Alexander Dityatin

Aleksandr Nikolaevich Dityatin (Russian: Александр Николаевич Дитятин, born August 7, 1957) is a retired Soviet/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.

Aleksandr Dityatin
Country represented Soviet Union
Born (1957-08-07) August 7, 1957
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
RetiredYes
Medal record
Olympic Games
1980 Moscow Team
1980 Moscow All-around
1980 Moscow Rings
1976 Montreal Team
1976 Montreal Rings
1980 Moscow Pommel horse
1980 Moscow Vault
1980 Moscow Parallel bars
1980 Moscow Horizontal bar
1980 Moscow Floor Exercise
World Championships
1979 Ft. WorthTeam competition
1979 Ft. WorthAll-around
1979 Ft. WorthVault
1979 Ft. WorthStill rings
1981 MoscowTeam competition
1981 MoscowParallel bars
1981 MoscowStill rings
1978 StrasbourgTeam competition
1978 StrasbourgStill rings
1978 StrasbourgAll-around
1978 StrasbourgFloor exercise
1979 Ft. WorthHorizontal bar
European Championships
1979 EssenPommel horse
1979 EssenStill rings
1975 BernParallel bars
1979 EssenParallel bars
1975 BernAll-around
1975 BernStill rings

Biography

Dityatin was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) on August 7, 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)
Year Event AA Team FX PH RG VT PB HB
1975European Championships3rd3rd2nd
World Cup3rd
USSR Championships1st1st2nd2nd
USSR Cup1st
1976USSR Championships1st3rd
USSR Cup3rd
1977USSR Championships3rd2nd
University Games2nd
USSR Cup3rd
1978World Championships3rd2nd3rd2nd
World Cup1st3rd2nd1st3rd3rd
USSR Championships1st2nd3rd
1979World Championships1st1st1st1st3rd
World Cup1st1st2nd2nd2nd
European Championships1st1st2nd
USSR Championships1st3rd2nd1st2nd2nd3rd
1980USSR Cup1st
1981World Championships1st1st1st
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See also

References

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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