Alexander Dityatin

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Alexander Nikolaievich Dityatin (Russian: Александр Николаевич Дитятин, born August 7, 1957 in Leningrad) is a Soviet gymnast, three-time Olympic Champion, Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. Winning eight medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics he set the Olympic record for the most medals at one Games. As of 2007 he still holds this record, now along with Michael Phelps, who tied it at the 2004 Summer Olympics.^[1] Dityatin competed for the Leningrad Dinamo sports society.

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 in Moscow he won the all-around title and seven more medals, including two gold ones. As of 2006 he is the only athlete who won a medal in each of the eight gymnastics events at one Olympics. Shortly after this Olympics Dityatin, while training, was seriously injured and finished his career.

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). Since 1995 he works as the chief inspector of the Pulkovo Airport checkpoint (Pulkovo-2 OKPP). He is a Lieutenant Colonel of the Russian Border Service.

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

[edit] Achievements (non-Olympic)

[edit] References

1. ^ Facts & figures
2. ^ ALEXANDER DITYATIN. International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved on March 31, 2007.

[edit] External links

• International Federation of Gymnastics' Profile on Alexander Dityatin
• List of competitive results

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