Larissa Latynina

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Larissa Latynina Personal information Full name: Larissa Semyonovna Latynina Country Represented:  Soviet Union Date of birth: December 27, 1934 (1934-12-27) (age 73) Place of birth: Kherson, Ukrainian SSR Discipline: Women's artistic gymnastics Level: Senior international Gym: Round Lake national training center; Burevestnik Voluntary Sports Society Retired: 1966

Medal record Olympic Games Gold 1956 Melbourne Team competition Gold 1956 Melbourne All-around Gold 1956 Melbourne Vault Gold 1956 Melbourne Floor exercise Gold 1960 Rome Team competition Gold 1960 Rome All-around Gold 1960 Rome Floor exercise Gold 1964 Tokyo Team competition Gold 1964 Tokyo Floor exercise Silver 1956 Melbourne Uneven bars Silver 1960 Rome Uneven bars Silver 1960 Rome Balance beam Silver 1964 Tokyo All-around Silver 1964 Tokyo Vault Bronze 1956 Melbourne Team, portable apparatus Bronze 1960 Rome Vault Bronze 1964 Tokyo Uneven bars Bronze 1964 Tokyo Balance beam World Championships Gold 1954 Rome Team Gold 1958 Moscow Team Gold 1958 Moscow All-around Gold 1958 Moscow Vault Gold 1958 Moscow Balance beam Gold 1958 Moscow Uneven bars Gold 1962 Prague Team Gold 1962 Prague All-around Gold 1962 Prague Floor exercise Gold 1966 Dortmund Team Silver 1958 Moscow Floor exercise Silver 1962 Prague Vault Silver 1962 Prague Balance beam Bronze 1962 Prague Uneven bars European Championships Gold 1957 Bucharest All-around Gold 1957 Bucharest Vault Gold 1957 Bucharest Balance beam Gold 1957 Bucharest Uneven bars Gold 1957 Bucharest Floor exercise Gold 1961 Leipzig All-around Gold 1961 Leipzig Floor exercise Silver 1961 Leipzig Balance beam Silver 1961 Leipzig Uneven bars Silver 1965 Sofia All-round Silver 1965 Sofia Uneven bars Silver 1965 Sofia Balance beam Silver 1965 Sofia Floor exercise Bronze 1965 Sofia Vault

Larissa Semyonovna Latynina (Russian: Лари́са Семёновна Латы́нина; born December 27, 1934 in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR) was a Soviet gymnast who was the first female athlete to win nine Olympic golds. She still holds the record for being awarded the most Olympic medals at 18 (nine gold medals, five silver and four bronze).

Contents 1 Early life 2 Gymnastics career 3 Retirement 4 Awards and honors 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early life

Born Larisa Dirij, she first practiced ballet, but turned to gymnastics after her choreographer moved out of town. She graduated from high school in 1953 and moved to Kiev to attend the Lenin Polytechnic Institute and continue training. There Latynina trained at the Burevestnik Voluntary Sports Society. At the age of 19, she debuted internationally at the 1954 Rome World Championships, winning the gold medal in the team competition.

[edit] Gymnastics career

At the 1956 Summer Olympics, she competed with Ágnes Keleti of Hungary to become the most successful gymnast of the Olympics. Latynina beat Keleti in the all-around event, and the Soviet team also won the team event. In the event finals, Latynina won gold medals on the floor (shared with Keleti) and vault, a silver medal on the uneven bars, and a bronze medal in the now discontinued team event with portable apparatus. Keleti also won six medals: four golds and two silvers.

After a very successful World Championships in 1958 (winning five out of six titles despite competing whilst pregnant), Latynina was the favorite for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In the all-around event she led the Soviet Union to take the first four places, thereby also securing a win in the team competition by a margin of nine points. Latynina also successfully defended her floor title, took silver medals in the balance beam and uneven bars events, and bronze in the vault competition.

Latynina won all-around titles at the 1962 World Championships, beating Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia. Still the defending World Champion at the 1964 Summer Olympics, she was beaten by Čáslavská in the all-around competition. Latynina did however add two more gold medals to her tally, winning the team event and the floor event both for the third time in a row. A silver medal and two bronzes in the other apparatus events brought her total of Olympic medals to eighteen — nine gold medals, five silver and four bronze. She won a medal in every event in which she competed.

[edit] Retirement

Latynina retired after the 1966 World Championships and became a coach for the Soviet national gymnastics team, a position she held until 1977. She organized the gymnastics competition at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and around the year 2000 appeared in the "Soviet Sports Wars" episode of the PBS documentary The Red Files, discussing her experiences as a gymnast and Soviet coach.

She is a citizen of Russia, and lives (as of 2004) in her estate near the town Semenovskoye, Moscow region.

[edit] Awards and honors

1989: Olympic Order (silver), International Olympic Committee
1998: Inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame^[1]

[edit] Bibliography

Larissa Latynina (1975). The Balance (in Russian). Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya. 

[edit] References

1. ^ LARISSA LATYNINA. International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved on May 12, 2007.

[edit] External links

• International Olympic Committee's profile on Latynina
• Larissa Latynina at the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique profile page
• International Gymnast's profile on Latynina
• Gymn Forum: Complete list of Latynina's competitive results
• profile on DatabaseOlympics.com
• (Russian) Larissa Latynina's profile in the Modern Museum of Sports includes photos of her and some of her decorations

v • d • e Olympic champions in artistic gymnastics – women's all-around 1952: Maria Gorokhovskaya    1956: Larissa Latynina    1960: Larissa Latynina    1964: Věra Čáslavská    1968: Věra Čáslavská    1972: Ludmilla Tourischeva    1976: Nadia Comăneci    1980: Yelena Davydova    1984: Mary Lou Retton    1988: Yelena Shushunova    1992: Tatiana Gutsu    1996: Lilia Podkopayeva    2000: Simona Amânar    2004: Carly Patterson

v • d • e World champions in artistic gymnastics – women's team competition 1934:  Czechoslovakia • 1938:  Czechoslovakia • 1950:  Sweden • 1954:  USSR • 1958:  USSR • 1962:  USSR • 1966:  Czechoslovakia • 1970:  USSR • 1974:  USSR • 1978:  USSR • 1979:  Romania • 1981:  USSR • 1983:  USSR • 1985:  USSR • 1987:  Romania • 1989:  USSR • 1991:  USSR • 1994:  Romania • 1995:  Romania • 1997:  Romania • 1999:  Romania • 2001:  Romania • 2003:  United States • 2006:  China • 2007:  United States

v • d • e World champions in artistic gymnastics – women's all-around 1934: Vlasta Dakanova    1938: Vlasta Dakanova    1950: Helena Rakoczy    1954: Galina Rud'ko    1958: Larissa Latynina    1962: Larissa Latynina    1966: Věra Čáslavská    1970: Ludmilla Tourischeva    1974: Ludmilla Tourischeva    1978: Elena Mukhina    1979: Nellie Kim    1981: Olga Bicherova    1983: Natalia Yurchenko    1985: Yelena Shushunova, Oksana Omelianchik    1987: Aurelia Dobre    1989: Svetlana Boginskaya    1991: Kim Zmeskal    1993: Shannon Miller    1994: Shannon Miller    1995: Lilia Podkopayeva    1997: Svetlana Khorkina    1999: Maria Olaru    2001: Svetlana Khorkina    2003: Svetlana Khorkina    2005: Chellsie Memmel    2006: Vanessa Ferrari    2007: Shawn Johnson