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 ...

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

* {{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