Current Biography Excerpts: Gymnastics

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RETTON, MARY LOU
SHCHERBO, VITALY

RETTON, MARY LOU
Jan. 24, 1968- Gymnast.

The vivacious, pint-sized Mary Lou Retton vaulted into the national spotlight in August 1984, when she won the gold medal in the all-around contest of the women's gymnastics competition at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She was the first American woman ever to win an individual medal in gymnastics. Miss Retton, who also took home two bronze and two silver medals, began competing internationally in 1981. Virtually undefeated during the last three years of her career, which ended with her retirement in 1986, the tough and muscular athlete has redefined the image of the gymnast and revolutionized her sport, turning it away from balletic movements toward those dependent on power, speed, and agility. As Bela Karolyi, her coach, once observed, she is "not a little flower," but "a little flyer."

Copyright © 1996 by The H. W. Wilson Co.

The complete article can be found on the Current Biography CD-ROM and in the 1986 Current Biography Yearbook.

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SHCHERBO, VITALY
(SHAIR-buh, vi-TAH-lee)
Jan. 13, 1972- Belarussian gymnast.

Representing Belarus (formerly the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Ukrainian-born Vitaly Shcherbo won six gold medals--more than any other gymnast in history. (The previous gymnastic record was set in 1976 by Nikolai Andrianov of the Soviet Union, who took home four gold medals.) The only other athlete in any sport to win more than six golds at one Olympics was the American swimmer Mark Spitz, who won seven at the 1972 Summer Games, in Munich. Shcherbo, who has been a gymnast since the age of seven, first came to public attention at the Goodwill Games in 1990, when he presented gymnastics enthusiasts with a rare glimpse of an animated Soviet competitor who expressed joy and excitement upon winning. Since his record-breaking performance in Barcelona two years later, Shcherbo has had to cope with personal traumas and with shoulder injuries that left him weak on the rings, but in the spring of 1996 he appeared to observers to be well on his way toward regaining his status as one of the most formidable gymnasts taking part in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Copyright © 1996 by The H. W. Wilson Co.

The complete article can be found in the July 1996 issue of Current Biography. An updated version of the article will appear on the 1983-1996 Current Biography CD-ROM ( released in January 1997) and in the 1996 Current Biography Yearbook (to be published in December 1996).

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