Polina Astakhova

Polina Astakhova
Polina Astakhova at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Polina Grigoryevna Astakhova Поліна Григорівна Астахова Полина Григорьевна Астахова
Born	(1936-10-30)30 October 1936 Zaporizhia, Ukrainian SSR
Died	6 August 2005(2005-08-06) (aged 68) Kiev, Ukraine
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Country represented	Soviet Union
Club	Shakhtar Donetsk, Avangard Kiev, CSKA Kiev
Medal record Representing Soviet Union Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne Team 1960 Rome Team 1960 Rome Uneven bars 1964 Tokyo Team 1964 Tokyo Uneven bars 1960 Rome Floor exercise 1964 Tokyo Floor exercise 1956 Melbourne Team, apparatus 1960 Rome All-around 1964 Tokyo All-around World Championships 1958 Moscow Team 1962 Prague Team 1966 Dortmund Team 1958 Moscow Uneven bars European championships 1959 Krakow Balance beam 1961 Leipzig Balance beam 1961 Leipzig Uneven bars 1961 Leipzig All-around 1961 Leipzig Floor exercise

Polina Astakhova (30 October 1936 – 5 August 2005) was a Ukrainian artistic gymnast. Competing for the Soviet Union she won ten medals at the 1956, 1960 and 1964.^[1]

Biography

Astakhova became interested in artistic gymnastics at age 13, after she had watched the gymnastics championships in Donetsk, a city, where their family moved a short time before. She trained in the local gymnastics sports club Shakhtyor under Vladimir Alieksandrovitch Smirnov.

Astakhova earned a nickname The Russian Birch in Western countries for her exceptional grace, and at the 1960 Olympics she was even called Madonna by the Italian journalists. Between 1956 and 1966 Astakhova was on top of many international and national competitions especially on the uneven bars apparatus event. She was a member of the USSR team between 1955 and 1968.

In 1954 Astakhova competed in the USSR Championships for the first time and in a year she made the USSR National team at the 1956 Summer Olympics. She was the youngest team member and contributed to the team's gold. At the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympics in Rome she led in the all-around, but lost a whole point for a fall on beam, which was the seventh routine of eight contested. She was very disappointed by the accident and even did not compete that year, although in Rome she won the gold in the team competition and on the bars, silver on the floor and bronze in the all-around. She recovered after the 1961 European Championships, where she won gold medals on the bars and on beam.^[2] Competing in the 1964 Summer Olympics, Astakhova contributed to the team's gold, won on the bars, was second on the floor and third in the all-around.^[3]

After retiring from competitions, since 1972 Astakhova worked as a national coach in Ukraine. In 2002 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.^[4] Astakhova spent the last years of her life in Kiev before her death at age 68 from pneumonia.

Non-Olympic achievements

Year	Event	AA	Team	VT	UB	BB	FX
1956	USSR Championships	3rd			3rd		3rd
1957	USSR Championships				3rd
1958	World Championships		1st		3rd
	USSR Championships	3rd		3rd	2nd		3rd
1959	European Championships				1st		1st
	USSR Championships	1st			1st	2nd	1st
	USSR Cup	1st			1st	3rd	1st
1960	USSR Championships				1st	2nd	1st
	USSR Cup	1st
1961	European Championships	2nd			1st	1st	2nd
	USSR Championships				2nd	1st	2nd
	USSR Cup				2nd	1st
1962	World Championships		1st
	USSR Championships	3rd			2nd		3rd
1963	USSR Championships	3rd			1st		2nd
	USSR Cup	1st		2nd	1st	2nd	1st
1964	USSR Championships				2nd		1st
1965	USSR Championships	2nd				3rd
	USSR Cup	1st
1966	World Championships		2nd
	USSR Championships	3rd
1967	USSR Championships				3rd

See also

• List of multiple Olympic medalists
• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists
• List of Olympic female gymnasts for the Soviet Union

References

• ^ "Polina Astakhova". Sports-reference.

• ^ "Polina Ghrighorievna Astakhova". Legends of the Soviet sports (in Russian). Retrieved 2 May 2006.

• ^ "Polina Ghrighorievna Astakhova". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved 12 May 2007.

External links

• Biography and achievements
• Polina Ghrighorievna Astakhova at the International Gymnastics Federation

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