Svetlana Boginskaya

Svetlana Boginskaya
— Gymnast —
Full name	Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya
Alternative name(s)	Svyatlana Leanidaŭna Bahinskaya (Святлана Леанідаўна Багінская)
Nickname(s)	Belarusian Swan, Goddess of Gymnastics
Country represented	Belarus
Former countries represented	Unified Team,  Soviet Union
Born	(1973-02-09) February 9, 1973 Minsk, Soviet Union
Height	157 cm (5 ft 2 in) (5'2")
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Head coach(es)	Ludmilla Popkovich
Former coach(es)	Lyubov Miromanova
Retired	1997
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 1 1 World Championships 5 3 1 European Championships 9 1 0 World Cup Final 1 1 1 Goodwill Games 2 1 1 Total 20 7 4 Competitor for  Belarus European Championships Competitor for  Unified Team Competitor for  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team 1988 Seoul Team 1988 Seoul Vault 1988 Seoul Floor Exercise 1988 Seoul All-Around World Championships 1991 Indianapolis Team 1991 Indianapolis Balance Beam 1989 Stuttgart Team 1989 Stuttgart All-Around 1989 Stuttgart Floor Exercise 1992 Paris Vault 1991 Indianapolis All-Around 1987 Rotterdam Team 1987 Rotterdam Balance Beam European Championships 1992 Nantes Balance Beam 1990 Athens All-Around 1990 Athens Vault 1990 Athens Uneven Bars 1990 Athens Balance Beam 1990 Athens Floor Exercise 1989 Brussels All-Around 1989 Brussels Vault 1989 Brussels Floor Exercise 1996 Birmingham All-Around World Cup Final 1990 Brussels Floor Exercise 1990 Brussels All-Around 1990 Brussels Vault Goodwill Games 1990 Seattle Team 1990 Seattle Floor Exercise 1990 Seattle All-Around 1990 Seattle Balance Beam

Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya (Belarusian: Святлана Леанідаўна Багінская; born February 9, 1973) is a Soviet/Unified Team/Belarusian gymnast. She was called the "Belarusian Swan" and the "Goddess of Gymnastics" because of her height, balletic grace, and long lines. Her last name derives from "boginya" ("богиня") literally meaning "goddess" in Russian. She is especially renowned for the drama and artistry she displayed on floor exercise. Boginskaya is a three-time Olympic Champion, winning an individual gold medal in Vault at the 1988, and team golds in 1988 and 1992.

Career

Boginskaya was born in Minsk. She was a figure skater for several years, but began gymnastics at age six. Two years later, she moved from Minsk to train full-time at the Moscow Round Lake Gymnastics Center. By age fourteen she was a member of the Soviet national team. She won her first medal, a bronze for balance beam, during the 1987 World Championships. She became one of the best gymnasts on the Soviet team and was expected to place very well at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. She finished the games with four medals - team gold, gold on Vault, silver on the Floor and the All-Around bronze.

However, the joy from her success would be short-lived. Boginskaya's long-time coach Lyubov Miromanova committed suicide just three days after the Olympics. Miromanova had been a surrogate mother to her, as she coached and cared for Boginskaya since she moved from Minsk to train full-time in Moscow. Boginskaya has always been reluctant to discuss this devastating time in her life. To this day, the reason for Miromanova's suicide remains a mystery.

Boginskaya pressed on, and began training with a new coach, Ludmilla Popkovich. Under her tutelage, Boginskaya became World Champion in 1989 and later dedicated her performance to her late mentor.

In 1990, Boginskaya became only the third woman to sweep the European Championships (after Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia in 1965 and 1967, and Ludmilla Tourischeva of the USSR in 1973), winning the gold medal in every individual event. In doing so, she defended her titles in the All-Around, Vault, and Floor Exercise, and added titles in the Uneven Bars and Balance Beam. In 1991, in a controversial finish, Boginskaya fell short of defending her world title, losing the gold medal to Kim Zmeskal of the United States. However, she earned gold medals in the Team and Balance Beam competitions.

In 1992, Boginskaya, then 19 years old, had a disappointing performance at the 1992 European Championships, falling on her final event, the floor exercise. She finished in fifth place, while her young teammate Tatiana Gutsu won the all-around title. Nevertheless, she won the balance beam title with a score 9.95, and remained a favorite to win the all-around title at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Gymnastics fans anticipated a duel between Boginskaya and her nemesis, American Kim Zmeskal. However, while Boginskaya won her third Olympic gold medal in the team competition, she finished fifth in the Individual All-Around. Zmeskal finished twelfth. Instead of the anticipated showdown between Boginskaya (who was awarded a controversially low score on the uneven bars) and Zmeskal (who faltered on floor and beam in the all-around), Tatiana Gutsu and Shannon Miller provided one of the most dramatic competitions in Olympic history.

Boginskaya retired after the 1992 Olympics, but decided to make a comeback in 1995. She said that she was inspired by Katarina Witt who had made a memorable comeback of her own at the 1994 Winter Olympics. She moved to Houston, Texas to train with Béla Károlyi and upgraded her difficulty. In 1996 the 23-year-old Boginskaya nearly won the European All-Around Title, placing second behind then defending World All-Around Champion (and future Olympic All-Around Champion) Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine. She then progressed to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta where she was one of a number of 'older' gymnasts competing. Boginskaya led her Belarus team to sixth place and competed in the all-around and vault finals, though medals were not forthcoming.

Svetlana Boginskaya is one of very few women in gymnastics history to have competed in three Olympic games. Others include Larisa Latynina, Věra Čáslavská, Ludmilla Tourischeva, Svetlana Khorkina, Dominique Dawes, Lisa Skinner, Oksana Chusovitina and Beth Tweddle. (It should be noted, however, that Boginskaya is the only one of the three-time Olympic participants in recent history to have competed when Compulsories were a requirement at each Olympic Game she participated in). She is one of only two gymnasts (the other being Oksana Chusovitina) to compete on three different Olympic teams: Soviet Union, Unified Team, and Belarus. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005.^[1]

After the 1992 Olympics, Boginskaya appeared alongside compatriot Vitaly Scherbo in the music video, "Revolution Earth," by The B-52's.

Today Boginskaya lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and two children. She runs two businesses, an online gymnastics apparel retailer and a summer camp for gymnastics students, but she also considers herself a stay-at-home mother. In 2007 she started up a new pizza place in Katy, Texas.^[2]

Trademarks

Boginskaya was noted for having more artistic and wildly different choreography than most of her competitors, especially on her floor exercise routines. Her floor routine at the Seoul Olympics was done to the music of Bizet's Carmen and her routine from the 1990-1991 season was choreographed by the Bolshoi Ballet. She is admired for her elegant dramatic style especially since it came at a time when most gymnasts did cutesy dancing.

Another of her trademarks included dismounts in which she would land with her right foot placed slightly in front of her left.

Competitive history

• Competitor for Belarus

• Competitor for CIS

• Competitor for Belarus

• Competitor for Soviet Union

See also

• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists
• List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

References

External links

• Svetlana Boginskaya at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Bio and Competition Results
• CBS Sports bio

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 1988:  Soviet Union (URS), Svetlana Baitova, Elena Shevchenko, Olga Strazheva, Natalia Lashchenova, Svetlana Boginskaya, Yelena Shushunova 1992:  Unified Team (EUN), Svetlana Boginskaya, Tatiana Gutsu, Oksana Chusovitina, Tatiana Lysenko, Yelena Grudneva, Rozalia Galiyeva

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 1989:  Soviet Union (URS), Svetlana Baitova, Svetlana Boginskaya, Olesya Dudnik, Natalia Lashchenova, Elena Sazonenkova, Olga Strazheva 1991:  Soviet Union (URS), Svetlana Boginskaya, Oksana Chusovitina, Rozalia Galiyeva, Tatiana Gutsu, Natalia Kalinina, Tatiana Lysenko