The most famous and beautiful gymnasts in Russia. Olympic history of rhythmic gymnastics
November 12, 2016, 22:41Svetlana Khorkina twice won Olympic gold in gymnastics, became a three-time absolute world champion and a three-time absolute European champion. Thanks to the implementation of the most difficult combinations on the uneven bars, she received the unofficial title "Queen of the bars".
Alina Kabaeva- one of the most titled gymnasts in the world. Her name is inscribed in the Guinness Book of Records, since at the age of 15 Alina became the absolute champion of Europe in rhythmic gymnastics among adults. Today she is known not only for her sporting achievements, but for her active political and social activities.
Evgenia Kanaeva became the first ever two-time Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics in the individual all-around. And at the 29th World Championships in the Japanese city of Mie, the athlete set an absolute record by winning 6 gold medals out of 6 possible.
Aliya Mustafina in Rio de Janeiro for the second time she won Olympic gold in gymnastics for her country. For the first time this happened at the 2012 Olympics in London - in the same year, Aliya was recognized as the athlete of the year in Russia.
World champion, six-time European champion Laysan Utyasheva won many deafening victories, four elements of rhythmic gymnastics invented by her are named after her. And although an injury in 2002 forced her to abandon big-time sports, she continues to be a media personality as a television and radio host.
Irina Chashchina achieved fame at the same time as Alina Kabaeva, because of which the athlete was on the sidelines for a long time. One of these cases is the Olympic Games in Athens, where Irina lost gold to Kabaeva.
Two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics in 2000 Elena Zamolodchikova won many more victories at the world and European championships, but the title of "Bride of Sydney" was assigned to her.
Two-time silver medalist at the 2016 Olympics Apiary Maria currently performs the most difficult vault in the Russian national gymnastics team.
Margarita Mamun brought Russia a gold medal in the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The coach and fans call the girl the "Bengal Tigress" because her father is from Bangladesh.
Yana Kudryavtseva, who brought Russia a silver medal at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, is the youngest absolute world champion in the history of rhythmic gymnastics.
Today, the resounding victories of Russian gymnasts in various competitions are familiar to contemporaries. But even 30 years ago, these achievements did not exist at the Olympic Games. The history at the Olympics, in that impeccable and victorious form, began not so long ago.
Olympic history of rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics as a type of competition came to the Olympics only in 1984. The decision to accept this sport as part of the Olympic tournaments was made at a congress held after the 1980 Olympics. 1984 became the starting point for the Olympic competitions in rhythmic gymnastics, where only women's teams take part. However, the USSR national team did not take part in these debut competitions - the Union announced a boycott and refused to participate in this Olympics. It was a response to the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics.
The very first Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics was the Canadian athlete Lori Fang. Of course, without the participation of Soviet athletes, other countries of the world had a good chance of winning. But, refusing to participate in the games at the Olympics-84, many countries united and created an alternative tournament. Here, in rhythmic gymnastics, gymnasts from Bulgaria especially excelled.
Golden Age of Bulgarian gymnasts
The unofficial games of the Soviet countries were held in Sofia, and two Bulgarian gymnasts then received the highest award. The debut performance of the USSR national team in rhythmic gymnastics was marked by the second place.
Marina Lobach went down in history as the first Soviet Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics.
At the 1988 Olympics, the struggle for championship in gymnastics was already much more serious. Bets were placed on the brilliant performance of Bulgarian athletes in the past, but the girls from the USSR national team did not plan to retreat and were excellently prepared. The final fight between two Bulgarians and girls from the USSR was brilliant, but Marina Lobach flawlessly completed the qualifying program, so she got the gold. And so began the triumphal procession of Russian gymnasts on the Olympic pedestals.
The victory at the Olympics-88 for the gymnasts of the Soviet Union was final. After the collapse of the USSR, a national team formed from gymnasts from the CIS countries went to the 1992 Olympic Games. The team included Alexandra Timoshenko and Oksana Skaldina, both girls were from Ukraine. The gold medal of those games went to Alexandra, and the silver went to Spain.
The Summer Games in 1996 were not so victorious for the Russian team. The speakers of Yana Batyrshina stunned the audience and the jury on the spot with their new elements and general approach to the performance. But Yana could only get silver in the individual all-around. In the group performance, Russia was awarded bronze. This alignment only spurred the coach Irina Viner and the athletes, and already at the next Olympics, Russia becomes the owner of the gold medal.
