Trent Dimas (born November 10, 1970) is an
Hispanic American
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...
gymnast
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...
and Olympic champion. Now retired, Dimas was an elite senior level international artistic gymnast.
Dimas became a member of the U.S. junior national team at the age of 13 and made the U.S. senior national team at the age of 15. He attended the University of Nebraska his freshman year
where he became a two time All American and a member of UNL's 1990
NCAA Men's Gymnastics championship
The NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships are a gymnastics competition held each year to determine the best men's college gymnastics team. All schools compete in one National Collegiate division because only 13 schools sponsor NCAA men's gymnastics ...
team. After one season of NCAA competition,
Dimas left his athletic scholarship to train full-time in hopes of making a U.S. Olympic Team.
Athletic career
As a nationally and internationally ranked athlete, he competed at the Goodwill Games (Team, Silver), Pan American Games (FX, Bronze and HB, Bronze) (See
Gymnastics at the 1991 Pan American Games), won the American Cup (AA) and was the U.S. Men's Vault Champion, Parallel Bars Champion and Horizontal Bar Champion.
In an era of compulsory routines and a straightforward format to Olympic team trials (and before apparatus specialists), Dimas was ranked 5th All Around at trials (top 6 made the Olympic Team) which placed him on the U.S. Olympic Team roster. He competed all six of the men's apparatuses in qualification at the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
where he received a gold medal on
horizontal bar
The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...
in the event final. This was the second time that an American gymnast, male or female, won a gold medal in an
Olympics held outside the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Only
Frank Kriz (on vault
at Paris in 1924) had done so previously. Dimas is also the only Hispanic American ever to win a gold medal on the horizontal bar.
Education
Following his athletic career, in 1992, Dimas graduated from Columbia University School of General Studies in New York City with a B.A. in political science.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimas, Trent
1970 births
Living people
American male artistic gymnasts
Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in gymnastics
Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople
Columbia University School of General Studies alumni
Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States
Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics
Gymnasts at the 1991 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games