Full name Timothy P. Daggett Spouse Deanne Lazer (m. 1995) Name Tim Daggett Retired 1988 | Level Senior elite Role Olympic athlete Children Peter Daggett Head coach(es) Art Shurlock Height 1.65 m | |
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Discipline Men's artistic gymnastics Education University of California, Los Angeles Similar People Peter Vidmar, Li Ning, Jessica Bendinger | ||
Assistant coach(es) Makoto Sakemoto | ||
Tim daggett on hard work
Timothy P. (Tim) Daggett (born May 22, 1962) is a former American gymnast born in Springfield, Massachusetts and an Olympic gold medalist. He is a graduate of West Springfield High School and UCLA, who competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, along with Bart Conner, Peter Vidmar and Mitch Gaylord. There, Daggett scored a perfect ‘10.0’ on the high bar, assisting his team in winning a gold medal - the first for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team in olympic history. In addition to the team gold medal, he earned an individual bronze medal on the pommel horse. In 2005, he was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Contents
- Tim daggett on hard work
- Tim Daggett Olympic Champion demonstrates what led him to Gold
- Personal
- Medical History
- US Nationals
- US Olympic trials
- World Championships
- Olympics
- Post retirement career
- References
Tim Daggett Olympic Champion demonstrates what led him to Gold!
Personal
In West Springfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 10, Daggett began his future career in gymnastics by enrolling in the Parks and Recreation Program. Advancing quickly, the local high school coach, Mr. Bill Jones, invited Tim to train with his team. Jones was the first person Tim grew to call his mentor. This is where Daggett was introduced by Bill Jones to the AA events. While he was a college student at UCLA, he competed in NCAA Division I gymnastics. He graduated from UCLA in 1986 with a degree in psychology.
Daggett is married to Deanne (née Lazer), formerly a collegiate level gymnast at Eastern Michigan University and now an M.D. practicing anesthesiology. Their children are Peter and Carlie Daggett. Tim named his son Peter after team mate Peter Vidmar. Peter's son Tim is named after Tim Daggett. They all currently live in East Longmeadow, Mass.
Medical History
Daggett’s ankles had historically always been weak. In 1980, Daggett dislocated one ankle shortly after having the other rebuilt. For months in 1986, he was forced to recover from his two ankles again being rebuilt. Immediately, following the recovery during training, his high bar release ended with Tim landing on his neck. The result was a ruptured spinal disc, and left arm nerves were also damaged. Daggett, against doctor recommendations, ignored the proposed surgery, to which would have ended his career, and caught mononucleosis following his recovery from the near-fatal landing. In Rotterdam, the 1987 world championships proved career-shattering for Tim Daggett. On the vault, he snapped his tibia and fibula and severed one of his arteries following the impact from a pike Cuervo. Surgeries adding and removing supportive braces and pins to his leg left Daggett under sedation from morphine in hospitals for three months.
U.S. Nationals
U.S. Olympic trials
World Championships
Olympics
Post-retirement career
Since his retirement following the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Daggett has worked as a television commentator, covering the gymnastics events for NBC at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London and Rio. He is the primary commentator for NBC gymnastics. He comments with Elfi Schlegel, Al Trautwig, John Tesh, Nastia Liukin, John Roethlisberger, Amanda Borden, and Andrea Joyce.
He is also the proprietor of a gymnastics facility in Agawam, Massachusetts that features competitive Boys and Girls Team Programs, as well as more basic classes for toddlers and young children. Similarly, Daggett’s facility hosts open gym sessions that are welcome to all, as well as a Martial Arts class. He coaches the competitive Boys Junior Olympic Team Program. He has had multiple national champions and national team members come from his gym. The Tim Daggett National Invitational, held at the Springfield MassMutual Center, is an annual gymnastics competition in January hosted by Tim Daggett himself.