Kurt Thomas 1979 World Championships

[LaBiche67]

Putain, il a inventé le breakdance !!!



[tsi2568]

Incredible!

[Mechagnomics]

Those were some mint routines, this guy was a first class baus.

[BOOM7STAR]

I remember the first time in competion watching him do the famous move that is so rightly named after  him, the THOMAS FLAIR

[ThomsonBreaker]

od jego imienia koło jest zwane Thomasem ;]

[Nanacamz]

easy to do when you 4 foot 9 inches tall and 98 pounds

[rascalMatt17]

@Nanacamz REALLY??? No.... your full of SHIT !!

[hero2villain]

Gymkata!

[RsnDisfigure]

@hero2villain haha i was just about to say that but u bet me to it =P

[sophiegkohne]

3:03 what just happened? is this real life?

[picaridin1]

All I have to say: WOW!

Bow my head to this man!

[Broham434]

man is fucking godlike

[cmdesign01]

two things: Kurt set the stage for every gymnast to follow him from when he performed. And gawd yes didn't he make things look so so so easy. Talk about fluidity. I grew up during that period. It was because of him I got into gymnastics. He was amazing. Man....what a performer and person.

[coachgeo]

Forgot how slow and controlled Kurt was. In some way agree with others here... Gymnastics.... and even dance in General has lost its elegance. Slow and controlled allows for the average person to see efficiency.... and as homans we enterpret eficiancy as GRACE and ELEGANCE. Now our Art/Sport athletes are efficient but FAST. Example a Power Tumbling Gymnast. It takes a trained eye to see the efficiency now.. so its lost its appeal to average Joe.

[carlosyamara]

I am in awe. The guy was incredible, the boycott really messed up his chances for Olympic glory.

[whitetrashoutlaw]

@carlosyamara The olympic boycott was dumb, we didn't boycott the nazi olympics and we kicked their asses in several events. Besides the olympics are for the people not their governments.

[NickyRamone77]

Despite the harsh criticism, I think his "Gymkata" movie rules. I loved it as a kid, and I watched it again as an adult and it's still good.

[thebelly2010]

@NickyRamone77 I agree.

[ironmaidenftw329]

gymnastics used to be so much more elegant. there isnt the same attention to detail these days.

[FlurpsIxoye]

@ironmaidenftw329

I totally agree! I thought about how much more beautiful this high bar routine is than the ones they use now. This has flow and beauty written all over it. Nowadays it's just 2-3 giants to set for a big trick, and then the big trick. And then again: 2-3 giants, big trick. It makes the routine so chopped up =( Also I like that it's a lot of swings that stop and reverse the direction!

[lamamba3]

excelente rutina

[Musket300]

Lol, This is my mom's cousin

[thebabycakes71]

he was merely training for his cheesy karate flick "GYMKATA" ..hahaha...

[GR8GUY54]

@thebabycakes71

Oh, but I loved that movie so much as a little boy. Very talented gymnast!

[thebabycakes71]

@GR8GUY54 yeah...meee too!! i watched it at least a dozen tymes...it was actually a good movie {in my yung opinion} i don't know how i would like it if i watched it these daze, but i definitly loved it once upon a time.

[HinenoChikyuu]

Is the Thomas Flair named after him?

[thebelly2010]

@HinenoChikyuu Yes.

[oltsokka]

Nice, but i feel bad for those socks, they almost reach his ears.

[Cizafy]

Kurt Thomas has got to be the best US male gymnast..

He created the Thomas Salto which left Elena Mukhino quadraplegic..

He was sheer talent :)

[ALMat101]

his landings are so smoooooooooooooth

[afallenangel100]

briliant

[deogrou]

I'm sure he trained over 9000 times for that, seriously. I'm not kidding.

[7beers]

When did Kurt Thomas first perform the Thomas salto? He's 17 here, so it couldn't have been too long before this, right? In fact, is this possibly his first Thomas salto? Anyone know more about this?

[Vermontist]

@7beers Kurt was born in 1956, making him 23 at the 1979 Worlds, not 17. He did show a The Flair at the 1976 Olympics, unfortunately falling right afterwards. Still, the move recieved extra applause from the knowledgable Montreal audience.

[7beers]

@Vermontist (1) You are right -- my math was wrong. (2) What do you mean when you write "he did show a The Flair" -- what does that mean? (3) So he fell on the Thomas salto in 1976? Seems that almost everyone falls on this move -- plus some, esp. Helena Mukhina, were really hurt by it. It would have been better if he had never invented it.

[Vermontist]

@7beers I had a typographical error in there; it should have read, "he did show The Thomas Flair" on pommel horse at the 1976 Olympics, although he fell after it." So far as I know, he didn't fall on the Thomas salto.

[capibara3]

very graceful

[Cell306]

wow he makes it look easy "!

[realkef]

inventer of flare

[Anaconda3513]

this guy is strong!

[dabreezie2004]

Kurt was the best. It did suck that he didn't get to go to the Olympics. We can thank Jimmy Carter for that.

[andrewsuzukirider]

A REAL life Spider-Man!!!

[woof10s]

yup and he survived and still won and still has stories 2 tell!

[USANieke]

He does his excercise like a girl!!

[hitsugaya1001]

ok..........he doesn't have any dancing elements and back then, tumbling passes were not as difficult as the ones today. LOL. on what basis do you think he performs "like a girl"? women's gymnastics is incredibly difficult too, ya know.

[USANieke]

Ofcourse I know that womens gymnastics is also difficult. It's extremely difficult!!!

His form is like a girl...

[JazzyWizzleFizzle]

holy shit! did this guy invent fricking gymnastics or sumthing, he is a legend!!

[sabatheus]

He invented the Kurt Thomas Flair, which you see him execute on the Pummel horse. It's now pretty much standard technique.

[ghettopresas]

its "FLARE" Dude

[sabatheus]

The move is commonly spelled flair in gymnastics.

[teekrew]

it's also "pommel"

[hitsugaya1001]

it's flair in gymnastics, flare refers to a burst of flames.

[hitsugaya1001]

he invented the thomas salto, which is a 1 and 3/4 somersault with a full twist.

[NoMotif]

whoa! crazy!

love how he just sprung into action on the high bar.

And he has PERFECT double backs... its crazy!

[TuesdayPillow]

Thomas had a LOT of style and just enough arrogance that you HAD to like him. He deserved an Olympic competition for sure.

[golfmaniac007]

best BBoy ever!  j/k.

[sanokai]

he is like a bird heavy

[ktgymchic09]

yea he is the best gymnast! he is my idol for womens gymnastics! He is also a fantastic coach

[penske13]

that's as on as i have ever seen any gymnast. EVER!

[penske13]

that muther fucker was great!! GYMKATA BABY!!!

[minmeicwz]

This is the famous THOMAS SALTO!

the first diagonal he does when he falls in his neck its named thomas salto and its banned from gymnastics, because its too risky and it caused a back injury in famous gymnasts like yelena mukhina...sad but true...

I believe sang lan the chinese girl was doing this excercise when she broke her neck

[ApolytonGP]

banned for girls. It is a common elite level move for men.

[TuesdayPillow]

Sang Lan was doing a Yurchenko vault.

It is not banned for men,

Mukhina was paralyzed by this move.

[TheCrazyGymnast]

what is that at 3:19 called? i wanna learn it

[piotrunioczko]

this man is legend yes he create flares. now call this flares or thomas's flares

[JunWoo1]

or just Thomas

lol the koreans call it Thomas

[powertubemoves]

was this guy the flare creator?

[JammingJames23]

yes

[powertubemoves]

do you know where can i get more information about that? do you think that i can see a footage when he did for the first time the flare? btw thank very much~!

[vatoum]

you can see Kurt Thomas trying the flare at 1976 olympics (try "Kurt Thomas 1976"). You can hear the public say oooh! just before Kurt make a mistake (a good one but he seem very young).

He is a very imaginative gymnast with many new skills but the Thomas salto that you can see at the beginning of the floor is now banned for girls and maybe soon for men too.

But he still an awesome flying gymnast.

[leftygirl02]

Yes. Kurt has three skills in the Code of Points which are named for him. The Thomas Salto on floor, then the Thomas Flare on both floor and pommel horse.

[BudBlazze]

those all looked like perfect 10s

[cristiancor]

No entiendo mucho de gimnasia pero me gusta mucho Veo que este gimnasta tan bueno no tiene la musculatura de los gimnastas de ahora. A que se debe, ahora se necesita más fuerza o que? gracias

[aggiedude64]

i go to kurt thomas!

[jakovasaur]

The father of modern gymnastics!

[Luvasiamese2]

Kurt Thomas appeared to defy gravity... swinging legs that apparently had no weight to them at all. His grace and creativity matched with his amazing strength are still a solid 10 by any standard. What an amazing athelete! GO US and GO WORLD! US ROCKS!

[thoughtcancer]

Wow. His routines were so beautiful to watch. So classy, so flowy. I was just watching some routines by the Chinese from last years Worlds, and their routines just looked like a a series of skill strung together (even though they were performing much more difficult elements).

The great thing about Kurt was how effortlessly elegant he made it all look. I remember being 5 and seeing him on TV; my mom put me in gym the next week and I never looked back.

Kurt rocked!

[AMAubert7]

Thank you so much for posting this. He is one of the greatest of all time and it is so good to get to see him again.

[MrBrentMcBride]

he's gay he must not have a penis and dont antbody say he's double jointed because im double jointed and i can do that that good

[ktgymchic09]

you are freakin out of your mind, yu retard! he is not GAY!!!! you are just jealous that you cant do any of those skills!!!! if you think he is so gay which he is not why are you even waching this vedeo that just provs you are a retard!!!

