Zinaida Voronina

Zinaida Voronina
— Gymnast —
Zinaida Voronina in 1967
Personal information
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	(1947-12-10)December 10, 1947 Yoshkar-Ola, Russia
Died	17 March 2001(2001-03-17) (aged 53) Balashikha, Moskva, Russia
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	53 kg (117 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Club	Dynamo Moscow
Retired	1972
Medal record Competitor for  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City Team 1968 Mexico City All-Around 1968 Mexico City Vault 1968 Mexico City Uneven bars World Championships 1970 Ljubljana Team 1966 Dortmund Team 1966 Dortmund Floor Exercise 1970 Ljubljana All-around 1970 Ljubljana Uneven Bars 1970 Ljubljana Floor Exercise European Championships 1967 Amsterdam All-Around 1967 Amsterdam Balance Beam 1967 Amsterdam Floor Exercise

Zinaida Voronina, born Zinaida Borisovna Druzhinina (also Druginina), (Russian: Зинаида Борисовна Дружинина Воронина; 10 December 1947, in Yoshkar-Ola, Mari ASSR – 17 March 2001) was a Soviet gymnast who competed at the European, World, and Olympic level from the mid-1960s to early 1970s.^[1]

Voronina's major debut came at the 1966 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany. There she won a bronze medal on the floor exercise, receiving the highest individual score of any gymnast at those games (9.933).^[2]

She went on to win several individual medals over the next four years, most notably at the 1968 Summer Olympics where she won the individual all-around silver behind Věra Čáslavská.^[2]

Around the time of the 1968 games, she married Olympic gymnast Mikhail Voronin. Shortly thereafter she gave birth to a son, Dmitry, and came back to further successes at the 1970 World Championships, among other games. She attempted to make the Soviet team for the 1972 Olympics, but faced a strong competition and only placed 10th in the individual all-around at the national championships.^[2]

The same year she retired and started working as a gymnastics coach together with her husband. Saddled with her professional life and a difficult childhood (alcoholic mother, father she never met) she struggled with alcoholism. In 1980, she was divorced from her husband, who received custody of their son (he later became a competitive gymnast). She spent the remainder of her years working in a factory in Balashikha, Russia, dying in March 2001 at the age of 53.^[2]

In 1969, she was awarded the "Order of the Badge of Honor".

References

External links

• http://www.gymn-forum.net/results.html
• http://www.gymn-forum.net/Miscellaneous/USSR_Awards.html
• http://www.gymn-forum.net/bios/women/voronina.html

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 1968:  Soviet Union (URS), Ludmilla Tourischeva, Zinaida Voronina, Larisa Petrik, Lyubov Burda, Olga Karasyova, Natalia Kuchinskaya

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 1970:  Soviet Union (URS), Lyubov Burda, Olga Karasyova, Tamara Lazakovich, Larisa Petrik, Ludmilla Tourischeva, Zinaida Voronina