Viner, Zaripova, Kabaeva, Batyrshina at competitions in Japan. 1997
The Sydney Olympics in 2000 became "gold" for Yulia Barsukova, however, according to journalists, Alina Kabaeva unanimously became the star of the games. It is she who will get the gold medal at the next Olympic competition. In 2004, the team will take home 2 medals in total - they deserve silver in these competitions.
Olympic champions
In 2008, the sports world met a unique Russian gymnast - Evgenia Kanaeva. The winner of the Beijing Games was Anna Bessonova, who took first place, who took home the bronze. Returning to Moscow, the girls worked even harder, preparing for new Olympic heights. The next Olympics, held in London in 2012, left no chance for gymnasts from other countries to win. Both the highest awards - both gold and silver medals in the individual all-around went to Russia with their owners - Zhenya Kanaeva and Dasha Dmitrieva. Gold in group exercises deserved from Ukraine. Two-time winner, Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics Evgenia Kanaeva is almost ending her sports career, but worthy athletes are already preparing to replace her.
The 2016 Rio Olympics made the Russian team the absolute winner in both types of performances - both in the group and in the individual all-around, the girls took first place. The amazing exercises of Russia, which were demonstrated by the gymnasts, brought Yana Kudryavtseva to the final with a silver medal. And in the group all-around, the victory was not easy - the number with ribbons barely brought the Russian team into the TOP-3 according to estimates, which made all the fans nervous. But a little later, in the room with hoops and clubs, the athletes resolutely took the lead, leaving no chance for other teams.
At the same Olympics, a new star of Russian gymnastics, Margarita Mamun, lit up in the sports sky. According to the results of the competition, a young, 19-year-old girl won an unconditional victory in the individual all-around.
Undoubtedly, rhythmic gymnastics and Russia are almost inseparable concepts in the world of sports. Being the winners of all Olympic competitions, Russian gymnasts do not stop, winning more and more new titles and titles in other tournaments. And many athletes in the standings based on the results of all their victories have titles with the prefixes "multiple", "absolute" or "record". This speaks of the phenomenal diligence and diligence of fragile but strong girls.
On the last Saturday of October, the All-Russian Day of Gymnastics is celebrated. This year it fell on October 25th. In honor of the holiday, we decided to recall the most beautiful Russian gymnasts.
Yana Batyrshina
Honored Master of Sports of Russia, represents rhythmic gymnastics in individual exercises. The girl began to do gymnastics at the age of 5, and already at 12 she passed the most difficult selection for the national team of the Uzbek SSR. After the collapse of the USSR, the family moved to Russia, and Yana competed for our country at competitions.
Batyrshina left big sport at the age of 19, and a year later she became the head coach of the Brazilian rhythmic gymnastics team. In general, during her sports career, the girl won 180 medals and more than 40 cups. In addition, Yana worked on television, where she hosted sports programs. In her personal life, the gymnast is also doing well - Yana is married to the famous producer Timur Weinstein, from whom she gave birth to two daughters.
Alina Kabaeva
Alina, now 31, remains one of the sexiest and most desirable female athletes. Just like Yana Batyrshina, Alina was born in Tashkent. She began taking her first sports steps at the age of 3.5, and at the age of 12, Kabaeva and her mother moved to Moscow to train with Irina Viner.
At the age of 12, Kabaeva moved to Moscow with her mother to train with Irina Viner.
She has been playing for the Russian national team since 1996 and has won many awards. She retired from sports in 2007. Having completed her sports career, Alina did not give up social life, at one time she often flashed on the television screen, starred for magazines. In 2007, she became a State Duma deputy, and left this post seven years later. The media actively discussed Kabaeva's personal life, in particular, there were rumors about her affair with President Putin. True, there was no confirmation of this information.
Three songs are dedicated to Alina: "Wordplay" - "Alina Kabaeva", Murata Nasyrova - "Don't cry, my Alina!" and Maxim Buznikin - "Alina - half of my fate."
Evgenia Kanaeva
The mother of this native of Omsk was a master of sports in rhythmic gymnastics, but her grandmother brought the girl to the sport. At the age of 12, Evgenia was invited to a training camp in Moscow as part of a group of young gymnasts. After the first serious performance, Kanaeva was noticed and invited to train at the Olympic reserve school. She, like many successful Russian gymnasts, was taken under her wing by Irina Viner. In the course of her sports career, Zhenya almost always won gold, and Laysan Utyasheva once said about her: "Kanaeva is Chashchina and Kabaeva combined."
In 2012, the young gymnast completed her sports career, a year later she married hockey player Igor Musatov, and a year later she became a mother. What Evgenia is doing now is not known for certain. Most likely, he fulfills his dreams: he learns to draw, play the piano, learns foreign languages and a computer, and also brings up his son.
Laysan Utyasheva
At first, the parents wanted to send Laysan to the ballet, but by chance, in the queue at the store, the gymnastics coach Nadezhda Kasyanova noticed the girl, noting the extraordinary flexibility of the joints. Since then, the girl has been doing gymnastics. At the age of 12, Laysan moved to Moscow, and two years later she received the title of master of sports. The gymnast won many awards, but in April 2006 she was forced to end her sports career.
After completing her career, Laysan became a sports commentator and TV presenter, and also starred in several TV shows. Now Utyasheva is happily married to Comedy Club resident Pavel Volya, raising her son Robert and hosting a TV show on the TNT channel "Dancing".
Irina Chashchina
The girl began to do gymnastics at the age of 6, and at 12 she joined the Russian team. While still a junior, Irina took first place at the CIS Spartakiad and won the Russian championship among girls twice in a row. At the age of 17, Irina was noticed by Irina Viner, who began to raise an Olympic champion from a gymnast. Together with Alina Kabaeva, Chashchina became a star in rhythmic gymnastics, her name thundered all over the world. But in 2001 there was a doping scandal, the gymnast lost her awards and was disqualified for two years from the sport.
Together with Alina Kabaeva, Chashchina became a star in rhythmic gymnastics, her name thundered all over the world.
Having completed her sports career, Chashchina began to develop other projects. The gymnast took part in several creative projects (“Circus with the Stars” and “Dancing on Ice”), wrote a book, opened her own rhythmic gymnastics school and starred for the Russian version of Maxim magazine more than once.
It is worth noting that Chashchina is not free - in 2011 she married a friend of Dmitry Medvedev, businessman Evgeny Arkhipov. The couple has no children yet.
Margarita Mamun
Margarita is only 18 years old, but she has already shaken the world of sports with her achievements in gymnastics. At the age of seven, together with her sister, Rita began attending the gymnastics section, and at the age of eleven she began to consciously prepare for a career as a gymnast. Mamun achieved her first big successes in 2011, when she became the champion of Russia in clubs, ball and hoop exercises, and in 2013 she consolidated her results. Interestingly, because of her origin, Irina Viner calls Rita the "Bengal Tiger". (She is half Russian, half Bengali. Her father is from Bangladesh). Many compare the girl with Evgenia Kanaeva, only Mamun herself does not see any resemblance, except for the love of gymnastics.
Karolina Sevastyanova
At the age of 5, her mother brought Carolina to a rhythmic gymnastics school. In the first month of classes, children were evaluated, promising ones were selected. The girl did not pass the selection, she was not taken to school. Only now Carolina did not forget about gymnastics and decided to become a gymnast by all means. Later, the girl ended up in a sports center, where they took everyone in a row, and after a while she ran into Irina Viner. Since then, Carolina has been playing in the Russian national team. But after the 2012 Olympic Games, she decided to end her sports career (at the age of 17).
By the way, Sevastyanov was recognized as the most beautiful athlete of the CIS countries at the Games in London. At one time, there were rumors on the Internet about Carolina's romance with the famous hockey player Alexander Ovechkin. The only confirmation of these gossip is the joint photographs of Carolina and Alexander on vacation in St. Tropez.
Uliana Donskova
The victory gave the gymnast strength, and she began to train even harder.
Like Karolina, Ulyana started doing gymnastics at the age of 5. The first few years of training practically did not bring results, but Ulyana did not retreat. The efforts were not in vain, and in 2000 the girl won the regional championship in the first category. The victory gave the gymnast strength, and she began to train even harder.
For the first time, the gymnast became the world champion on September 12, 2009 at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Japan. Ulyana will never forget this date! After winning the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the girl, along with her friend Karolina Sevastyanova, ended her sports career. What Donskaya is doing now is not known for certain.
Yana Lukonina
Little is known about this Russian gymnast. We only know that Yana was born in Ryazan and has been playing for the Russian national team since 2006. Compared to her colleagues, Lukonina does not have many awards. The injury is to blame for everything, because of which Yana had to quit the sport and take up coaching.
However, Yana gets great pleasure from coaching: “I like to work as a coach, working with children is a pleasure. Responsibility, of course, is felt. In addition to gymnastics, they can ask some everyday questions, ask for advice. Of course, I try to help them.".
Daria Dmitrieva
Another gymnast who has already completed her sports career. Daria began gymnastics at the age of 8 under the guidance of the honored coach of the USSR Olga Buyanova. At the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship, held in 2009, Dmitrieva received as many as three medals. That was incredible!
Daria ended her sports career in September 2013 due to an ankle injury.
Daria ended her sports career in September 2013 due to an ankle injury. It was very difficult for both Dmitrieva herself and her coach to make such a decision. But health matters most. Currently, the girl works as a coach in a rhythmic gymnastics club, passing on her experience to the younger generation.
Here are the absolute champions in artistic gymnastics over the past 30 years.
Alexander Dityatin
Alexander Nikolayevich was born in Leningrad on August 7, 1957. He is a three-time Olympic champion, seven-time world champion, one of the best gymnasts of all time. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.
Seven-time world champion in 1979 and 1981. Two-time European champion in 1979. Multiple champion of the Spartakiad of the peoples of the USSR. The only gymnast in the world who has medals in all evaluated exercises at the same Games: at the 1980 Moscow Olympics he won 3 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze medals. With this result, he entered the Guinness Book of Records. He played for the Leningrad "Dynamo".
But three years later, shortly after the Moscow Olympics, he received a ridiculous but serious injury - a dislocation of the ankle joint. Alexander continued to perform for some time and even won awards at major international competitions. In November 1981, Dityatin entered (already as a captain) on the platform of the next World Championship, which was held in Moscow, at the Olimpiysky sports complex. Alexander said: "I will do everything for the team to win." And did. The Soviet team again became the best in the world, and Dityatin himself won 2 more gold medals - in exercises on the rings and on the uneven bars. After completing his career as an athlete, he became a coach, having worked until 1995.
Koji Gooseken
Japanese gymnast, Olympic champion and world champion, born November 12, 1956 in Osaka, graduated from the Japan University of Physical Education. In 1979 he won silver and bronze medals at the World Championships. In 1980, due to a boycott organized by Western countries, he was unable to take part in the Olympic Games in Moscow, but in 1981, at the World Championships held in Moscow, he won gold, silver and two bronze medals.
At the 1983 World Championships, he won gold, silver and bronze medals. In 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics, he won two gold, silver and two bronze medals. In 1985 he won the bronze medal of the World Championship; in the same year he announced the end of his sports career.
Vladimir Artyomov
Vladimir Nikolaevich was born in Vladimir on December 7, 1964. He is a four-time Olympic champion, one of the best gymnasts of all time. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. He graduated from the Vladimir State Pedagogical Institute, where he later taught. He spoke for the local VDFSO of the Burevestnik trade unions.
World champion in the team championship (1985, 1987 and 1989), in exercises on the uneven bars (1983, 1987 and 1989), silver medalist in the all-around (1985), in the team championship (1983), in floor exercises (1987 and 1989), in exercises on the crossbar (1989). Absolute champion of the USSR (1984). In 1990 he moved to the USA, where he currently lives in Pennsylvania.
Vitaly Shcherbo
Vitaly was born in Minsk on January 13, 1972. He is a six-time Olympic champion in 1992 (the only non-swimmer in history to win 6 gold medals in one Games), one of the best gymnasts of all time (the only man who became world champion in all 8 disciplines - individual and team championships, as well as in all 6 shells). Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Honored Master of Sports of the Republic of Belarus.
Shcherbo ended his sports career in 1997 after breaking his arm as a result of a fall from a motorcycle. Currently, Vitaly lives in Las Vegas, where he opened his gym "Vitaly Scherbo School of Gymnastics"
Li Xiaoshuang
His name in translation means "the youngest of the pair" - he is the younger twin brother of another Chinese gymnast - Li Dashuang. The brothers were born on November 1, 1973 in Xiantao, Hubei Province.
From the age of 6 he began to do gymnastics, in 1983 he entered the provincial team, in 1985 - the national team, then due to injury he returned to the provincial team, in 1988 he again entered the national team, then returned to the provincial team again, and in 1989 became a member of the national team for the third time.
In 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics, he won a gold medal in floor exercise and a bronze medal in ring exercises (as well as a silver medal as part of the team). In 1994, at the Asian Games, he won gold medals in floor exercises and all-around, silver in exercises on rings, bronze in exercises on pommel horse and uneven bars (as well as gold in the team); in addition, in 1994, Li Xiaoshuang won the gold medal of the World Championship among teams and the silver (in the vault) - the individual world championship. In 1995, he won a gold medal in the all-around World Championships, and a silver medal in floor exercise (as well as a gold medal as part of the team). In 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics, Li Xiaoshuang won a gold medal in the all-around and a silver in floor exercise (as well as a silver as part of the team). In 1997 he completed his sports career.
