Natalia Shaposhnikova

Natalia Shaposhnikova
— Gymnast —
Full name	Natalia Vitalyevna Shaposhnikova
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	(1961-06-24) June 24, 1961
Residence	New Jersey, USA
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Eponymous skills	Shaposhnikova (uneven bars)
Medal record Competitor for  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1980 Moscow Team 1980 Moscow Vault 1980 Moscow Balance Beam 1980 Moscow Floor Exercise World Championships 1978 Strasbourg Team 1979 Ft. Worth Team 1978 Strasbourg All-Around World Cup Final 1977 Oviedo Vault 1978 Sao Paulo Vault 1978 Sao Paulo Balance Beam 1978 Sao Paulo Floor Exercise 1977 Oviedo All-Around 1978 Sao Paulo All-Around European Championships 1979 Copenhagen Balance Beam 1979 Copenhagen Floor Exercise 1979 Copenhagen All-Around 1979 Copenhagen Vault

Natalia Vitalyevna Shaposhnikova (Russian: Наталья Витальевна Шапошникова), (born June 24, 1961), married name Natalia Sout, was a Soviet gymnast, two-time Olympic Champion, Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. She was born in Rostov on Don, Soviet Union. She was known for her risky and original skills along with her expressive choreography, especially on beam and floor.

Career

Shaposhnikova trained in Dynamo, Rostov on Don. Her trainer was the Honoured Trainer of the USSR Vladislav Rastorotsky, who had also trained her famous compatriots Ludmilla Tourischeva and Natalia Yurchenko. Shaposhnikova was one of the world's strongest gymnasts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially in the Vault Event. She was well known for her difficulty and originality especially her one armed hand stand balances on beam, among this difficulty was one of the first triple twists in her 1979 European Championships floor routine and her Olympic games opening passage on floor, round-off 1.5 twisting layout immediately into a round off backhand spring double pike back. At the 1980 summer Olympic games in Moscow she contributed greatly to her teams gold medal and took home an individual gold medal in the vault apparatus. She also took home a bronze medal on both floor and beam and came .05 from a silver in the all around.

Shaposhnikova came close to winning gold on beam at the 1978 World Championships. In a profile on Natalia in the British Gymnast magazine, April 1980, Peter Shilston wrote " There remained the beam apparatus final. Probably the saddest experience of Natasha's life. Her carry-over score gave her a slight lead over Nadia Comaneci but there was a fiercely partisan section of the audience determined that Comaneci should win to make up for her previous disappointing performances. When Natasha came up, needing 9.8 to take the gold, she faced a very hostile reception which clearly got on her nerves. She made a series of mistakes, all jeeringly received and slumped from first place to eighth. The whole incident was extremely unpleasant".

Eponymous skill

Shaposhnikova invented a complex low-to-high bar transition element on the uneven bars; the skill is named after her in the Code of Points. The skill, sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Shaposh," is still widely performed today, it is credited as a D value element under the 2013-2016 Code of Points.

During the 1990s, other gymnasts began to developed variations of the Shaposhnikova, these include Americans Kristen Maloney who had a toe-on swing before the transition to the high bar, and Amy Chow who performed a stalder circle entry before making the transition. Another variation on the skill is by three-time World All-around champion Svetlana Khorkina who would include a half turn during the transition between the bars.

Retirement

After retiring from the sport, Shaposhnikova and her husband Pavel Sout currently coach at Gymnastika ^[1] in Woodland Park, New Jersey. According to the Gymnastika website, Pavel was a Gold Medalist at the 1981 World Championships. As a member of the Soviet Men's Team, he participated in many national and international competitions. Pavel was the head coach of the 1st place Soviet National Team at the 1991 World University Games. He was educated at the Sports College in Russia and the Moscow Sports Academy. Pavel is the Head Coach of the Girls Program at Gymnastika.

Achievements (non-Olympic)

References

External links

• Natalia Shaposhnikova at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• List of competitive results
• Whatever happened Natalia Shaposhnikova?
• Shaposhnikova Element - animated gif image
• Natalia Shaposhikova - Biography & Gallery

Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics - Women's Team All-Around     1928 Netherlands 1936 Germany 1948 Czechoslovakia 1952 Soviet Union 1956 Soviet Union 1960 Soviet Union 1964 Soviet Union 1968 Soviet Union 1972 Soviet Union 1976 Soviet Union 1980 Soviet Union 1984 Romania 1988 Soviet Union 1992 Unified Team 1996 United States 2000 Romania 2004 Romania 2008 China 2012 United States 1980:  Soviet Union (URS), Yelena Davydova, Maria Filatova, Nellie Kim, Yelena Naimushina, Natalia Shaposhnikova, Stella Zakharova

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 1978:  Soviet Union (URS), Svetlana Agapova, Tatiana Arzhannikova, Maria Filatova, Nellie Kim, Elena Mukhina, Natalia Shaposhnikova

This article contains information from the website http://www.gymnast.ru/, incorporated into the Wikipedia with permission from its author E.V.Avsenev.