The Most Famous

GYMNASTS from United States

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This page contains a list of the greatest American Gymnasts. The pantheon dataset contains 370 Gymnasts, 23 of which were born in United States. This makes United States the birth place of the 4th most number of Gymnasts behind Sweden, and Romania.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary American Gymnasts of all time. This list of famous American Gymnasts is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of American Gymnasts.

Photo of Herman Glass

1. Herman Glass (1880 - 1961)

With an HPI of 44.83, Herman Glass is the most famous American Gymnast.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Herman Theobald Glass (October 15, 1880 – January 13, 1961) was an American gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. In 1904, he won the gold medal in the rings event.

Photo of Larry Nassar

2. Larry Nassar (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 42.59, Larry Nassar is the 2nd most famous American Gymnast.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Lawrence Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American serial child rapist and former family medicine physician. From 1996 to 2014, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team, where he used his position to exploit and sexually assault hundreds of young athletes as part of the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports history. In 2016, Nassar was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting at least 265 young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment. His victims included numerous Olympic and United States women's national gymnastics team gymnasts. Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on December 7, 2017, after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography and tampering with evidence on July 11, 2017. On January 24, 2018, Nassar was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years in Michigan State Prison, after pleading guilty in Ingham County to seven counts of sexual assault. On February 5, 2018, he was sentenced to an additional 40 to 125 years in Michigan State Prison after pleading guilty to an additional three counts of sexual assault in Eaton County. On the orders of the judge in charge of the federal case, his state prison sentences are to run consecutively with his federal sentence, ensuring a de facto sentence of life imprisonment without parole. Nassar will be transferred to a Michigan state prison when he is released from federal custody; his two state sentences will be served concurrently. He is a central figure of the 2020 film Athlete A, a documentary about the scandal.

Photo of Edward Hennig

3. Edward Hennig (1879 - 1960)

With an HPI of 42.05, Edward Hennig is the 3rd most famous American Gymnast.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Edward August Hennig (October 13, 1879 – August 28, 1960) was an American gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He died in Summit County, Ohio. Hennig won two gold medals, one of them at club swinging. In the horizontal bar event he and his countryman Anton Heida had the same score and the gold medal was shared between them. He also competed in the pommel horse event without winning a medal. In the all-around event he finished 50th, in the team competition he was a member of the Turnverein Vorwärts (Cleveland) which finished 13th. In the gymnastics triathlon he finished 59th and in the athletics triathlon he finished 36th.

Photo of Bart Conner

4. Bart Conner (b. 1958)

With an HPI of 40.84, Bart Conner is the 4th most famous American Gymnast.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Barthold Wayne Conner (born March 28, 1958) is a retired American Olympic gymnast. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He owns and operates the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Oklahoma, along with his wife, Romanian Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comăneci. In addition, both Comăneci and Conner are highly involved with the Special Olympics.

Photo of Simone Biles

5. Simone Biles (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 40.09, Simone Biles is the 5th most famous American Gymnast.  Her biography has been translated into 56 different languages.

Simone Arianne Biles Owens (née Biles; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history. She is widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. With 11 Olympic medals, she is tied with Věra Čáslavská as the second-most decorated female Olympic gymnast, and has the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast. At the Olympic Games, Biles is a two-time gold medalist in the individual all-around (2016, 2024). She is also a two-time champion on vault (2016, 2024), the 2016 champion and 2024 silver medalist on floor exercise, and a two-time bronze medalist on balance beam (2016, 2020). Biles led the gold medal-winning United States teams in 2016, dubbed the "Final Five," and in 2024, dubbed the "Golden Girls". At the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she was favored to win at least four of the six available gold medals, she withdrew from most of the competition after the qualification round due to "the twisties", a temporary loss of air awareness while performing twisting elements. She won a silver medal with the United States team nicknamed the "Fighting Four" due to the adversity they faced. At the World Championships, she is the most decorated male or female artistic gymnast of all time with 30 total medals in which 23 of them are Gold. Biles is a six-time individual all-around champion (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2023), six-time floor exercise champion (2013–2015, 2018–2019, 2023), and four-time balance beam champion (2014–2015, 2019, 2023), all record-high totals. She is also a two-time vault champion (2018–2019) and a member of a record-high five gold medal-winning United States teams (2014–2015, 2018–2019, 2023). She is also a four-time World silver medalist (2013–2014 and 2023 on vault, 2018 on uneven bars), a three-time World bronze medalist (2015 on vault, 2013 and 2018 on balance beam). Domestically, Biles has won a record-high nine United States national all-around championships (2013–2016, 2018–2019, 2021, 2023–2024); her win in 2024 made her the oldest female gymnast to ever win the title. She is also a seven-time champion on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, a two-time uneven bars champion, and the only woman to win all five gold medals in a single championships twice (2018, 2024). Biles is the sixth woman to win an individual all-around title at both the Olympics and the World Championships and the first since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously. She is the tenth female gymnast and first American female gymnast to win a World medal on every event, and the first female gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympics or World Championships. Biles is the originator of the most difficult skill on women's vault, balance beam, and floor exercise and the only gymnast to attempt each skill to date. In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2023, she won her eighth U.S. Gymnastics title, breaking the 90-year-old U.S. Gymnastics title record previously held by Alfred Jochim. Biles has won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year thrice (2017, 2019, 2020), and Comeback of the Year once (2024).

