Bart Conner
Encyclopedia
Bart Wayne Conner is a former American gymnast who, as a member of the gold medal-winning men's gymnastics
team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games won an individual gold on the parallel bars. Conner was also the 1979 World Champion on the parallel bars.
Conner currently owns and operates the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Oklahoma
along with his wife, Romania
n gold medalist Nadia Comăneci
. He is also a commentator
for televised gymnastics events and an editor of International Gymnast Magazine.
Conner was also part of the 1976 and 1980 USA Olympic gymnastics teams. He won the World Cup in 1979, and the American Cup
in 1976, 1980, and 1981. He has been inducted into several Halls of Fame, including those of the US Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, International Gymnastics, and Oklahoma Sports.
coach noticed his talent. He began training with the Niles West High School
team and competing in local meets, where he progressed quickly but seldom won. After a few years, he also began training and competing at the local YMCA
. Conner's first significant gymnastics victory was the 1972 AAU
Junior Olympics, followed soon after in 1974 by the USGF Junior National Championships. Immediately following his high school graduation in 1976, he went on to join the United States team as its youngest member at the 1976 Summer Olympics
in Montreal
.
He attended Niles West High School
in Skokie, Illinois. He was on the gymnastics team at Niles West, where he set records that haven't been broken to this day. During his senior year at Niles West he was not allowed to compete because he competed in the Olympics for his country and thus missed too many school days to be eligible to compete.
Conner attended the University of Oklahoma
in order to work with coach Paul Ziert on the gymnastics team, which was then ranked 19th nationally by the NCAA
. Accoding to Ziert, Conner is relatively unsuited physically for gymnastics due to his relative lack of spinal flexibility, and his weakness in tumbling skills. However, Ziert continues, Conner's motivation and dedication to the sport combined with his other physical abilities helped him quickly advance to the world-class level. In 1979, he won the parallel bars event at the World Championships
with an original move called the "Conner Spin." In this move, the gymnast performs a complete 360-degree turn on one bar in a straddled position, and then presses to a handstand.
Much of Conner's early career was seen as a rivalry between himself and fellow American Kurt Thomas
, another top competitor whose style differed from his own. Thomas, a more physically gifted gymnast than Conner, impressed judges with his explosive strength and unusual degree of difficulty in his routines; whereas Conner's strengths were in his solid consistency and artistic presentation. The media made much of this rivalry, and though the two were good friends, the publicity around their rivalry and media exaggeration incited ill feeling between them for a time.
Conner was the first qualifier for the 1980 Olympic gymnastics team, and did not support the US boycott of the Games. He made several media appearances in which he described the boycott as "futile," and protested the Olympics being used for political purposes. However, due to a torn biceps
he received during the Olympic Trials, it is unlikely he would have performed well had he competed. Because he continued training after this injury, his recovery lasted well over a year. In December 1983, competing at the Chunichi Cup, Conner tore his left biceps during his rings routine. Due to several bone chips floating around his elbow, his arm mobility was limited, which placed undue stress on the muscles of the upper arm during the strenuous activities of competitive gymnastics.
After intense training to return to the level of competition he had reached before his injury, Conner's consistently good scores (including a perfect 10 on the parallel bars) helped the US men's team earn its first team gold. Conner took sixth place in the individual all-around competition, with his total separated from gold medalist Koji Gushiken
by .35 points.
He qualified for two individual event finals, on floor exercise and parallel bars. He had a lackluster floor exercise, scoring a 9.75 for fifth place. In the parallel bars final just hours later, he scored a perfect 10 to win the event.
Former rival Kurt Thomas
, who had retired from gymnastics, was a commentator for ABC Sports. Coach Paul Ziert saw his assessments of Conner's performance as being more fair and accurate than any others'.
were engaged on November 12, 1994, (Nadia's 33rd birthday), and married on April 27, 1996 in Bucharest, Romania. The couple first met at the 1976 American Cup, where Conner won the men's, and Comăneci the women's title. They reconnected in 1991, when Comăneci fled Romania. They currently own the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, Perfect 10 Production Company, and several sports equipment shops, and are editors of International Gymnast magazine. They also are heavily involved in charity work. Conner is also a gymnastics commentator, and accepts speaking engagements.
Conner became a father when Comăneci gave birth to their first child, a boy named Dylan Paul Conner, on the morning of June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma City
, Oklahoma
. Dylan was born three weeks early, weighing in at just 4 lbs. However, Dylan left the hospital after a short stay and immediately thrived.
Conner appeared in films in 1986 and 2006. In 1986, he played a character named Bart in the cult BMX film Rad!
In 2006, he appeared as himself in two movies about gymnastics, Stick It
and Peaceful Warrior
.
In 1997 Conner was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
.
and the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
, which raises private and corporate donations to fight neuromuscular diseases. Conner and his spouse make regular television appearances during the Labor Day
telethon, both on the live national feeds, and in local broadcast segments from his hometown of Chicago on television station WGN-TV
channel 9, which is also carried nationally on cable and satellite feeds through WGN America.
Artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...
team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games won an individual gold on the parallel bars. Conner was also the 1979 World Champion on the parallel bars.
Conner currently owns and operates the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
along with his wife, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n gold medalist Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...
. He is also a commentator
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
for televised gymnastics events and an editor of International Gymnast Magazine.
Conner was also part of the 1976 and 1980 USA Olympic gymnastics teams. He won the World Cup in 1979, and the American Cup
American Cup (gymnastics)
The American Cup, is an elite senior level international gymnastics competition held in the United States, and is generally considered to be one of the first major competitions of the Gymnastics season, as it is held in March or February of each year. In 1978-79 the event was sponsored by Dial and...
in 1976, 1980, and 1981. He has been inducted into several Halls of Fame, including those of the US Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, International Gymnastics, and Oklahoma Sports.
Early career
Active in sports as a child, Conner started gymnastics at the age of ten, after a school physical educationPhysical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
coach noticed his talent. He began training with the Niles West High School
Niles West High School
Niles West High School, or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School. Its school teams were originally the Indians, but...
team and competing in local meets, where he progressed quickly but seldom won. After a few years, he also began training and competing at the local YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. Conner's first significant gymnastics victory was the 1972 AAU
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
Junior Olympics, followed soon after in 1974 by the USGF Junior National Championships. Immediately following his high school graduation in 1976, he went on to join the United States team as its youngest member at the 1976 Summer Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
He attended Niles West High School
Niles West High School
Niles West High School, or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School. Its school teams were originally the Indians, but...
in Skokie, Illinois. He was on the gymnastics team at Niles West, where he set records that haven't been broken to this day. During his senior year at Niles West he was not allowed to compete because he competed in the Olympics for his country and thus missed too many school days to be eligible to compete.
Conner attended the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
in order to work with coach Paul Ziert on the gymnastics team, which was then ranked 19th nationally by the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
. Accoding to Ziert, Conner is relatively unsuited physically for gymnastics due to his relative lack of spinal flexibility, and his weakness in tumbling skills. However, Ziert continues, Conner's motivation and dedication to the sport combined with his other physical abilities helped him quickly advance to the world-class level. In 1979, he won the parallel bars event at the World Championships
1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 20th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Fort Worth, USA, in 1979. In November 1977 the 55th FIG Congress, held in Rome, changed the cycle of world championships: since 1979 they were to be held each two years, and the pre-Olympic ones were to be qualifications for the Olympic...
with an original move called the "Conner Spin." In this move, the gymnast performs a complete 360-degree turn on one bar in a straddled position, and then presses to a handstand.
Much of Conner's early career was seen as a rivalry between himself and fellow American Kurt Thomas
Kurt Thomas (gymnast)
Kurt Bilteaux Thomas is an American Olympic gymnast.While at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, Thomas became a member of the US Olympic team at the 1976 Summer Olympics. In 1978, Thomas was the first American male gymnast to win a gold medal in floor exercise in a world championship...
, another top competitor whose style differed from his own. Thomas, a more physically gifted gymnast than Conner, impressed judges with his explosive strength and unusual degree of difficulty in his routines; whereas Conner's strengths were in his solid consistency and artistic presentation. The media made much of this rivalry, and though the two were good friends, the publicity around their rivalry and media exaggeration incited ill feeling between them for a time.