Alexey Nemov
Aleksey Yurievich Nemov - Russian gymnast, 4-time Olympic champion, retired colonel of the Russian Armed Forces, editor-in-chief of the Bolshoy Sport magazine, was born on May 28, 1976 in Mordovia.
At the age of five, Alexey began to practice gymnastics at a specialized children's and youth school of the Olympic reserve of the Volga Automobile Plant in the city of Togliatti. He studied at the 76th school.
Alexei Nemov won his first victory in 1989 at the USSR youth championship. After a successful start, almost every year he began to achieve outstanding results. In 1990, Alexei Nemov became the winner in certain types of all-around at the Spartakiad of the USSR Student Youth. In 1990-1993, he was a repeated participant in international competitions and a winner both in certain types of the program and in the absolute championship.
In 1993, Nemov won the victory at the RSFSR Cup in the all-around, and at the international meeting "Stars of the World 94" became the bronze medalist in the all-around. A year later, Alexei Nemov wins the Russian Championship, becomes a four-time champion of the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg and receives three gold and one silver medals at the European Championships in Italy.
At the XXVI Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA), Alexei Nemov becomes a two-time Olympic champion, receives two gold, one silver and three bronze medals. In 1997, he won a gold medal at the World Championships in Switzerland. In 2000, Alexey Nemov won the World and European Championships, became the winner of the World Cup. At the XXVII Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia), Alexei became the absolute champion, having won six Olympic medals: two gold, one silver and three bronze.
Nemov came to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens with the rank of a clear favorite and leader of the Russian team, despite the injury he received before the competition, showing a high class, confidence in execution and complexity of the programs. However, his performance on the crossbar with the most difficult elements (including 6 flights, including a bunch of three flights by Tkachev and a flight by Ginger), was overshadowed by a scandal. The judges gave clearly underestimated marks (especially the judge from Malaysia, who gave only 9.6 points), the average was 9.725. After that, the indignant spectators in the hall, standing for 15 minutes, with incessant screams, roars and whistles, protested against the decision of the judges and supported the athlete with applause, preventing the next athlete from entering the platform. Confused judges and the technical committee of the FIG for the first time in the history of gymnastics changed their marks, setting the average a little higher - 9.762, but still depriving Nemov of a medal. The public continued to resent and stopped the protests only when Alexey himself came out and asked the audience to calm down. After this incident, some judges were removed from judging, an official apology was made to the athlete, and revolutionary changes were made to the rules (in addition to the mark for technique, a mark for complexity was introduced, which took into account each element separately, as well as links between individual complex elements).
Here is the scandalous one:
Paul Hamm
Paul Elbert Hamm was born on September 24, 1982 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.
Olympic champion and two-time Olympic medalist. Two-time world champion and three-time winner of the world championships.
Hamm became the first U.S. gymnast to win a gold medal in the overall championship. However, the success of the American at the Games in Athens was overshadowed by a judicial scandal. The fact is that the gymnast from South Korea, Yang Te Yun, who was the leader in the Olympic competitions, was unfairly underestimated for performing on the uneven bars. The mistake of the referees was recognized, but the results of the competition were not revised.
Yang Wei
Yang Wei was born on February 8, 1980 in Xiantao, Hubei Province. Yang is a Chinese gymnast, multiple world champion and Olympic champion.
On August 14, 2008, Yang Wei won gold at the Beijing Olympics with 94.575 points. After completing his speech, he shouted into the camera lens: “I miss you!” He addressed these words to his fiancee, former gymnast Yang Yun. After the 2008 Olympic Games, Yang Wei ended his sports career, and he wanted to present the gold medal to his fiancee as a gift.
Unfortunately, there is very little information about Jan Wei in Runet. If there are experts in artistic gymnastics among the readers, we will be grateful for the addition.
Kohei was born on January 3, 1989 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan. He is the 2012 Olympic champion in the absolute championship, four-time Olympic vice-champion, seven-time world champion.
He is famous for being the first gymnast to win the all-around at all major starts in one Olympic cycle, including the all-around at the Olympics. He also became famous for performing complex exercises with incredible accuracy. His skills were praised in International Gymnast Magazine as "a combination of great complexity, consistency and extreme elegance of performance."
In October 2014, Utimura, speaking at the World Championships in Nanning, China, again beats his rivals in the men's all-around with a score of 91.965, breaking away from his closest pursuer Max Whitlock by 1.492 points. Kohei sets a new personal record - a five-time absolute world champion in the men's all-around. Uchimura also wins two silver medals: in the team final of the all-around, and in a separate form of gymnastic all-around - on the crossbar.
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