Photo of Mary Lou Retton

6. Mary Lou Retton (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 36.57, Mary Lou Retton is the 6th most famous American Gymnast.  Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Retton's performance made her one of the most popular athletes in the United States. Her gold medal win was historic as Retton was the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal in Olympic gymnastics.

Photo of Peter Vidmar

7. Peter Vidmar (b. 1961)

With an HPI of 36.04, Peter Vidmar is the 7th most famous American Gymnast.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Peter Glen Vidmar (born June 3, 1961, in Los Angeles) is an American gymnast and two-time Olympic gold medalist. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won gold in the team final and pommel horse, and silver in the individual all-around.

Photo of Shannon Miller

8. Shannon Miller (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 27.04, Shannon Miller is the 8th most famous American Gymnast.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Shannon Lee Miller (born March 10, 1977) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 1993 and 1994 world all-around champion, the 1992 Summer Olympics all-around silver medallist, the 1996 Olympic balance beam champion, the 1995 Pan American Games all-around champion, and a member of the gold medal-winning Magnificent Seven team at the 1996 Olympics. Miller is the second most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympics history, with a total of seven medals, surpassed only by Simone Biles in 2024. With a combined total of 16 World Championships and Olympic medals between 1991 and 1996, she is the second-most decorated American gymnast, male or female, surpassed only by Simone Biles. She was also the most successful American athlete at the 1992 Olympics, winning five medals.

Photo of Julianne McNamara

9. Julianne McNamara (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 26.62, Julianne McNamara is the 9th most famous American Gymnast.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Julianne Lyn McNamara (born October 11, 1965) is an American former artistic gymnast, who was born to Australians Jean and Kevin McNamara. She was the winner of the U.S. women's first individual event gold medal in Olympic history.

Photo of Dominique Moceanu

10. Dominique Moceanu (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 26.41, Dominique Moceanu is the 10th most famous American Gymnast.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Dominique Helena Moceanu (, moh-CHEE-ah-noo; Romanian: [moˈtʃe̯anu]; born September 30, 1981) is a retired American gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal-winning United States women's gymnastics team, the "Magnificent Seven", at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Moceanu trained under Marta and Béla Károlyi, and later Luminița Miscenco and Mary Lee Tracy. She earned her first national team berth at age 10 and represented the United States in various international competitions at the junior level. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 1992 Junior Pan American Games and the 1994 junior national champion. In 1995, at the age of 13, she became the youngest gymnast to win the senior all-around title at the U.S. National Championships. She was the youngest member of both the 1995 World Championships team and the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympics team, and was the last gymnast to compete legally in the Olympics at the age of 14. Moceanu's last major success in gymnastics was at the 1998 Goodwill Games, where she became the first American to win the all-around gold medal. Family problems, coaching changes, and injuries derailed her efforts to make the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and she retired from the sport in 2000. Since then, she has worked as a coach, studied business management, and written a memoir, Off Balance.

People

Pantheon has 52 people classified as American gymnasts born between 1879 and 2007. Of these 52, 50 (96.15%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living American gymnasts include Larry Nassar, Bart Conner, and Simone Biles. The most famous deceased American gymnasts include Herman Glass, and Edward Hennig. As of April 2024, 29 new American gymnasts have been added to Pantheon including Dominique Moceanu, Kerri Strug, and Kim Zmeskal.

Living American Gymnasts

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Deceased American Gymnasts

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Newly Added American Gymnasts (2024)

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