Tom Schlesinger

Thomas Kurt Schlesinger (born c. ) is a retired American artistic gymnast. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and won a gold medal at the 1987 Pan American Games.

Early life and education Schlesinger has called Fort Collins, Colorado, and Boulder, Colorado, home. As a youth, he participated in gymnastics with his older brother Arthur and Tom was the Colorado state all-around championship while in high school. In April 1982 while Schlesinger was recovering from right knee reconstruction, he witnessed his older brother Arthur fall from the horizontal bar while warming up which resulted in Arthur's paralysis. As a junior, he was the 1987 NCAA men's gymnastics championship all-around champion and was the co-champion on the parallel bars with Nebraska teammate Kevin Davis. Nebraska won the 1988 NCAA men's gymnastics championship team title and Schlesinger was awarded the 1988 Nissen-Emery Award as the top senior male collegiate gymnast.

Schlesinger was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team for seven consecutive years.

At the 1991 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, Schlesinger placed fourth and was named to the 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships team for the United States but a shoulder injury forced him to be replaced by John Roethlisberger. He was petitioned into the 1992 United States Olympic trials due to injury, but an 18th place finish resulted in him not being selected for the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Legacy Schlesinger was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2006. He was later inducted into the University of Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.

Personal life Following his gymnastics career, Schlesinger earned his PhD from the University of Colorado, graduated from the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, and became an ophthalmologist and retina specialist. In his spare time he enjoys juggling fruit.