Mitch Gaylord

Mitchell Jay Gaylord (born March 10, 1961) is an American gymnast, actor, and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics.^[2] He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team.

Mitch Gaylord
Gaylord in 1985
Personal information
Full name	Mitchell Jay Gaylord
Country represented	United States
Born	(1961-03-10) March 10, 1961 (age 63) Van Nuys, California, U.S.
Height	174 cm (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
College team	UCLA Bruins
Eponymous skills	Gaylord 1 (horizontal bar) Gaylord 2 (horizontal bar)
Medal record Representing  United States Men's artistic gymnastics Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 1 2 Total 1 1 2 Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team 1984 Los Angeles Vault 1984 Los Angeles Rings 1984 Los Angeles Parallel bars

Early life and education

Gaylord was born in Van Nuys, California, the son of Fred and Linda Gaylord, and is Jewish.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Gaylord graduated from Grant High School.^[8]

Gymnastics career

He made his first U.S. National team in gymnastics in 1980^[9] and continued to retain his place on the team until 1984. He competed in the 1981 Maccabiah Games, winning five gold medals.^[3][10] While attending UCLA as a history major^[11] on scholarship,^[12] he won the All-Around in the 1983 and 1984 USA Gymnastics National Championships, and the 1984 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championship.^[13] He then qualified for the Olympic Games during the Olympic trials held from June 1–3, 1984 in Jacksonville Florida.^[14] 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.^[15]

1984 Olympic Games

In the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, 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, 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 and only time in Olympic history.^[16] The moment was heralded as a significant upset over the teams from China and Japan.^[17] 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.^[11] He was also named by President Ronald Reagan as a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in November 1985.^[18]

Post-gymnastics career

Gaylord has appeared in several movies and TV shows. Most notably, he performed as a stunt double for Chris O'Donnell (as Robin) and the uncredited role of Mitch Grayson (Robin's older brother) in the 1995 movie Batman Forever, and played the lead in American Anthem (1986),^[19] opposite actress Janet Jones. 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.^[20] He was also a frequent guest star on Hollywood Squares, and appeared in advertisements for Diet Coke, Nike, Inc., Vidal Sassoon, Soloflex, Levi Strauss & Co., and Texaco.^[21][22]

Gaylord has also remained an ambassador for gymnastics, serving as a commentator for NBC and Fox Sports during televised gymnastics events, and developing several nationally televised fitness programs and products.^[21][23][24]

Since retiring from acting, Gaylord has worked as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.^[25] He has also been an advocate for child allergy awareness.^[26]

Legacy and honors

In June 2007, Gaylord was named the seventh-best U.S. gymnast of all time by Yahoo Sports.^[27] In 1990, he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.^[28] 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 in 2009.^[29][30]

Eponymous skills

Gaylord has two named elements on the horizontal bar.^[31][32]

Gymnastics elements named after Mitch Gaylord

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty[lower-alpha 1]	Added to Code of Points
Horizontal bar	Gaylord 1	"Salto fwd, tuck over the bar, also from el-grip."	E, 0.5	1985
	Gaylord 2	"Salto bwd. ½ t. piked over the bar."	E, 0.5	1989

1. Valid for the 2025–2028 Code of Points

Personal life

Gaylord is married to Valentina Agius with whom he has two children.^[33] He was previously married to model and actress Deborah Driggs, with whom he has three children.^[34]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Logan's Run	Cub	Uncredited
1986	American Anthem	Steve Tevere
1989	American Rickshaw	Scott Edwards
1994	Sexual Outlaws	Francis Badham
1995	Batman Forever	N/A	Stunts
1995	Mortal Kombat
1995	Savate
2005	Confessions of an Action Star	Brother
2007	Jocking Around	Himself	Documentary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Diff'rent Strokes	Himself	1 episode
1991	The New Dragnet	Roger Tolan	1 episode
1992	Animal Instincts	Rod Tennison	Video
1992	Vicki!	Himself	1 episode
1994	Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater	Rod Tennison	1 episode; archival footage
2008	Celebrity Circus	Himself/Judge	6 episodes
2009, 2010	The J Report	Himself	2 episodes

