AleksandrDityatin is a retired Soviet/Russian gymnast….who was a three-time Olympic champion….and Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR…..after winning eight medals at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games….where 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 equaled this record, at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
Dityatin’s first Olympic success was at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games….where he won two silver medals on the rings and in the team competition…..then at the 1980 Moscow Olympics….after years of being second to his teammate Andrianov….22-year-old Dityatin won a record eight medals….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….and as of 2017 he is the only athlete who won a medal in each of the eight gymnastics events at one Olympics.
