Vitaly Scherbo

Vitaly Scherbo

Belarusian athlete
Date of Birth: 13.01.1972
Country: Belarus

Content:
  1. Biography of Vitaly Scherbo
  2. Olympic Success
  3. Other Achievements
  4. Life After Gymnastics

Biography of Vitaly Scherbo

Vitaly Veniaminovich Scherbo, a renowned Soviet and Belarusian gymnast, was born on January 13, 1972, in Minsk, USSR. He is a six-time Olympic champion and has been honored as a Merited Master of Sport of the USSR (1991) and Merited Master of Sport of the Republic of Belarus (1994). His first coach was Leonid Vydritsky.

Vitaly Scherbo

Olympic Success

Scherbo rose to fame at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where he won six gold medals. Only one person in history has won more gold medals at a single Olympics, the legendary American swimmer Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals in Munich in 1972. Scherbo began by winning the team championship with his teammates from the Unified Team (Igor Korobchinsky, Grigory Misutin, Valery Belenky, Alexei Voropaev, and Rustam Sharipov) at the Palau Sant Jordi, where the gymnastics competitions were held. He then went on to win the all-around championship, surpassing Misutin and Belenky.

Vitaly Scherbo

On August 2, 1992, Scherbo etched his name into the history of both sports in general and artistic gymnastics in particular by winning four gold Olympic medals in a single day. He emerged victorious in the rings, vault, parallel bars, and pommel horse events. Interestingly, Scherbo was also considered a favorite in his favorite floor exercise, but during his performance, he stepped out of bounds.

Vitaly Scherbo

Four years later in Atlanta, Scherbo competed for the Belarusian team and won four bronze medals, bringing his total number of Olympic medals to 10.

Vitaly Scherbo

Other Achievements

In addition to his Olympic success, Scherbo is a 12-time world champion (including the all-around world champion in 1993), a 10-time European champion, and a two-time winner of the World Cup in artistic gymnastics. In 1992, he was awarded the Jesse Owens Prize by the IOC as the best athlete of the year.

Life After Gymnastics

Scherbo retired from his gymnastics career in 1997 after fracturing his arm in a motorcycle accident. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he has opened his own gymnastics facility, the "Vitaly Scherbo School of Gymnastics." He has been married twice, first to Irina, with whom he has a daughter named Kristina (born in the USA on March 4, 1993), and later to former gymnast Valentina.

In October 2017, Scherbo was accused of rape in 1991 by his former Olympic teammate Tatiana Gutsu.

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