Billy Paul (gymnast)

While a student at UC Berkeley, Paul was a member of the California Golden Bears men's gymnastics team. He competed for the Golden Bears from 1979 to 1982 and was named the Pac-10 Conference Gymnast of the Year.^[9][10][11] He was a finalist for the 1982 Nissen-Emery Award.^[12] He was the only American, and of a small number of gymnasts worldwide, to use a triple somersault dismount on the horizontal bar.^[13]

While in college, Paul was first named to the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team in 1981.^[14] He represented the United States at the 1983 Pan American Games and won a silver medal in the team all-around and added an individual bronze medal on the horizontal bar.^[15]

After Sho Fukushima replaced Hal Frey as the Cal Golden Bears' men's gymnastics head coach, Paul joined Fukushima's staff as an assistant coach in 1984.^[9] Later that year at the 1984 United States Olympic trials, Paul placed 11th in the all-around with a score of 74.305, and as a result, he was not named to the Olympic team.^[16] The following year, Paul won six medals at the 1985 U.S. National Sports Festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, including floor and vault gold medals.^[5][17][18] He was later named as an alternate for the United States team at the 1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.^[19]

Foregoing job offers, Paul continued to attempt to earn a berth on a United States Olympic team.^[20] At the 1988 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, Paul shared the vaulting national championship with the reigning champion, John Sweeney.^[1][21] As a result of his performance at the championships, Paul qualified for the 1988 United States Olympic trials, one that likely was to be his last.^[22][23] His performance at the trials did not earn a top-7 place and he was not named to the team.^[24] He also ended his tenure as an assistant coach at Cal in 1988.^[9]

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