Steven Legendre (born May 5, 1989) is an American gymnast who competed for the University of Oklahoma Sooners men's gymnastic team from 2008 to 2011 and is a member of the U.S. National Team.

Early years

Steven was born to Raymond and Lisa Legendre, and has 2 sisters (Jaime and Jessica) and one brother, Michael. Jessica played softball for the University of Oklahoma. He attended Earl L. Vandermeulen High School in Port Jefferson, New York, where he competed on the wrestling team, and then Spring Creek Academy in Plano, Texas, when he began training under Yuri Kartsev at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy. On leaving high school he was recruited by the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois and Ohio State University; he ultimately decided to attend the University of Oklahoma.

NCAA career

During his collegiate career Legendre won 12 All-America honors and 6 NCAA titles. In 2008, he became the first Sooner men's gymnast to win 2 NCAA event titles (

floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...

and vault). In 2009, he won the all-around as well as the floor and vault titles, the highest number of titles by a gymnast that year. In 2010, he claimed his 3rd consecutive floor title - tying him with

Jonathan Horton Jonathan Alan Horton (born December 31, 1985) is a former American artistic gymnast. He is the 2008 Olympic silver medalist on high bar, the 2010 World all-around bronze medalist, a two-time Olympian, a two-time U.S. National All-Around Champ ...

's Oklahoma gymnastics record. In 2011, Legendre won the

Nissen Award The Nissen Award (Nissen Emery Award) is the award given to the best male collegiate gymnast in the United States. The award reflects admirable scholarship and moral characteristics as well as sporting success. List of winners See also * AAI Awa ...

(the " Heisman" of men's gymnastics).

International career

Legendre joined the Senior National Team in 2009 where he was chosen to compete in the

2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 41st World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held at The O2 Arena in London from 12 to 18 October 2009. Similar to the 2005 World Championships, there were no team competitions. Individual all-around and event finals were contested. C ...

in London, England. He made the floor final where he placed 8th. The following year he traveled to Melbourne where he was part of the gold medal team in the Pacific Rim Championships, also winning the bronze medal for the floor exercise. Later he traveled to the

2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held at the Rotterdam Ahoy indoor sporting arena in the Netherlands from 16 to 24 October 2010. In this year's championships, there was a total of 73 participating federations with 615 gymnasts ...

in Rotterdam where he helped the team to a 4th-place finish in the team competition and again came 8th in the floor finals. In 2011 he was part of the bronze medal winning team at the

2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 7–16, 2011, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Due to uncertainty over the nuclear situation following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the Inte ...

. He again competed in the floor final, where he managed to improve on his previous rankings at past world competitions, finishing in 5th place behind bronze medalists Alexander Shatilov and

Diego Hypólito Diego Matias Hypólito (; born 19 June 1986) is a Brazilian gymnast, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion in the floor exercise. He is the first male gymnast from Brazil, and South America, to win a medal at the World Championships. He also won 6 ...

. In 2013, he competed at the

2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Antwerp, Belgium, from 30 September to 6 October 2013 at Antwerp's Sports Palace. Kōhei Uchimura won the men's all-around gold medal and finished the competition with four total med ...

Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. He tied with Hypolito for 5th place once again in the floor final and earned his first individual world medal, a silver on the vault behind Yang Hak Seon and ahead of

Kristian Thomas Kristian James Thomas (born 14 February 1989 in Wolverhampton) is a British former artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. A long-standing member of both the England and Great Britain men's teams, he was a member of the British team that won gold ...

Personal life

On April 27, 2013, he married Alaina Williams. It was announced that he would serve as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma Sooners men's gymnastics team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legendre, Steven Living people 1989 births American male artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Oklahoma Sooners men's gymnasts People from Port Jefferson, New York Gymnasts at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 21st-century American people