Yelena Shushunova

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Olympic medal record
Women's artistic gymnastics
Gold	1988 Seoul	Team competition
Gold	1988 Seoul	All-around
Silver	1988 Seoul	Balance beam
Bronze	1988 Seoul	Uneven bars

Yelena Lvovna Shushunova (Russian: Елена Львовна Шушунова) (born April 23, 1969 in Leningrad) is a Russian (former Soviet) gymnast, World, European, and Olympic Champion. Shushunova is renowned for her dynamic vaulting and tumbling skills; she was the first to perform a Yurchenko vault with 1.5 twists. She is also known for her longevity and exceptional consistency.

Shushunova's career highlights as a junior gymnast include gold medals at the 1982 Moscow News (now known as Moscow Stars of the World) and the Junior European Championships. In 1983 she won the USSR Cup, which she won every year until 1988 with the exception of 1984. Shushunova was unable to compete at the 1984 Summer Olympics, which were boycotted by the Soviet Union. Instead, she competed at the 1984 Friendship Games in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, where she finished third all around and helped the USSR to a gold in the team event, which they dominated.

The following year, she made her breakthrough, winning the all around title at the European Championships. She also won the gold medal on vault and floor exerice and shared the gold medal with East German Olympian Maxi Gnauck. At the World Championships, she won five medals including the all-around title, which she shared with compatriot Oksana Omelianchik. She took first on vault and finished second to her teammate Oksana Omelianchik on floor exercise with her Charleston routine showing a rare double layout, and side Arabian 1 and 3/4 salto, a skill that women are no longer allowed to compete. Here she displayed her signature skill, a straddle jump to prone support, although in the 90s this skill was fairly common and overused. Neither Shushunova nor Omelianhchik actually qualified to the all around as their teammates Irina Baraksanova and Alternate Games Champion Olga Mostepanova had a higher preliminary score, but the Soviet coaches correctly guessed that they were the two best hopes for a world title.

Shushunova continued her dominance of women's gymnastics at the 1986 World Cup in Beijing (invitation only), earning the all around, vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise titles. Here she pushed the envelope in terms of difficulty, showing a Rulfova flic (full twisting Korbut flic) on balance beam and a tucked full in double salto dismount on the uneven bars. At one point in her career she also dismounted the beam with the tucked full in.

1987 was a highlight for gymnastics because it showcased the growing rivalry between Soviet Shushunova and Romanian Daniela Silivaş. In Moscow, Shushunova lost the European title to Silivaş. Later that year her team was second at the World Championships to the Romanians, a famous victory for them and only the third time the USSR had ever failed to win that title. Elena also lost the world title to the graceful Romanian Aurelia Dobre, finishing in second place. However, in an underpar championships for the USSR Elena did provide them with one taste of gold, retaining her vault title with her textbook Yurchenko full and Yurchenko 1.5, beating Romanian Eugenia Golea who showcased a Yurchenko double full. She also earned a bronze medal on uneven bars, debuting a unique skill, a giant with a half turn to a Markelov (commonly called a full twisting Tkatchev). She also picked up the world title on floor exericse sharing the title with Daniela Silivaş. Both gymnasts won the title with a perfect combined score of 20.

Thanks to her European and world medals, Elena was a leading contender for the all-around title at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. After defeating the Romanians in the team competition there was a close battle for the title between Shushunova and Daniela Silivaş (Romania). Shushunova entered the all around competition with a minimal lead, competing with Silivaş in the same rotation. What followed was a closely matched an exciting battle, each taking it in turns to wrench the lead from the other, and both aware that a hopped dismount or poorly executed somersalt could decide the title. Each was majestic, and the pair scored multiple tens. In the last rotation on vault, Silivas performed first and did well enough to ensure that Elena required a ten to take the title. This she earned, twice, and became Olympic overall champion. She took two more medals; a bronze on uneven bars and a silver on balance beam, both behind Silivas. The tally could have been higher, but Elena faltered on her two stongest apparatus, falling on a Yurchenko double full and making an uncharacteristic stumble on floor exercise.

Shushunova retired after the Olympics and currently lives in her hometown ofSaint Petersburg, site of the 1998 European Championships which she helped to organize. In 2004 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.^[1]

[edit] Reference

1. ^ YELENA SHUSHUNOVA. International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved on March 26, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique profile for Elena Shushunova
• List of competitive results at Gymn Forum
• (Russian) Biography
• Whatever Happened to Elena Shushunova?
• Schuschunova element on the floor (3rd one in the sequence) - animated .gif