[woof10s]

wut the frick is rong w/u!!! u obviously have no ...... im not disgusting so im not going to say that word u perv! u r jealous u scrawney little weekling!! he is my coach and if i ever see u then i will kick ur fat butt!!

[ktgymchic09]

excusse me!!!!!!!!!!!!! what gym do you even go to???? my coach can beat your fatt buut right now!!!!!! and your grammer is badd!! and you said and i cant spell retard!!!!!!!!

[woof10s]

u do not talk to me that way potty mouth! im not that low to cuss you out but i want everyone to no that u cussed me out and u can just read ur email!! stupid!

[brightgym13]

He is not gay he has a wife!!! Duh

[braindeaded]

Dude, you've watched way too many videos. nuff said.

[ktgymchic09]

dude he is my coach!!! and he is great at it!

[brillantyou]

that was sick as hell u most be old now

[kblay15]

omfg i do gym n alll

[bubblepuppy302]

OMFG he looks gay hes good and all but he to girly srry

[ktgymchic09]

he is not gay and that is how every body looked at competitons!!:|

[Halosniper128]

The best thing about this guy is that he makes this shit look so easy and he does it so effortlessly it makes you wana go out and try it.

[Vermontist]

Best US male gymnast ever (so far), and yes, that includes the reining Olympic champion. Kurt could easily have won 1980, in a very, very strong field.

[saltocafe]

agree

[dreamissbehaved]

did the US boycott in '80?

if so that sucks!!!

[leftygirl02]

Yes, the US and several other countries boycotted in 1980. In 1984, the Soviet Union boycotted the Games in the US. Just a shame on all levels.

[malvernraja]

@Vermontist then why didnt he win...? and even though its not comparable paul hamm the 2004 AA olympic gold medalist who actually did win is just as talented as kurt thomas was in comparison to the world. Paul hamm is the best us gymnast of all time.

[Vermontist]

@malvernraja Kurt was unable to compete in the 1980 Olympics due to the US boycott.

[rascalMatt17]

@malvernraja Ever heard of the 1980 olympic boycott ?

[malvernraja]

@Vermontist plus you should ask him where he saw someone do the skill that is named after him. maybe he will enlighten you on how he competed it at worlds to get it named after him after seeing someone else do it first.

[Vermontist]

@malvernraja I do not know Thomas personally, so I will likely never have the occasion to ask him anything. The Thomas was so named because he submitted it at Worlds to have it named after him. Whether someone else had done it first has nothing to do with that. That type of skill had been done by many people in acrobatics before.

[saltocafe]

I always thought that about him also, He could stick landing better than anyone.

[MaxAgond]

His landings are insane! I've never seen so little bounce so consitently. It's like he's frikkin glued to the floor or something.

[Cameron41392]

Its amazing how different gymnastics is today. It has changed so much. It is really cool to see this old style of gymnastics.

[Zotuci]

It amazes me that even over the past 30 years, the dismounts from the parallel bars have not become more difficult than a double back somersault. I guess physics won't allow a twist or a third rotation.

[crazy4gymnastics4224]

how come they go so slow when they raise their hands up and stuff??

[streetbikerbob]

cause it gives more wind resistance alowing you to control how high and fast you spin

[crazy4gymnastics4224]

what? i think you misunderstood me....they try to do dancy things in the corner....and in doing so raise their hands up slowly. and it looks funny because they can't really dance. liek when they do a hoppy thing then arm swing...it just looks kidna stupid.

[lindersi]

hmmm, he is still very impressing if you ask me, more ballet style than those breakdance influenced, new schoolers (they rock asses also)

i like mucho

[Jessbear99]

he is good

[3sets]

He was the best and now the kids are even better.

[3sets]

Socks and Gym Shoes

[Stephenlinds]

i do that while making my toast

[rikuwillkillu]

dude toast is fucking good

[shelleyk80]

lmao

[GeoffTaucer]

Amazing how far the sport has come in 30 years.

When Kurt competed, he was leagues ahead of anybody else. Some of these routines wouldn't even win a JO Level 10 meet today.

[gobendagymbug12]

what did he score?

[XsportsbabeX]

hey dats my coach!!! go kurt

[Elementofdance]

its funny that he's wearing socks, but yet think of all the muscle it takes...

[tvloonie111]

haha ppl still wore socks 2 tumble in back then

[leftygirl02]

Love his style on floor - it flows. One of the best gymnasts in US history. :D

[gungfu777]

Wasent he in the movie Gymkata?

[saltocafe]

yes

[qwerty207]

Some people just make it look so easy, very good xD

[0wn111]

W0o0O0o0oOo0oW

[BonusSize]

how old was he?

[leftygirl02]

He was born in 1956, so there he was 23.

[BonusSize]

dang, thats crazy!

[daboss1221]

very individualistic gymnastics