Polina Astakhova

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Olympic medalist
Polina Astakhova
Medal record
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Gold	1956 Melbourne/Stockholm	Team competition
Gold	1960 Rome	Team competition
Gold	1960 Rome	Uneven bars
Gold	1964 Tokyo	Team competition
Gold	1964 Tokyo	Uneven bars
Silver	1960 Rome	Floor exercise
Silver	1964 Tokyo	Floor exercise
Bronze	1956 Melbourne/Stockholm	Team, portable apparatus
Bronze	1960 Rome	All-around
Bronze	1964 Tokyo	All-around

Polina Ghrighor'ievna Astakhova (Russian:Полина Григорьевна Астахова) (October 30, 1936, in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR - August 5, 2005 in Kiev, Ukraine) was a Soviet/Ukrainian gymnast who won ten medals (five gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals) at the Summer Olympics, where she participated as a member of the USSR team in 1956, 1960 and 1964.

Astakhova became interested in artistic gymnastics at age 13, after she had watched the gymnastics championships in Donetsk, a city, where their family moved a short time before. She trained in the local gymnastics sports club Shakhtyor, where her trainer was the Honoured Trainer of the USSR Vladimir Alieksandrovitch Smirnov.

Astakhova earned a nickname The Russian Birch in Western countries for her exceptional grace, and at the 1960 Olympics she was even called Madonna by the Italian journalists. Between 1956 and 1966 Astakhova was on top of many international and national competitions especially on the uneven bars apparatus event. She was a member of the USSR team between 1955 and 1968.

In 1954 Astakhova competed in the USSR Championships for the first time and in a year she made the USSR National team at the 1956 Summer Olympics. She was the youngest team member and contributed to the team's gold. At the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympics in Rome she led in the all-around, but lost a whole point for a fall on beam, which was the seventh routine of eight contested. She was very disappointed by the accident and even did not compete that year, although in Rome she won the gold in the team competition and on the bars, silver on the floor and bronze in the all-around. She recovered after the 1961 European Championships, where she won gold medals on the bars and on beam. ^[1] Competing in the 1964 Summer Olympics, Astakhova contributed to the team's gold, won on the bars, was second on the floor and third in the all-around.

After she finished her career, since 1972 she worked as the USSR State Trainer for Ukrainian SSR for some time. In 2002 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. ^[2] Astakhova spent the last years of her life in Kiev, Ukraine before her death at age 68 from undisclosed causes.

[edit] Achievements (non-Olympic)

Year	Event	AA	Team	VT	UB	BB	FX
1956	USSR Championships	3rd			3rd		3rd
1957	USSR Championships				3rd
1958	World Championships		1st		3rd
	USSR Championships	3rd		3rd	2nd		3rd
1959	European Championships				1st		1st
	USSR Championships	1st			1st	2nd	1st
	USSR Cup	1st			1st	3rd	1st
1960	USSR Championships				1st	2nd	1st
	USSR Cup	1st
1961	European Championships	2nd			1st	1st	2nd
	USSR Championships				2nd	1st	2nd
	USSR Cup				2nd	1st
1962	World Championships		1st
	USSR Championships	3rd			2nd		3rd
1963	USSR Championships	3rd			1st		2nd
	USSR Cup	1st		2nd	1st	2nd	1st
1964	USSR Championships				2nd		1st
1965	USSR Championships	2nd				3rd
	USSR Cup	1st
1966	World Championships		2nd
	USSR Championships	3rd
1967	USSR Championships				3rd

[edit] References

• ^  (Russian) Polina Ghrighor'ievna Astakhova. Legends of the Soviet sports. Retrieved on May 2, 2006.

• ^  POLINA GHRIGHOR'IEVNA ASTAKHOVA. International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved on March 26, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Biography and achievements
• Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique profile for Polina Ghrighor'ievna Astakhova

This article contains information from the website http://www.gymnast.ru/, incorporated into the Wikipedia with permission from its author E.V.Avsenev.