Denis Ablyazin

Denis Ablyazin
— Gymnast —
Personal information
Full name	Denis Mikhailovich Ablyazin
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1992-08-03) August 3, 1992 Penza, Russia
Height	1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Club	Dinamo Penza
Gym	"Burtases"
Head coach(es)	Sergei Starkin
Medal record Competitor for  Russia Olympic Games 2012 London Vault 2012 London Floor Exercise World Championships 2014 Nanning Floor Exercise 2014 Nanning Rings European Championships 2013 Moscow Vault 2014 Sofia Team 2014 Sofia Floor Exercise 2014 Sofia Rings 2014 Sofia Vault 2012 Montpellier Team 2015 Montpellier Rings 2015 Montpellier Vault 2012 Montpellier Rings 2012 Montpellier Vault Summer Universiade 2013 Kazan Team 2013 Kazan Rings 2013 Kazan Vault

Denis Mikhailovich Ablyazin (Russian: Денис Михайлович Аблязин, born 3 August 1992 in Penza,^[1] Russia) is a Russian artistic gymnast. He is the 2012 Olympics vault silver medalist, 2012 Olympics floor bronze medalist, two-time European vault champion (2013 and 2014), the 2014 European champion on floor and rings and the 2014 World Champion on floor.

Biography

As a child, Denis practiced ice hockey. His goal was to become a hockey player. During his childhood, he also tried cycling and playing football, but finally chose artistic gymnastics - the sport he excelled in the most. The sport truly appealed to him after he brought home a gold medal from a youth version of the sports festival, Spartakiad, hosted by his primary school in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

As of 2014, Denis has been married to Ksenia Semyonova, two-time World champion, and former member of the Russian women's gymnastics team.

Career

2011

In March, Denis competed at Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus, Germany. In the event finals he placed fourth on floor with a score of 14.925 and third on vault with a score of 16.050.

In April, he competed at the European Championships in Berlin, Germany, where he finished sixth in the floor exercise final, scoring 15.250.

In October, Denis competed at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. He contributed scores of a 15.033 on floor, 15.000 on rings and 16.266 on vault toward the Russian team's fourth-place finish. Individually, he placed fifth in the vault final with a score of 16.174, after qualifying in ninth place and being brought in as a reserve when Marian Dragulescu of Romania was pulled out of the competition due to injury.

2012

In May, Ablyazin was selected, alongside Emin Garibov, David Belyavskiy, Anton Golotsutskov and Aleksandr Balandin to represent Russia at the 2012 European Championships in Montpellier, France. Denis contributed scores of a 15.266 on floor, 15.241 on rings and 16.066 on vault toward Russia's second-place finish. Ablyazin won two bronze medals in the rings and vault finals, scoring a 15.433 on rings and 16.062 on vault.

2012 London Olympics

Denis competed for the national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Men's artistic team all-around. He was the only Russian male artistic gymnast to win 2 medals, a bronze on floor and a silver on vault at the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[1]

2013

In March, Ablyazin competed at the World Cup, which was held in France, where he won gold on rings and placed second on floor.

In April, Denis won the gold medal in the vault final at the 2013 European Championships in Moscow, Russia, scoring 15.408.

In July, Ablyazin, alongside the Russian team (Nikolai Kuksenkov, Emin Garibov, David Belyavskiy and Nikita Ignatyev) competed at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia, where they won the gold medal, ahead of Ukraine and Japan. In the event finals, Denis placed second both on rings and vault.

In September, Denis competed at the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, however had a very bad qualification round and failed to qualify to any event finals.

2014

At the start of the season, Denis competed at the World Cup in Cottbus, Germany and placed first in the rings and floor finals.

In May, Denis, along with his teammates (Nikolai Kuksenkov, Aleksandr Balandin, Nikita Ignatyev, David Belyavskiy), competed at the 2014 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. He contributed scores of 15.833 on floor, 15.500 on rings, 15.366 on vault toward Russia's first-place finish with a total score of 267.959, ahead of Great Britain. Individually, Ablyazin placed first in all events he qualified, winning the gold medal on floor with a score of 15.700, on rings, scoring 15.800 (tied with teammate Aleksandr Balandin) and on vault with a total score of 15.150.

Ablyazin won a total of 4 gold medals making him the most successful gymnast in the entire 2014 European Championships.^[2] He was the first gymnast to win 4 gold medals in a single European Championships since Marian Dragulescu in 2004.

In October, he competed at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China and helped the Russian team 5th-place finish. In the event finals, Denis won his first gold medal on floor, scoring 15.750, and placed third on rings with a score of 15.700. He also qualified to the vault final, but fell on both vaults and finished in 8th place.

Competitive history

References

External links

• Denis Ablyazin at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique