Rowland “Flip” Wolfe became the youngest male gymnast to win gold
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo don’t start until July, but this month, Woodrow Wilson High School remembered a former student who became the youngest male gymnast to win gold.
Rowland “Flip” Wolfe was 17 years and 307 days old when he won gold in tumbling at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.
His signature move was a backflip with a double twist, but his other aerial tricks surpassed anything performed at that time.
“He’s mastered every type of air flight, twists and somersaults, all without the aid of a propeller,” said the narrator of a demonstration video produced in the 1930s. “These twists and turns, to him, are just as simple as walking across the street.”
Watch him somersault over nine classmates in the video:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ_HIjPYi0g]Wolfe graduated from Woodrow in 1934. After high school, he served in World War II by working on the Manhattan Project, the effort to develop the atomic bomb.
He died 10 years ago in January. He was 95.
