Ksenia Semyonova

Ksenia Semyonova
— Gymnast —
Semyonova in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Ksenia Andreyevna Semyonova
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1992-10-20) October 20, 1992 Novomoskovsk, Russia
Residence	Moscow
Height	154 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Weight	48 kg (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)	Nadezhda Nabokova
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 Event 1st 2nd 3rd World Championships 2 0 0 European Championships 4 2 1 Competitor for  Russia World Championships 2007 Stuttgart Uneven Bars 2010 Rotterdam Team European Championships 2008 Clermont Uneven Bars 2008 Clermont Balance Beam 2009 Milan All-Around 2010 Birmingham Team 2008 Clermont Team 2009 Milan Uneven Bars 2009 Milan Floor Exercise

Ksenia Andreyevna Semyonova (Russian: Ксения Андреевна Семёнова; born October 20, 1992, in Novomoskovsk, Russia) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2007 world champion on the uneven bars, the 2008 European champion on the uneven bars and the balance beam, and the 2009 European all-around champion. She also won a gold medal with the Russian team at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She represented Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics where she finished fourth in the team competition, fourth in the all-around, and sixth in the uneven bars final.^[1]

Career

2007

Semyonova's initial international success was 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 a 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. Semyonova 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 Svetlana Khorkina in 2003.

2008

Semyonova'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 first to sixth. Semyonova 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.

2008 Summer Olympics

Aged just 15, Semyonova represented Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics and placed fourth in the all-around, just out of medal contention. Semyonova'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. Semyonova also placed sixth in the uneven bars competition. In the team preliminaries, she placed eighth 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 Afanasyeva qualified in sixth and seventh place, edging her out of the competition. Semyonova and Afanasyeva both earned a score of 15.775, but the tie-breaking rules gave the advantage to Afanasyeva. Semyonova 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 Semyonova had little time to upgrade due to her determination to excel in the all-around competition. Semyonova ended the season with a wrist injury that prevented her from competing at the World Cup finals in Madrid.

2009

Semyonova started her season at the Russian National Championships, where she placed second in the all around to junior Aliya Mustafina. She won the uneven bars and floor exercise to book her place on the European championships squad. Semyonova 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. Semyonova also qualified for the balance beam final and finished in fifth place with an uncharacteristically 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 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 Semyonova, who had to sit out the earlier competitions to rest a 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 gold medal in the team final. Semyonova 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 Semyonova her second world title.

Retirement and current life

Semyonova retired after the 2010 World Championships due to on-going injuries and growth spurts.^[2] She has since become a meet judge and regularly attends meets that members of the several Russian gymnastics teams compete in. Frequently, she also helps coach at her old gymnastics club.,^[3] and remains close friends with her old teammates. In 2014, she married Russian gymnast Denis Ablyazin, a promising member of the current senior Men's Artistic Gymnastics team of Russia.^[4]

Routines

As of 2009, Ksenia performed the following routines:

Special skills

Semyonova 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).^[5] 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.

Competitive history

Semyonova in 2009

Semyonova performing a sheep jump.

See also

• List of Olympic female gymnasts for Russia

References

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 2014:  United States 2015:  United States 2010:  Russia (RUS), Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anna Dementyeva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Semenova