Kurt Thomas

Kurt Bilteaux Thomas was an American Olympic gymnast and part time actor. He was the first American male gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, doing so in 1978. One year later, he set the record for most medals won at a single worlds by an American gymnast with six, a feat matched only by Simone Biles in 2018. Despite this success, his only Olympic appearance came in 1976. He was unable to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics, where he was considered to be the favorite to win gold, due to the US's boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games. He was subsequently barred from competing in the Olympics four years later by USA Gymnastics because they determined that he had turned professional, which was a violation of their rules.