Bart Conner
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{{MedalTop}}
{{MedalSport| Men's [[Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics|artistic gymnastics]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1984 Summer Olympics|1984 Los Angeles]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics|Team]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1984 Summer Olympics|1984 Los Angeles]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics|Parallel bars]]}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[World Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1979 Ft. Worth]]|Parallel bars}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1979 Ft. Worth]]|Vault}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1979 Ft. Worth]]|Team Competition}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Pan American Games]]}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1975 Pan American Games|Mexico City 1975]]|Rings}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1975 Pan American Games|Mexico City 1975]]|Floor exercise}}
{{MedalBottom}}
'''Bart Wayne Conner''' (born [[March 28]], [[1958]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]) is a former American gymnast who, as a member of the gold medal-winning men's [[artistic gymnastics|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 is the only American male gymnast to have won gold medals at every level of competition, including international, national and collegiate. Conner currently owns and operates the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in [[Norman, Oklahoma]] along with his wife, [[Romania]]n gold medalist [[Nadia Comaneci]]. 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.
==Early career==
Active in sports as a child, Conner started gymnastics at the age of ten, after a school [[physical education]] 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 [[Amateur Athletic Union|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 went to elementary school at Park View School in Morton Grove, Illinois, and attended [[Niles West High School]] in Skokie, Illinois. When he went to Park View, his trainer made him walk to and from class on his hands. He was on the gymnastics team at Niles West, where he set records that still haven't been broken to this day.
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 [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|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 [[1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|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 (gymnast)|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.
==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]] 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'.
==After the Olympics==
Conner and [[Nadia Comaneci]] 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 Comaneci the women's title. They reconnected in 1991, when Comaneci 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 Comaneci 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 4lbs. However, Dylan left the hospital after a short stay and immediately thrived.
Conner has appeared in films in 1986 and 2006. In 1986, he played a character named Bart in the cult BMX film [[rad (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]]. {{ref|hof}}
====MDA Charity Work====
Conner has long been associated with the [[Muscular Dystrophy Association]], better known to some as "Jerry's Kids." He has made several appearances on the annual Labor Day Telethon which raises money to fight neuromuscular diseases. Conner appears on the national feed of the telethon or in local segments from his hometown of Chicago.
==References==
#{{note|hof}} {{cite web
| title = BART CONNER
| work = International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
| url = http://www.ighof.com/honorees/honorees_bart_conner.html
| accessmonthday = May 12
| accessyear = 2007
}}
#Conner, Bart, with Ziert, Paul (1988). ''Winning the Gold''. New York:Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-51333-4
#Gray, Kevin. "Head over heels: for gold medal gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner, love is something to flip for." ''People Weekly'', [[27 March]] [[1996]]
==External links==
*[http://www.bartandnadia.com/ The Official Site of Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci]
*[http://gymnastics.about.com/od/famousgymnasts/ig/Where-Are-They-Now-/Update-on--Bart-Conner.htm Where Are They Now?: Bart Conner Info & Photos]
*[http://www.bartconnergymnastics.com/ Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy]
*[http://www.usoc.org/26_37724.htm Bart Conner's U.S. Olympic Team bio]
{{Footer Olympic Champions Parallel Bars Men}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conner, Bart}}
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American gymnasts]]
[[Category:College gymnasts]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1984 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gymnasts of the United States]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States]]
[[Category:World champion gymnasts]]
[[Category:Medalists at World Gymnastics Championships]]
[[Category:People from Chicago, Illinois]]
[[Category:People from Norman, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:University of Oklahoma alumni]]
[[fr:Bart Conner]]