Liubov Charkashyna

Liubov Charkashyna
 Gymnast 

Charkashyna at the 2012 Grand Prix Vorarlberg
Personal information
Full name Liubov Viktorovna Charkashyna
Country represented  Belarus
Born December 23, 1987
Brest, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union
Height 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Discipline Rhythmic gymnastics
Head coach(es) Irina Leparskaya
Assistant coach(es) Galina Zolotnickaya
Retired 2012
World ranking 9 (2012 Season)[1]
3 (2011 Season)[2]

Liubov Viktorovna Charkashyna (Belarusian: Любоў Віктараўна Чаркашына; Russian: Любовь Викторовна Черкашина, born December 23, 1987) is a Belarusian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist, the 2011 European ball and clubs gold medalist and two time (2012, 2011) World Cup Final all-around bronze medalist.

Competitive career

Charkashyna at the 2012 Grand Prix Vorarlberg all-around podium

Charkashyna started training in rhythmic gymnastics at a relatively late age, when she was nine years old. She made her junior international debut in 2003. She had a successful 2007 season, winning bronze in ribbon at the Grand Prix Final in Innsbruck, Austria.

Charkashyna competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and placed 15th in qualifications. She did not advance to the top 10 finals round.[3]

At the 2010 Grand Prix final in Berlin, Charkashyna won the silver medal in hoop and bronze medal in rope and ribbon final. 2011 marked her breakthrough season. She won the bronze all-around medal at the World Cup in Corbeil-Essonnes, as well as bronze in the all-around, ball and hoop at the 2011 World Cup Final in Tashkent. On May 29, at the 2011 European Championships in Minsk, she became the only Belarusian senior gymnast to win two individual gold medals at one European Championship, winning the ball final and the clubs final against reigning World and Olympic champion, Evgenia Kanaeva. Charkashyna also won the bronze medal in the hoop finals.

Charkashyna was the bronze medalist in All-around at the 2011 Summer Universiade. At the 2011 World Championships held in Montpellier, France, she finished fourth in All-around and won bronze in the ball apparatus.

In the 2012 season, Charkashyna won gold in the individual ribbon finals at the World Cup in Tashkent, as well as silver (hoop) and bronze (ball). She placed fourth in All-around at the 2012 European Championships behind Aliya Garayeva. At the 2012 World Cup Final held in Minsk, Belarus, she won the bronze medal in the All-around ahead of Russian gymnast Alexandra Merkulova who finished fourth.

At the 2012 Olympics, Charkashyna placed fifth in the qualifications with a score of 110.450. In the finals, she was able to edge out rival Aliya Garayeva for the bronze medal. After her final ribbon routine, she kissed the carpet. As soon as the overall scores appeared, she shed tears of joy when she saw that she had won the bronze medal with a total score of 111.700. Charkashyna said on winning her first Olympic medal: "I'm happy, very happy for my country and my coach and for rhythmic gymnastics in Belarus. I think it's a valuation of my hard work and my school in Belaraus. I don't think this medal is my medal, it's for the whole of Belarus."

Charkashyna retired from competition at the end of the 2012 season.

Later career

In 2013, after the World Championships held in Kiev, Ukraine, Charkashyna was elected as representative of the Athletes' Commission of the FIG in rhythmic gymnastics.[4]

Personal life

Charkashyna is married to a former Belarusian football player, Victor Molashko.[5]

Routine music information

Year Apparatus Music title [6]
2012 Hoop Primavera Porteña by Astor Piazzolla
Ball Frozen in time by Secret Garden
Clubs Caravan by Raimond Pauls
Ribbon Love Story by Francis Lai
Gala Gorod by Elena Vaenga
2011 Hoop Mission Impossible by Maxime Rodriguez
Ball ?
Clubs Green Hornet music from Kill Bill by Al Hirt
Ribbon ?
Gala La Monture by Julie Zenatti
2010 Hoop Sunrise, Sunset by Roby Lakatos
Ball Embrace music from Breathe by Nicholas Gunn
Rope Belarus folk
Ribbon ?
2009 Hoop Sunrise, Sunset by Roby Lakatos
Ball Embrace music from Breathe by Nicholas Gunn
Rope Tango by Konstantin Meladze
Ribbon Weary Sun by Jerzy Peterburgski
2008 Hoop Leelos Tune by Maksim
Rope Felicia music from Tango Forever by Luis Bravo
Clubs Czardas (Monti, Czardas Pr Violon & Piano) from Classic Meets Cuba by Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion
Ribbon Tsiganochka (Russian Gyspy folk)
2007 Hoop Against The Wind by Keiko Matsui
Rope Felicia music Tango Forever by Luis Bravo
Clubs Lo Que Vendra by Astor Piazzolla
Ribbon ?
2006 Rope Chappa by Didulya
Ball No Stop City by New Tango Orquesta
Clubs Batwannis Beek by REM Project
Ribbon ?
2005 Rope Chappa by Didulya
Ball Czardas (remix) by Vittorio Monti
Clubs Batwannis Beek by REM Project
Ribbon Croatian Rhapsody by Maksim Mrvica
2004 Hoop Ov Haiots Ashkhar by Ara Ghevorkian
Ball Czardas (remix) by Vittorio Monti
Clubs Batwannis Beek by REM Project
Ribbon Winter by Bond
2003 Hoop Vive el Verano by Paulina Rubio
Ball Czardas (remix) by Vittorio Monti
Clubs Batwannis Beek by REM Project
Ribbon ?

Detailed Olympic results

Year Competition Description Location Music Apparatus Score-Final Score-Qualifying
2012 Olympics London All-around 111.700 110.450
Love Story by Francis Lai Ribbon 28.075 26.550
Frozen in time by Secret Garden Ball 28.000 28.400
Primavera Porteña by Astor Piazzolla Hoop 28.100 28.050
Caravan by Raimond Pauls Clubs 27.525 27.450

References

  1. "FIG World standings for rhythmic gymnastics" (PDF). International Federation of Gymnastics. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  2. "FIG World standings for rhythmic gymnastics" (PDF). International Federation of Gymnastics. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  3. Olympic results
  4. "Rhythmic gymnasts have made their choice". FIG Gymnastics.
  5. Happy Ending of Gymnasts
  6. "Charkashyna RG music list". rgforum.

External links