FRISCO, Texas. — World Champion gymnast and Indiana State University graduate Kurt Thomas has died.
According to International Gymnast Media, Thomas passed away on Friday, just weeks after he suffered a tear in an artery near his brain stem causing a massive stroke. He was 64.
“All of us in the gymnastics family are sadden, shocked, and devastated by the passing of our own,” said gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci on Twitter.
“This evening I share the sorrow of our Sycamore family as we mourn the loss of Kurt Thomas,” said ISU President Deborah Curtis. “He represented his university and country with professionalism and class. We will honor his legacy later this year.”
Thomas was a five-time NCAA champion during his time at Indiana State University in an assortment of events including the parallel bars, horizontal bar, and the all-around. In 1979 he won the Nissen Award, which is considered the Heisman Trophy equivalent for collegiate gymnastics.
Thomas won silver and bronze medals in the 1975 Pan American Games and soon after qualified for the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 but did not win a medal. Between 1976 and 1980 he won three world titles in 1978 and 1979 in the floor exercise and horizontal bar.
He was also the first American male gymnast to win a world championship gold medal.
Thomas’ last shot at winning an Olympic medal came in 1980 with the Moscow Olympics, but that hope was shattered when then-President Jimmy Carter and the USOC opted to boycott the 1980 games in light of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
