Larisa Latynina

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Olympic medal record
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Gold medal – first place 1956 Melbourne Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1956 Melbourne All-around
Gold medal – first place 1956 Melbourne Vault
Gold medal – first place 1956 Melbourne Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 1960 Rome Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1960 Rome All-around
Gold medal – first place 1960 Rome Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 1964 Tokyo Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1964 Tokyo Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 1956 Melbourne Uneven bars
Silver medal – second place 1960 Rome Uneven bars
Silver medal – second place 1960 Rome Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 1964 Tokyo All-around
Silver medal – second place 1964 Tokyo Vault
Bronze medal – third place 1956 Melbourne Team, portable apparatus
Bronze medal – third place 1960 Rome Vault
Bronze medal – third place 1964 Tokyo Uneven bars
Bronze medal – third place 1964 Tokyo Balance beam
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1954 Rome Team
Gold medal – first place 1958 Moscow Team
Gold medal – first place 1958 Moscow All-around
Gold medal – first place 1958 Moscow Vault
Gold medal – first place 1958 Moscow Balance beam
Gold medal – first place 1958 Moscow Uneven bars
Gold medal – first place 1962 Prague Team
Gold medal – first place 1962 Prague All-around
Gold medal – first place 1962 Prague Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 1966 Dortmund Team
Silver medal – second place 1958 Moscow Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 1962 Prague Vault
Silver medal – second place 1962 Prague Balance beam
Bronze medal – third place 1962 Prague Uneven bars
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1957 Bucharest All-around
Gold medal – first place 1957 Bucharest Vault
Gold medal – first place 1957 Bucharest Balance beam
Gold medal – first place 1957 Bucharest Uneven bars
Gold medal – first place 1957 Bucharest Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 1961 Leipzig All-around
Gold medal – first place 1961 Leipzig Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 1961 Leipzig Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 1961 Leipzig Uneven bars
Silver medal – second place 1965 Sofia All-round
Silver medal – second place 1965 Sofia Uneven bars
Silver medal – second place 1965 Sofia Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 1965 Sofia Floor exercise
Bronze medal – third place 1965 Sofia Vault

Larissa Semyonovna Latynina (Russian: Лари́са Семёновна Латы́нина; born December 27, 1934 in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR) was a Soviet gymnast who was the first female athlete to win nine Olympic golds. She still holds the record for being awarded the most Olympic medals at 18 (nine gold medals, five silver and four bronze).

Early life

Born Larisa Dirij, she first practiced ballet, but turned to gymnastics after her choreographer moved out of town. She graduated from high school in 1953 and moved to Kiev to attend the Lenin Polytechnic Institute and continue training. There Latynina trained at the Burevestnik Voluntary Sports Society. At the age of 19, she debuted internationally at the 1954 Rome World Championships, winning the gold medal in the team competition.

Gymnastics career

At the 1956 Summer Olympics, she competed with Ágnes Keleti of Hungary to become the most successful gymnast of the Olympics. Latynina beat Keleti in the all-around event, and the Soviet team also won the team event. In the event finals, Latynina won gold medals on the floor (shared with Keleti) and vault, a silver medal on the uneven bars, and a bronze medal in the now discontinued team event with portable apparatus. Keleti also won six medals, comprised of four golds and two silvers.

After a very successful World Championships in 1958 (winning five out of six titles despite competing whilst pregnant), Latynina was the favorite for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In the all-around event she led the Soviet Union to take the first four places, thereby also securing a win in the team competition by a margin of nine points. Latynina also successfully defended her floor title, took silver medals in the balance beam and uneven bars events, and bronze in the vault competition.

Latynina won all-around titles at the 1962 World Championships, beating Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia. Still the defending World Champion at the 1964 Summer Olympics, she was beaten by Čáslavská in the all-around competition. Latynina did however add two more gold medals to her tally, winning the team event and the floor event both for the third time in a row. A silver medal and two bronzes in the other apparatus events brought her total of Olympic medals to eighteen — nine gold medals, five silver and four bronze. She won a medal in every event in which she competed.

Retirement

Latynina retired after the 1966 World Championships and became a coach for the Soviet national gymnastics team, a position she held until 1977. She organized the gymnastics competition at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and around the year 2000 appeared in the "Soviet Sports Wars" episode of the PBS documentary The Red Files, discussing her experiences as a gymnast and Soviet coach.

She is a citizen of Russia, and lives (as of 2004) in her estate near the town Semenovskoye, Moscow region.

Awards and honors

1989: Olympic Order (silver), International Olympic Committee
1998: Inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame[1]

Bibliography

Larissa Latynina (1975). The Balance (in Russian). Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya.

References

  1. ^ "LARISSA LATYNINA". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Larisa_Latynina&oldid=193514194"