Ksenia Semenova

Ksenia Semenova
— Gymnast —
Semenova in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Ksenia Andreyevna Semenova
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1992-10-20) October 20, 1992 Tula, Russia
Hometown	Novomoskovsk, Russia[1]
Residence	Moscow
Height	154 centimetres (5 ft 1 in)
Weight	48 kilograms (106 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior
Years on national team	2006 – 2011
Club	CSKA Moscow
Gym	"Lake Krugloe"
Head coach(es)	Marina Nazarova
Assistant coach(es)	Nadezda Nabokowa
Choreographer	Olga Burova
Music	Puttin' On The Ritz (2008), Tango Colegiales/Murga Tango(2009-2010), Clubbed To Death (2010-2011)
Eponymous skills	Beam: Full turn with leg held in back attitude Floor: Double turn with leg held in back attitude
Retired	2012
Medal record Competitor for  Russia World Championships Gold 2007 Stuttgart Uneven Bars Gold 2010 Rotterdam Team European Championships Gold 2008 Clermont Uneven Bars Gold 2008 Clermont Balance Beam Gold 2009 Milan All-Around Gold 2010 Birmingham Team Silver 2008 Clermont Team Silver 2009 Milan Uneven Bars Bronze 2009 Milan Floor Exercise

Ksenia Andreyevna Semenova^[2]also Semyonova, (born October 20, 1992) is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2007 World Champion on the uneven bars, and the 2008 European Champion on the uneven bars and the balance beam. She was a member of the silver-medal-winning Russian team at the 2008 European Championships. Semenova is the 2009 European All-Around Champion.

2007

Semenova broke onto the international scene at the WOGA classic in January, where she placed first on uneven bars and balance beam. She continued her success as part of the Russian team at the Gymnix International in Montreal, scoring an exceptional 15.95 on uneven bars, blowing away the rest of the field with her world leading start value of 7.2. She also won balance beam with an exceptional 15.85 and placed 3rd in floor exercise. In March at the Russian National Championships, she helped the Central region to victory in the team competition, won the uneven bars with 15.975 and took 3rd on beam. Semenova was unable to compete at the European championships in April but returned to win the uneven bars competition at the Russian Cup in July. Her main competition of the year came at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in September, where she succeeded in becoming world champion on the uneven bars, scoring 16.35 over Nastia Liukin and Yang Yilin, making her the first Russian world champion in gymnastics since her idol Svetlana Khorkina.

2008

Semenova's first major meet came in April with the European championships, where she helped Russia take silver in the team competition and secured gold in both the uneven bars and the balance beam, with scores of 15.9 and 15.95 respectively. In May she competed at the Moscow Stars World Cup, where she won another gold on the bars, scoring 16.075. Her success continued in June when she finished 2nd at the Dutch Open, behind Anna Pavlova, the two of them leading an all Russian sweep of places 1 to 6. Semenova had problems during the Russian Cup in July, where she fell on beam in qualifications and on vault in the all around final, but she still managed to take silver behind her teammate Afanasyeva.

Aged just 15, Semenova represented Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics and placed 4th in the all-around, just out of medal contention but surpassing all expectations. Semenova's team was considered to be one of the top four competitive teams (along with China, the USA, and Romania), but narrowly missed an opportunity to medal in Beijing, trailing the third place Romanian team by less than a full point. Semenova also placed 6th in the uneven bars competition. In the team preliminaries, she placed 8th overall on balance beam; her excellent scores almost qualified her to compete in the balance beam finals. However, only two athletes from each country may compete in the event finals. Her teammates Anna Pavlova and Ksenia Afanasyeva qualified in sixth and seventh place, edging her out of the competition. Semenova and Afanasyeva both earned a score of 15.775, but the tie-breaking rules gave the advantage to Afanasyeva. Semenova competed in the uneven bars finals, placing a respectable 6th, but was left behind the front runners Nastia Liukin, Yang Yilin, He Kexin and Beth Tweddle because of a deficit in start value, which Semenova had little time to upgrade due to her determination to excel in the all around competition. Semenova ended the season with a wrist injury that prevented her from competing at the World Cup finals in Madrid.

2009

Semenova started her season at the Russian National Championships, where she placed second in the all around to outstanding junior Aliya Mustafina. She won the uneven bars and floor exercise to book her place on the European championships squad. Semenova placed first in the all-around competition at the 2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Milan, Italy, just ahead of her teammate Afanasyeva. In the event finals, she was second on the uneven bars behind Beth Tweddle of the United Kingdom and third on floor, behind Tweddle and the 2006 World Champion, the Italian Vanessa Ferrari. Semenova also qualified for the balance beam final and finished in fifth place with an uncharacteriscically shaky routine. In July she suffered a minor injury to her wrist, keeping her out of the Russian Cup, but was confirmed to the Russian team for the world championships in October along with Yekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova and Ksenia Afanasyeva, who eventually withdrew due to an injury. After a qualifying round marred by wobbles and a fall on her floor routine, she was 10th going into the all-around but failed to make any event finals. Another fall from the uneven bars during the first rotation prevented her from a better placement and she finished 13th overall.

2010

The season was marred by injuries for Semenova, who had to sit out the earlier competitions to rest a painful back injury. Nevertheless, she competed at the European Championships in Brussels on floor and beam and qualified for the floor final, from which she eventually gave up her spot to let her teammate Anna Myzdrikova (who went on to win the silver medal) compete. She also contributed to Russia's win in the team final. Semenova was selected to compete at the World Championships in Rotterdam, again only competing in two events. Whereas her beam routine in the qualifying round was steady and well-executed, she counted two falls in her floor exercise on her opening pass (double layout) and on her double pike. Another steady beam routine helped her team to win Russia's first team World title in history and earned Semenova her second World title.

Retirement

Another injury forced Semenova out of training after the 2010 World Championship. She has never given a public statement about ending her career, but it is widely presumed that she has retired. She has been seen in a number of national competitions in Russia, judging and helping to coach the younger girls from her former gym.

Routines

As of 2009, Ksenia performs the following routines:

Special skills

Semenova performs the "Tkatchev to immediate giant full" combination on the uneven bars and may be the first female gymnast to perform it (but the combination [toe-on] Tkatchev to immediate giant was already performed by former gymnasts like Elise Ray in 2000's or Roza Galieva in 1993).^[3] This move is usually done by men on the horizontal bar. She also performs a Deltchev salto on uneven bars, now an unusual skill in the women's sport and an uncommon piked double Arabian dismount. She has a skill on floor named after her, a double spin in back attitude which carries a D rating under the 2009–12 Code of Points.

References

External links

• Official Website
• Ksenia Semenova at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique

v t e World Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team Competition     1934:  Czechoslovakia 1938:  Czechoslovakia 1950:  Sweden 1954:  Soviet Union 1958:  Soviet Union 1962:  Soviet Union 1966:  Czechoslovakia 1970:  Soviet Union 1974:  Soviet Union 1978:  Soviet Union 1979:  Romania 1981:  Soviet Union 1983:  Soviet Union 1985:  Soviet Union 1987:  Romania 1989:  Soviet Union 1991:  Soviet Union 1994:  Romania 1995:  Romania 1997:  Romania 1999:  Romania 2001:  Romania 2003:  United States 2006:  China 2007:  United States 2010:  Russia 2011:  United States 2010:  Russia (RUS), Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anna Dementyeva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Semenova