Mitchell Jay Gaylord (born March 10, 1961) is an American

gymnast Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

, actor, and 1984 Los Angeles

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

ist in gymnastics. He was a member of the

United States men's national artistic gymnastics team The United States men's artistic gymnastics team represents the United States in Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, FIG international competitions. History The first national team roster was established in 1998. The team has competed at ...

Early life and education

Gaylord was born in

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the son of Fred and Linda Gaylord, and is Jewish. Gaylord graduated from Grant High School.

Gymnastics career

He made his first U.S. National team in gymnastics in 1980 and continued to retain his place on the team until 1984. He competed in the

1981 Maccabiah Games The 11th Maccabiah Games brought 3,450 athletes to Israel from 35 nations. The Opening Ceremony was held on July 7, 1981, before a crowd of 53,000 and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in Ramat Gan Stadium, with 3,500 Jewish athletes paradin ...

, winning five gold medals. While attending

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

as a history major on scholarship, he won the All-Around in the 1983 and 1984

USA Gymnastics National Championships The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United S ...

, and the 1984 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championship. He then qualified for the Olympic Games during the Olympic trials held from June 1–3, 1984 in Jacksonville Florida. Two of the moves in his arsenal going into the Games were invented by and named for him—the Gaylord flip and the Gaylord II.

1984 Olympic Games

In the

1984 Summer Olympic Games The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, Gaylord led the gold-medal-winning U.S. men's gymnastics team, becoming the first American gymnast to score a perfect 10.00 in the Olympics. He also won the silver medal in vault, the bronze in

parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars approximately long and positioned at above the floor. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally wear ...

, and the bronze in the rings. In addition to his individual accolades, Gaylord led the US men's gymnastics team to a gold medal in the team competition for the first time in Olympic history. The moment was heralded as a significant upset over the teams from China and Japan. After the 1984 Olympics he and his fellow Olympic gymnasts went on a six-month promotional tour across the US, selling out arenas in about two dozen American cities. He also wrote his first book during this period, centering on using gymnastics exercises to train. He was also named by President Ronald Reagan as a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in November 1985.

Post-gymnastics career

Gaylord has appeared in several movies and TV shows. Most notably, he performed as a stunt double for

Chris O'Donnell Christopher Eugene O'Donnell (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor. After modeling and acting in numerous commercials as a teenager, he made his film debut in the comedy-drama film ''Men Don't Leave'' (1990). Following supporting roles in ...

(as Robin) and the uncredited role of Mitch Grayson (Robin's older brother) in the 1995 movie ''

Batman Forever ''Batman Forever'' is a 1995 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. It is the third installment of the ''Batman'' film series, acting as a standalone sequel to ''Batman Returns''. Directe ...

'', and played the lead in '' American Anthem'' (1986), opposite actress

Janet Jones Janet Marie Gretzky ( Jones; born January 10, 1961) is an American actress and dancer. She is married to Canadian ice hockey Hall of Fame player Wayne Gretzky. Early life and education Janet Marie Jones was born in Bridgeton, Missouri, the ...

. The latter movie, in which Gaylord played a gymnast training for the Olympics, has been noted as an inspiration to future generations of Olympic gymnasts. He was also a frequent guest star on ''

Hollywood Squares ''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'', later stylized as ''H2: Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show originally aired as a ...

'', and appeared in advertisements for

Diet Coke Diet Coke (also branded as Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Diet or Coca-Cola Light Taste) is a sugar-free and low-calorie soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It contains artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Unveiled on ...

Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. (stylized as ''NIKE'') is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, ...

, Vidal Sassoon, Soloflex, Levi Strauss & Co., and

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

. Gaylord has also remained an ambassador for gymnastics, serving as a commentator for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and Fox Sports during televised gymnastics events, and developing several nationally televised fitness programs and products. Since retiring from acting, Gaylord has worked as a financial advisor at

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup anno ...

. He has also been an advocate for child allergy awareness.

Legacy and honors

In June 2007, Gaylord was named the seventh-best U.S. gymnast of all time by

Yahoo Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from Stats Perform. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. ...

. In 1990, he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jews, American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distingui ...

. He was also named to the UCLA Hall of Fame in 1995, the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 2005, and the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

in 2009.

Personal life

Gaylord is married to Valentina Agius with whom he has two children. He was previously married to model and actress Deborah Driggs, with whom he has three children.

Eponymous skills

Gaylord has two named elements on the horizontal bar.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaylord, Mitch 1961 births American male artistic gymnasts College men's gymnastics coaches in the United States Gymnasts at the 1984 Summer Olympics Jewish American male actors Jewish American sportspeople Living people Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Gymnasts from Los Angeles UCLA Bruins men's gymnasts People from Van Nuys, Los Angeles Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in gymnastics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in gymnastics Grant High School (Los Angeles) alumni International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees 21st-century American Jews Competitors at the 1981 Summer Universiade 20th-century American sportsmen