most successful Jewish Olympians of all time. In 2001, Agnes Keleti was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.  

Julianne McNamara is a former artistic gymnast who was the winner of the U.S. women's first individual event gold medal in Olympic history. She qualified for the 1980 Olympic team but did not compete due to the Olympic Committee's boycott of the games. She went on to win an individual gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. 

Once a US national champion, gymnast Paul Hunt also made use of his sense of humor, often performing comic-relief routines, dressed in skirts, using pseudonyms such as Paulina and Pauletta. A talented coach, he was forced to shut down his gymnastics academy in Salt Lake City due to COVID-19.

Though born to working-class parents, Julissa Gomez was encouraged by them to train for gymnastics at an early age. An Olympic hopeful, Gomez suffered a devastating head injury at an event in Japan, rendering her paralyzed and in a coma for days. She eventually died, prompting safety reforms in gymnastics.

Gina Gogean is a former artistic gymnast best known for winning silver medals at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. She also won three bronze medals at the 1996 Games. A nine-time world champion and five-time European champion, Gogean has been a regular gymnastics judge since 2001. In 2013, she was made an inductee of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Apart from being an Olympic gold medalist, US gymnast Mitch Gaylord also experimented with acting. He scripted history by becoming the first gymnast from the US to score a perfect 10 in the Olympics. He later starred in American Anthem and worked as a stunt double in Batman Forever.

Chinese former artistic gymnast and the owner of Chow’s Gym, Liang Chow has over 30 international gold medals in his kitty. He later moved to the US, where he focused on coaching. He is known for training Olympic gold medalists such as Gabby Douglas and Shawn Johnson.

Known as Olympic champion Russian-American gymnast Nastia Lukin’s father, Soviet gymnast Valeri Liukin has himself won 2 gold and 2 silver medals at the Olympics. Part of the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame, he became a successful gymnastics coach in the US and also coached the Brazilian national women's gymnastics team.

Dianne Durham was an artistic gymnast who won the all-around senior title at the women's US National Championships in 1983, becoming the first African American athlete to do so. She suffered from injuries that put a premature end to her brilliant career, and she had to retire in 1985. Later on, she ran the Skyline Gymnastics school in Chicago. 

Former Bulgarian gymnast and current president of Bulgarian Gymnastics Federation Yordan Yovchev competed in six successive Olympic Games and won two bronze in 2000 and one silver and one bronze in 2004. Other achievements of Yovchev includes winning four gold medals at the World Championships, two each in 2001 and 2003; and one gold at European Men's Championships in 2002.

American trampoline gymnast David Jacobs first gained attention after winning the synchronized trampoline title at the 1966 Trampoline World Championships. He later won 2 more World Championship golds and a silver. He is also known for an impromptu appearance on the hidden-camera reality show Impractical Jokers.

Amanda Borden captained the gold-winning US gymnastics team, known as the Magnificent Seven, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The Cincinnati-born athlete is now a mother of three and runs the Arizona-based Gold Medal Gym, where she trains budding young gymnasts. She also works as an commentator for sports channels such as ESPN.

Part of the Magnificent Seven that won the US its first Olympic gold in the women’s team gymnastics competition, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Jaycie Phelps had started training at age 4. She now runs the Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center in Indiana, training the kids of her hometown.

Part of the team that scripted history by winning the US its first men’s gymnastics Olympic team gold, at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Tim Daggett himself scored a perfect 10 on the high bar. His career was also riddled with injuries. Post-retirement, he became a coach and an NBC analyst.

Gísli Örn Garðarsson is an Icelandic actor and occasional scriptwriter and producer. Also a theatre director, Gísli Örn is credited with co-founding a theatre and film company called Vesturport. Gísli Örn Garðarsson is best known for his portrayal of Garðar in the 2006 Icelandic film Children, which earned him a Shooting Stars Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007.

Zdenka Podkapova is a Czech actress, adult model, and former gymnast. She achieved international prominence in May 1998 when she was selected as Penthouse Pet of the Month. Her popularity increased in 2001 when she was named Penthouse Pet of the Year, becoming the first model from Czech Republic to win the Penthouse Pet of the Year title.  

Former artistic gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Liu Xuan also has 4 Asian Games gold medals in her kitty. Encouraged by her mother to take up gymnastics, she excelled in the game. She later earned a journalism degree, tried her luck in acting, and also released a pop album.