Bart Conner

Bart Conner
Bart Conner (right) talking with Mark Spitz at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
Personal information
Country represented  United States
Born (1958-03-28) March 28, 1958
Hometown Morton Grove, IL
Height 5'6"
Discipline Men's artistic gymnastics
College team University of Oklahoma
Head coach(es) Paul Ziert

Bart Conner (born March 28, 1958) is a retired American Olympic gymnast. As a member of the US men's gymnastics team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, Conner won two gold medals. He currently 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.[1][2]

Early life and education

Conner was born on March 28, 1958, and grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois.[3] He first became involved in gymnastics at school and his local YMCA. He was later on the gymnastics team at Niles West High School, where he graduated in 1976.[4]

He later attended the University of Oklahoma to work with coach Paul Ziert on the gymnastics team.[5] He eventually graduated from OU in 1984, where he was an All-American and won the 1981 Nissen Award as America's best gymnast.[6]

Gymnastics career

He won the 1972 U.S. Junior National Championships when he was 14 and the U.S. Gymnastics Federation All-Around championship when he was 17, and was the youngest member of the Olympic team during the 1976 Summer Olympics.[3] He also won a team all-around gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games.[6]

Although he qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics, he was unable to participate due to the boycott.[7] Four years later, in the 1984 Summer Olympics, he won two gold medals for the team all-around and for the men's parallel bars.[3] His win on the parallel bars helped the U.S. win its first men's Olympic gymnastic gold medal in 80 years.[8] He also demonstrated an original move called the "Conner spin" during the 1984 Olympics.[6]

Honors

Conner is a highly decorated gymnast who has won "medals at every level of national and international competition." Some of his honors include "induction into the USOC Olympic Hall of Fame (1991), the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame (1996), Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (1997), and the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame (1997)."[3] While Connor did not compete in the 1980 games, he was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal many years later.[9]

Marries Nadia Comăneci

On November 27, 1989, Nadia Comăneci, a Romanian gymnast Conner had met at the 1976 Montreal games, defected from Romania with a group of other Romanians. In January 1990, when Conner read in the newspaper that she was scheduled to be interviewed on The Pat Sajak Show, he contacted the producer and arranged to make a guest appearance on the show.[10] Conner liked the idea of surprising Comăneci: "I'm thinking if she's going to be on Sajak, I might as well go out there and say, 'Hey, Nads,' " [10] Actually, Comăneci was in an abusive relationship with the person who had led the escape group and who was acting as her current manager and promoter. Conner sensed her fear of this person and reached out to help. According to a 1996 New York Times article, "He helped make the connections that eventually led to her escape from that abusive relationship, and a new life in Montreal with a Romanian rugby coach and his family. For a year, they were phone pals."[11]

Later in 1990, Conner interviewed her for ABC. A few months later, Conner was invited to her 29th birthday party, after which they developed a long-distance friendship for a few years. When a mutual friend died in an accident in 1991, Conner invited Comăneci to come to Oklahoma to help him run a gymnastics school. They were together for four years before they became engaged. On April 27, 1996, Conner and Comăneci were married in a ceremony in Bucharest that was televised live throughout Romania. Their wedding reception was held in the former presidential palace.[12] In an interview years later, Comăneci recalled that the experience "was very emotional, not just seeing my mother but seeing an entire country I'd left. When I got married in Bucharest there were 10,000 people on the street. People didn't go to work that day. It was emotional to see how people care about you." [13] Conner and Comăneci have one child, a son named Dylan Paul Conner who was born on June 3, 2006, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[14][15]

Books

  • Conner, Bart with Paul Ziert. Winning the Gold. Warner Books, 1985.

See also

  • Biography portal
  • Gymnastics portal

References

  1. ↑ Nadia Comaneci, Global Ambassador
  2. ↑ On Mats, Bars and Boards, Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci Lead by Example
  3. 1 2 3 4 "CONNER, BART (1958– )". Oklahoma Historical Society. 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  4. ↑ Goldwyn, Nick (September 6, 2011). "Q & A with Bart Conner, Olympic Gold Medalist". Niles West News.
  5. ↑ Bailey, Dean (August 13, 1984). "Bart's Trials Conner Says Conflict Preceded Golden Feats". The Oklahoman.
  6. 1 2 3 "Bart Conner". SR Olympic Sports. Archived from the original on 2016-06-22.
  7. ↑ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
  8. ↑ "1984 Summer Olympic Games". Los Angeles Times.
  9. ↑ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
  10. 1 2 Rohde, John (January 24, 1990). "Bart Gets The Scoop On Nadia". The Oklahoman. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  11. ↑ 2 Gymnasts Flip and Fall for Each Other, New York Times (archives), Robert Lipsyte, April 5, 1996.
  12. ↑ "Nadia Tumbles over Wedding" Cincinnati Post, April 6, 1996
  13. ↑ Rebecca Hardy (August 1, 2014). "The terrifying day I defected: She was the golden girl of gymnastics at just 14 – before fleeing Romania for the States. Now, Nadia Comăneci tells her full harrowing story". DailyMail.
  14. ↑ "Nadia Comăneci, Bart Conner Have a Boy People, June 6, 2006
  15. ↑ "Former Gymnasts Nadia Comăneci and Bart Conner Baptized Their First Child, Dylan Paul" Catalina Iancu, Jurnalul National, August 28, 2006

Cited sources

  • Comăneci, Nadia (2004). Letters to a Young Gymnast. Art of Mentoring. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-01276-0.

Video clips:

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