Svetlana Boginskaya

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Olympic medal record
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Gold	1988 Seoul	Team competition
Gold	1988 Seoul	Vault
Gold	1992 Barcelona	Team competition
Silver	1988 Seoul	Floor exercise
Bronze	1988 Seoul	All-around

Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya (also spelled Boguinskaia (according to French transliteration) and Boginskaia, Belarusian: Сьвятлана Леанідаўна Багінская, Russian: Светлана Леонидовна Богинская, born February 9, 1973 in Minsk) is a Soviet/Belarusian gymnast. She was called the "Belarusian Swan" and the "Goddess of Gymnastics" due to her height, balletic grace, and long lines. She is especially renowned for the drama and artistry she displayed on floor exercise. Boginskaya competed in three Olympic Games representing three different teams—the Soviet Union in 1988, the Commonwealth of Independent States Unified Team in 1992, and Belarus in 1996. Boginskaya is a three-time Olympic Champion, winning gold medals in Vault in 1988, and Team golds in 1988 and 1992.

Boginskaya was a figure skater for several years, but began gymnastics at age eight. Two years later she moved from Minsk to train full-time at the Moscow Round Lake Gymnastics Center. By age fourteen she was a member of the Soviet national team. She won her first medal, a bronze for balance beam, during the 1987 World Championships. She became one of the best gymnasts on the Soviet team and was expected to place very well at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. She finished the games with 4 medals--team gold, gold on Vault, silver on the Floor and the All-Around bronze. It was a huge accomplishment for the young athlete in an Olympic Games that revolved around the duel between her teammate Elena Shushunova and Romania's star Daniela Silivaş.

However, the joy from her success would be short-lived. Svetlana's long-time coach Lyubov Miromanova tragically committed suicide just three days after the Olympics. Miromanova had been a surrogate mother to Sveta, as she coached and cared for Boginskaia since she moved from Minsk to train full-time in Moscow. Boguinskaya has always been reluctant to discuss this devastating time in her life. To this day, Lyubov's suicide remains a mystery, as no one could confidently say what drove her to take her own life.

A heartbroken Svetlana pressed on, and began training with a new coach, Ludmilla Popkovich. Under her tutelage, Boginskaya became World Champion in 1989 and later dedicated her performance to her late mentor.

In 1990, Boginskaya became only the third woman to sweep the European Gymnastics Championships(after Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia in 1965 and 1967, and Ludmilla Tourischeva of the USSR in 1973), winning the gold medal in every individual event. In doing so, she defended her titles in the All-Around, Vault, and Floor Exercise, and added titles in the Uneven Bars and Balance Beam. In 1991, Boginskaya fell short of defending her world title, losing the gold medal to Kim Zmeskal of the United States. However, she earned gold medals in the Team and Balance Beam competitions.

In 1992, Boginskaya, then 19 years old, had a disappointing performance at the 1992 European Championships, falling on her final event, floor exercise. She finished in fifth place, while her young teammate Tatiana Gutsu won the all-around title. Nevertheless, she was still favored to win the all-around title at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Gymnastics fans anticipated a duel between Boginskaya and her nemesis, American Kim Zmeskal. However, while Boginskaya won her third Olympic gold medal in the team competition, she finished fifth in the Individual All-Around. Instead of the anticipated showdown between Boginskaya and Zmeskal (who faltered on floor and beam in the all-around), Tatiana Gutsu and Shannon Miller provided one of the most dramatic competitions in Olympic history.

Boginskaya retired after the 1992 Olympics, but decided to make a comeback in 1995. She said that she was inspired by Katarina Witt who had made a memorable comeback of her own at the 1994 Winter Olympics. She stunned audiences worldwide by competing with more difficult routines than ever before, and with an endlessly positive attitude. In 1996, the 23-year-old Boginskaya nearly won the European All-Around Title, placing second behind then-defending World All-Around Champion (and future Olympic All-Around Champion) Lilia Podkopayeva of the Ukraine. She then progressed to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta where she delighted the crowds and was one of a number of 'older' gymnasts competing. Svetlana led her Belarus team to sixth place and competed in the all around and vault finals, though medals were not forthcoming.

Svetlana Boginskaya is one of very few women in gymnastics history to have competed in three Olympic games: others include Larissa Latynina, Věra Čáslavská, Ludmilla Tourischeva, Svetlana Khorkina, Dominique Dawes, Lisa Skinner and Oksana Chusovitina (It should be noted however, that Svetlana Boguinskaya is the only one of the three-time Olympic participants in recent history to have competed where Compulsories were a requirement at each Olympic Game she participated in). She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005. ^[1]

Contents 1 Trademarks: 2 Trivia: 3 Reference 4 External links

[edit] Trademarks:

Svetlana was noted for having more artistic and wildly different choreography than most of her other competitors, especially on her floor exercise routines.

Another of her trademarks included dismounts in which she would land with one foot placed in front of the other.

[edit] Trivia:

After the 1992 Olympics, Svetlana appeared alongside compatriot Vitaly Scherbo in the music video, "Revolution Earth," by The B-52's.

[edit] Reference

• ↑  SVETLANA BOGINSKAYA. International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved on March 26, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique profile for Svetlana Boginskaya
• Bio and Competition Results
• Biography
• CBS Sports bio
• Svetlana Boginskaya Official Site

Persondata
NAME	Boginskaya, Svetlana
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Boguinskaya, Svetlana
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Belarusian gymnast
DATE OF BIRTH	February 9, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH	Minsk, Belarus
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH