Jair Lynch, a two-time Olympian in 1992 and 1996, became the first male African-American gymnast to medal at an Olympics. It was in Atlanta where he earned the silver medal on parallel bars.
In 1992, and at the age of 20, Lynch was the youngest member of the men’s Olympic Team in Barcelona, where he narrowly missed winning the bronze medal on parallel bars by 0.1. He was a member of the 1995 World Championships team and the winner of five gold medals at the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival, a record shared with former national team members Scott Johnson and Bill Roth.
Lynch was selected as a member of the All Pac-10 Academic Team, where he captained Stanford University‘s two-time NCAA National Championships gymnastics team. A graduate of Stanford, Lynch earned both a BS in Civil Engineering and BA in Urban Design.
After returning to the Washington, DC area in 1997, Lynch founded the Jair Lynch Companies, lending his project management expertise to construction projects for a positive impact on the community. Lynch served as Chairman of DC Mayor Anthony Williams’ community development transition team and was also an Executive Board Member of the Washington-Baltimore Olympic 2012 Bid Committee. He also served as an Athlete Director on the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors.
