Olympic Gold Medalist

Peter Vidmar is the highest scoring American gymnast in Olympic history. The winner of numerous national and international titles, Peter Vidmar finished his successful career at the 1984 Olympic Games. As the USA men's gymnastics team captain, he led his teammates to America's first team gold medal with their stunning upset victory over the defending world champions, the People's Republic of China.

Peter Vidmar went on to win the silver medal in the individual all-around competition (the only American to have ever won an Olympic All-Around medal), and with a perfect score of 10, he captured the gold medal on the pommel horse.

Peter Vidmar continues to contribute to the Olympic movement today. He serves as the Co-Chairman of the US Olympic Committee Summer Sports Summit, an annual series of workshops designed to prepare America's medal hopefuls to win Gold in future Olympics. Peter has worked for many years as the gymnastics commentator for CBS Sports and ESPN and continues to work as a journalist or broadcaster at each summer Olympics. Peter Vidmar has served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness & Sports, the Executive Board of the United States Olympic Committee, and the Executive Committee of USA Gymnastics.

Peter Vidmar is now a powerful and entertaining speaker at corporate meetings and trade shows. With 2 decades of experience helping people throughout the country to realize their own potential, Peter does much more than just speak about his experiences. In his inspiring, humorous, and entertaining presentations, he also performs portions of his Olympic routine on the pommel horse to drive home his message. Peter Vidmar demonstrates the three components of a perfect score in gymnastics - Risk, Originality and Virtuosity (ROV) - and discusses how they apply to success in business and in life. His message brings something unique and refreshing to the corporate arena.

Topic Descriptions

Motivation —ROV... Risk, Originality and Virtuosity.
In Peter Vidmar's powerful keynote presentation, Peter converts Olympic Gold into corporate wisdom. With a live demonstration on the pommel horse, artfully blended into his speech, Peter uses the ROV principles to vividly describe requirements for a perfect 10 in business and in life. Audiences gain fresh perspectives on reaching higher levels of performance, using their creativity to separate them from the competition, and perfecting their needed skills on a daily basis. As Peter Vidmar says, "If you want to be at your best when it really matters, you've got to be at your best every time." Humor, relevance to his audience, high energy, drama and standing ovations are all characteristic of this presentation

Teamwork — Getting your Team on the Podium
Gymnastics is a team sport where the outcome is based entirely on a collection of individual performances. Asks Peter, "At the Olympic Games, while I am competing with my teammates, I am simultaneously competing against them for the individual medals. So how do we work together on a daily basis for the benefit of the team?" Using his ROV principles, Peter Vidmar describes the tools his team needed to apply, every day, to reach the top of the Olympic Podium, as a team and as individuals.

Innovation — Pushing The Envelope
One of the reasons gymnastics is the most watched event of the Olympic Games is that the viewer can always expect something new and different from the athletes. Gymnasts are masters at pushing the envelope, as they constantly try to reinvent their athletic art form. Innovation also requires some risk, and Peter Vidmar discusses and shows how the judging category of ROV: Risk, Originality, and Virtuosity, has become a mandate for constant change in his sport. In describing how we need to stop playing catch up with the competition, Peter says, "A perfect 10 just a few years ago may only score an 8.5 today. If I don't innovate, I'll be left behind very quickly!"

What People Are Saying:

"Your keynote presentation was awesome! I received great feedback from our people. You impressed our organization with your passion and enthusiasm for something you believe in and how that determination created your success in the Olympics and beyond. Your presence made our meeting very, very special. Although you've been a perennial speaker at our Northwestern Mutual regional meetings, your message is timeless and is more powerful each time."
--Northwestern Mutual Financial Network

"Your motivating and inspiring address on Risk, Originality, and Virtuosity contributed to tremendous results. We cannot tell you how many times we heard our partners say that this was the single best industry event they had ever attended. And many of them shared that your performance was a highlight for them — energizing, relevant, and completely engrossing. The experiences you bring as an Olympian and your ability to clearly communicate principles to achieving excellence is truly inspiring regardless of your industry or focus. We look forward to working with you in the future."
-- Intuit Master Builder

"Thank you for your participation for our annual sales award banquet at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. We have motivational speakers every year for this event. In recent years we have had a fellow Olympic star, sales motivators, and football coaches. Without question, your performance was rated by the audience as the most dynamic and the most interesting! Our Chairman and CEO, Max Messmer said afterwards, 'It was a 10!' Your collaboration with us on the attention to details was truly appreciated. You are very easy to work with. I would highly recommend your performance to any organization seeking a speaker who will get the audience really engaged! I would enthusiastically be a client reference should you ever need one."
--Robert Haft International

"I've worked with many professional speakers during the past 15 years, but never has one been so concerned about his clients as Peter Vidmar was."
--Sprint

"We felt Peter Vidmar's presentation was extremely relevant and was enthusiastically received. He has set a standard that will be difficult to improve upon in future meetings."
--Xerox

"Peter could not have done a better job closing out our series of events. His insights, anecdotes, wisdom and wit will long resonate with my colleagues."
--Disney

"Clearly, Peter's ability to educate people about the demands of gymnastics and draw a correlation to the business world was creative, informative, and certainly kept everyone's attention."
--Maritz Travel

"It sounds so simple - Risk, Originality and Virtuosity. Yet the application of those three simple words and the resulting action we take will either make or break our organization."
--Information Resources