Aleksandr Dityatin and Michael Phelps are the only athletes to win eight medals at one Olympics.
Portrait of gymnast Alexandr Dityatin, wearing his gold medal.
Bettmann Archive
Aleksandr Dityatin, who won eight medals at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, has died at age 68, according to the International Gymnastics Federation, the Russian Olympic Committee and the Russian Gymnastics Federation.
Dityatin was one of two athletes to win eight medals at a single Olympics. Swimmer Michael Phelps won eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Games, plus six golds and two bronze at the 2004 Athens Games.
In 1980, Dityatin earned team, all-around and still rings gold for the Soviet Union.
He added silvers on high bar, parallel bars, pommel horse and vault and bronze on floor exercise, giving him a medal in every men's artistic gymnastics event. On vault, he became the first man to earn a perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics history.
Dityatin also won four gold medals at the 1979 World Championships and three gold medals at the 1981 World Championships.
After retiring, he worked as a gymnastics coach in his native St. Petersburg.
Category: General Sports
