Today's tribute to the 80's!

Posted by:danafan on December 07, 1996
Today's tribute goes to:
Dmitri Bilocerchev: This 16 year old won the world AA title in 1983! He blew away the field with an unmatched combination of difficulty, style, and execution. He definitely would have been the AA favourite for LA, but he at least was able to win in Olomouc. In 1985, just shortly before the Montreal worlds, he was in a car accident and destroyed his leg (he wasn't drinking or anything like that, gymnasts don't do those kinds of things(!)). He had won Europeans earlier that year, but most people wrote him off after his accident.

Well, in 1987, he stunned the critics, coming back to win the AA at the worlds in 1987 by the smallest of margins. He also won (going from memory here) PH and HB in the finals. Some say the judges were overly lenient with him and that Korolev should have won, but that doens't make his comeback any less remarkable. In Seoul, he was again the favourite, but a stumble during an intricate one arm sequence on high bar dropped him to third. He came back in event finals to win PH (in a three way tie). I can't remember if he won any other medals. He retired after taht, but intended on a comeback in 1989, but was kicked off the USSR team (along with Gogoladze) for going on a "three day drinking binge". Arkaev must have been mistaken(!)GYmnasts aren't a wild bunch of party animals or anything....
danafan

==I think he won Rings too. Another tie. Bilo is now in Oregon according to the State Reports. I also remember him from that Tesse Troup conflict a few years back. I am too lazy to get into it but I am sure you know what I am talking about. Bilo was one of if not the greatest male gymnast of all-time.
Baitova