Liubov Charkashyna

Liubov Charkashyna
— Gymnast —
Charkashyna at the 2012 Grand Prix Vorarlberg
Personal information
Full name	Liubov Viktorovna Charkashyna
Country represented	Belarus
Born	(1987-12-23) 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]
Medal record Competitor for  Belarus Rhythmic Gymnastics Olympic Games Bronze 2012 London All-Around World Championships Silver 2011 Montpellier Team Silver 2010 Moscow Team Silver 2009 Mie Team Silver 2007 Patras Team Bronze 2011 Montpellier Ball Bronze 2005 Baku Team Bronze 2003 Budapest Team European Championships Gold 2011 Minsk Ball Gold 2011 Minsk Clubs Silver 2011 Minsk Team Bronze 2011 Minsk Hoop Bronze 2005 Moscow Team World Cup Final Bronze 2012 Minsk All-around Bronze 2012 Minsk Ball Bronze 2011 Tashkent All-around Bronze 2011 Tashkent Hoop Bronze 2011 Tashkent Ball Grand Prix Final Silver 2010 Berlin Hoop Bronze 2010 Berlin Rope Bronze 2010 Berlin Ribbon Bronze 2007 Innsbruck Ribbon Summer Universiade Bronze 2011 Shenzhen All-around Bronze 2011 Shenzhen Ribbon Bronze 2011 Shenzhen Ball

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

Detailed Olympic results

References

External links

• Liubov Charkashyna at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique