Kurt Thomas

Who is Kurt Thomas?

Kurt Bilteaux Thomas is an American Olympic gymnast.

Thomas competed for Indiana State University and in 1979, he won the Nissen Award.

Thomas became a member of the US Olympic team at the 1976 Summer Olympics. In 1978, Thomas was the first American male gymnast to win a gold medal in floor exercise in a world championship. In 1979 he became the first gymnast to receive the James E. Sullivan Award for the best amateur athlete in the US and earned six medals at the World Championships, including gold on the horizontal bar and floor exercise, and silver in the all-around, parallel bars, and pommel horse. He was expected by many to win a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, but the games were boycotted by the United States government.

Two gymnastic moves were named for him, the Thomas Flair, a pommel horse move and the Thomas salto, his signature skill on floor exercise, a tucked 1.5 backward salto with 1.5 twist into a roll out. The Thomas Flair on pommel horse, and then also performed on floor, was developed over years by several Pommel Horse specialists. But in gymnastics new moves are named in the gymnastics rule book after the gymnast who is the first to perform the move in international competition.