Vitaly Scherbo

Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo (born 13 January 1972) is a Belarusian former artistic gymnast. One of the most successful gymnasts of all time, as of at least as recently as after the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, he is the only male gymnast in the 100+ year history of the World Championships to have won a world title in all 8 events (individual all-around in 1993, team in 1991, floor in 1994, 1995 and 1996, horizontal bar in 1994, parallel bars in 1993 and 1995, pommel horse in 1992, rings in 1992, vault in 1993 and 1994). He was the most successful athlete at the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning 6 of 8 events – team, all-around, and 4 of the 6 event finals.

Gymnastics career

His first international performances were in 1990–1991, when he competed for the USSR team at the World Championship and the World Cup. He was the 1991 World All-Around silver medalist behind teammate Grigori Misutin; scored a perfect 10.0 on the vault at the European Championships in 1990; and starred at the Goodwill Games in Seattle. He had occasional bouts of inconsistency, and as the 1992 Barcelona Olympics approached, the Unified Team coaches regarded him as less of a medal prospect than his more experienced and reliable teammates. In one of the most dominant performances in history, Scherbo won six out of the possible eight awarded gold medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. His golds came in the team event, the all-around, pommel horse (tie), rings, vault, and parallel bars.

Scherbo and his wife Irina relocated to the United States, settling in State College, Pennsylvania. The move enabled them to take advantage of Scherbo's Olympic success.