Conner was the first qualifier for the 1980 Olympic gymnastics team, and did not support the US boycott of the Games. He made several media appearances in which he described the boycott as "futile," and protested the Olympics being used for political purposes. However, due to a torn biceps
Biceps
Biceps may refer to:*Biceps brachii muscle, a muscle located on the inside of the upper arm*Biceps femoris muscle, one of the hamstring muscles of the back of each thigh*Biceps , a point in a metrical pattern...
he received during the Olympic Trials, it is unlikely he would have performed well had he competed. Because he continued training after this injury, his recovery lasted well over a year. In December 1983, competing at the Chunichi Cup, Conner tore his left biceps during his rings routine. Due to several bone chips floating around his elbow, his arm mobility was limited, which placed undue stress on the muscles of the upper arm during the strenuous activities of competitive gymnastics.
1984 Olympics
Following surgery and intensive physical therapy, Bart squeaked onto the 1984 Olympic team, after competing in only one of the two qualifying events, the Olympic Trials. He had begun competing in the earlier National Championships, but several serious falters, including a headfirst landing on the floor exercise, made it clear that he had not yet made a full recovery. Conner was granted a petition by the USGF to consider only the Trials scores, with which he was selected for the team.After intense training to return to the level of competition he had reached before his injury, Conner's consistently good scores (including a perfect 10 on the parallel bars) helped the US men's team earn its first team gold. Conner took sixth place in the individual all-around competition, with his total separated from gold medalist Koji Gushiken
Koji Gushiken
was an Olympic gymnast for Japan at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where he won a total number of five medals, including two gold. Born November 12, 1956. He currently coaches other Olympic contenders.-References:* *...
by .35 points.
He qualified for two individual event finals, on floor exercise and parallel bars. He had a lackluster floor exercise, scoring a 9.75 for fifth place. In the parallel bars final just hours later, he scored a perfect 10 to win the event.
Former rival Kurt Thomas
Kurt Thomas
Kurt Thomas is the name of:* Kurt Thomas , NBA player* Kurt Thomas , American gymnast*Kurt Thomas...
, who had retired from gymnastics, was a commentator for ABC Sports. Coach Paul Ziert saw his assessments of Conner's performance as being more fair and accurate than any others'.
After the Olympics
Conner and Nadia ComăneciNadia Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...
were engaged on November 12, 1994, (Nadia's 33rd birthday), and married on April 27, 1996 in Bucharest, Romania. The couple first met at the 1976 American Cup, where Conner won the men's, and Comăneci the women's title. They reconnected in 1991, when Comăneci fled Romania. They currently own the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, Perfect 10 Production Company, and several sports equipment shops, and are editors of International Gymnast magazine. They also are heavily involved in charity work. Conner is also a gymnastics commentator, and accepts speaking engagements.
Conner became a father when Comăneci gave birth to their first child, a boy named Dylan Paul Conner, on the morning of June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. Dylan was born three weeks early, weighing in at just 4 lbs. However, Dylan left the hospital after a short stay and immediately thrived.
Conner appeared in films in 1986 and 2006. In 1986, he played a character named Bart in the cult BMX film Rad!
Rad (film)
Rad is a film about BMX racing, first released in the USA in 1986. The film was written by Sam Bernard and Geoffrey Edwards and directed by Hal Needham. It stars Bill Allen and Lori Loughlin. Parts of this movie were filmed in Cochrane in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, Colonel Macleod Jr...
In 2006, he appeared as himself in two movies about gymnastics, Stick It
Stick It
Stick It is an American teen comedy-drama film starring Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, and Vanessa Lengies. It was written and directed by Jessica Bendinger, writer of Bring It On; the film marks her directorial debut...
and Peaceful Warrior
Peaceful Warrior
Peaceful Warrior is a 2006 drama film starring Scott Mechlowicz, Nick Nolte, and Amy Smart. Released on June 2, 2006, it is based on the novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman.The film is set in U.C. Berkeley but is shot elsewhere...
.
In 1997 Conner was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics....
.
MDA charity work
Conner has long been associated with the Muscular Dystrophy AssociationMuscular Dystrophy Association
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is an American organization which combats muscular dystrophy and diseases of the nervous system and muscular system in general by funding research, providing medical and community services, and educating health professionals and the general public...
and the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
The MDA Labor Day Telethon is an annual telethon in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association . The first MDA telethon was during the Thanksgiving Day weekend of 1952 and titled Party for MDA. It has been held annually since 1966...
, which raises private and corporate donations to fight neuromuscular diseases. Conner and his spouse make regular television appearances during the Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
telethon, both on the live national feeds, and in local broadcast segments from his hometown of Chicago on television station WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
channel 9, which is also carried nationally on cable and satellite feeds through WGN America.