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in gymnastics (men)
• List of select Jewish gymnasts

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mitch Gaylord". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017.
2. Klein, Steve (July 16, 2009). "Jason Lezak heads new crop of Jewish Hall-of-Famers". Haaretz. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
3. "A Jewish Olympian Reflects". Jewish Journal. September 28, 2000.
4. The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports ... - Peter S. Horvitz - Google Books
5. Jewish Sports Stars (2nd Revised Edition): Athletic Heroes Past and Present - David J. Goldman - Google Books
6. "Portrait of Olympic Pride". People Magazine. August 6, 1984. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
7. "Mitch Gaylord". The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
8. "Bringing Glory To The Valley : Watts Tops List Of Area Stars Who Left A Mark. – Free Online Library".
9. Larry Siddons (July 30, 1982). "Gaylord captures gymnastics gold". The Times-News. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
10. "MACCABIAH GAMES" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
11. Maria Siriano (April 8, 1985). "One on One: Mitch Gaylord". The Pittsburgh Press. p. D2. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
12. Bob Thomas (July 5, 1986). "Mitch Gaylord takes another daring leap". Gainesville Sun. p. 5B. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
13. Dan Donovan (June 17, 1984). "The U.S.'s 1–2, or 2–1, Punch". The Pittsburgh Press. p. D4. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
14. "U.S. Gymnasts look to show mettle". Reading Eagle. July 19, 2012. p. 37. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
15. "Inventor of Gaylord Flip Takes to the Screen". Times-Union. June 28, 1986. p. 6. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
16. Amanda Zieba (June 20, 2012). "Top 10 Memorable Artistic Gymnastics Moments in Olympic History". Yahoo!. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
17. Dan Donovan (August 1, 1984). "America another Olympic miracle". Deseret News. p. G1. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
18. "Gaylord appointed". The Deseret News. November 10, 1985. Retrieved July 18, 2012. page 2A
19. "Mitchell Gaylord Credits". Movie Web. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
20. Juliet Macur (July 1, 2012). "Harboring High Hopes, U.S. Men's Team Adds 3 Gymnasts for Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
21. "Mitch Gaylord". APB Speakers. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
22. Lesley Creegan (December 22, 2000). "Tom Bergeron: Roundabout road to 'Hollywood Squares'". CNN. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
23. "Mitch Gaylord". gymn.ca. Archived from the original on November 11, 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
24. Mark Lamport-Stokes (July 2, 2012). "Olympics-Gold standard the lure for U.S. gymnasts in London". Reuters. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
25. "Mitch Gaylord". Morgan Stanley. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
26. Jim Bergamo (May 11, 2015). "Olympian helps raise food allergy awareness". KVUE. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015.
27. John Coon (June 18, 2012). "Summer Olympics Gymnastics: Top 10 U.S. Male Gymnasts". Yahoo!. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
28. "Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home". scjewishsportshof.com.
29. Biography: GAYLORD, Mitch. US Olympic Hall of Fame
30. Jeremy Last (August 5, 2009). "Int'l Jewish Sports Hall of Fame welcomes new class". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
31. "Table of Named Elements Men's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). gymnastics.sport. December 2023. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
32. "Men's Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points 2025–2028" (PDF). gymnastics.sport. July 3, 2024. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
33. Ivens, Sarah (February 2022). "How Self-Love Can Save A Life". ATX Lifestyle. p. 18. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
34. "Deborah Driggs – My Story". Playboy. Archived from the original on June 20, 2009.

External links

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 14, 2011)
• Mitch Gaylord at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Mitch Gaylord at the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame
• Mitch Gaylord at the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
• Mitch Gaylord at Olympics.com
• Mitch Gaylord at Olympedia
• Mitchell Gaylord at IMDb