Larisa Latynina
Latynina in the Kremlin in 2010
Personal information
Full nameLarisa Semyonovna Latynina
Country represented Soviet Union
Born (1934-12-27) 27 December 1934
Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union[1]
Height161 cm (5 ft 3 in)[1]
DisciplineArtistic gymnastics
LevelSenior international
Years on national team1953–1966 (URS)
GymRound Lake national training center
Burevestnik Kyiv[1]
Retired1966
Medal record
Representing  Soviet Union
International gymnastics championships and games
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 9 5 4
World Championships 9 4 1
European Championships 7 6 1
Total 25 15 6
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1956 Melbourne Team
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
Gold medal – first place 1960 Rome All-around
Gold medal – first place 1960 Rome Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 1964 Tokyo Team
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, 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 Uneven bars
Gold medal – first place 1958 Moscow Balance beam
Gold medal – first place 1962 Prague Team
Gold medal – first place 1962 Prague All-around
Gold medal – first place 1962 Prague Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 1958 Moscow Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 1962 Prague Vault
Silver medal – second place 1962 Prague Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 1966 Dortmund Team
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 Uneven bars
Gold medal – first place 1957 Bucharest Balance beam
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 Uneven bars
Silver medal – second place 1961 Leipzig Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 1965 Sofia All-around
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

Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (Russian: Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and four team medals. She holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals by a gymnast, male or female, with 9. Her total of 18 Olympic medals was a record for 48 years. She held the record for individual event medals, winning 14 over 52 years. She is credited with helping to establish the Soviet Union as a dominant force in gymnastics.[2]

Early life

She was born as Larisa Semyonovna Diriy in the Ukrainian SSR.[1] Her father, Semyon Andreyevich Diriy, left the family when she was 11 months old, and she was raised by her illiterate mother, who worked as a cleaner during the day, and as a watchman during the night. Her father was killed at the Battle of Stalingrad, where he served as a machine gun operator.[3] She first practiced ballet, but turned to gymnastics after her choreographer moved out of Kherson. She graduated from high school in 1953, and moved to Kyiv. She attended the Lenin Polytechnic Institute, and continued her training at the Burevestnik VSS. At the age of 19, she debuted internationally at the 1954 Rome World Championships, winning the gold medal in the team competition.

Gymnastics career

Latynina during the vault award ceremony at the 1964 Olympics

In 1956, at the age of 21, Latynina made her Olympic debut at the Melbourne Olympic Games. In the all-around event, she fought off stiff competition to win gold. She finished first in the vault, second in the uneven bars hand in the exercise on the floor and fourth in the balancing beam. She also led the Soviet Union in Team Event to victory.[4]

After a very successful World Championships in 1958 (winning five out of six titles despite competing whilst four months pregnant and medaling in every event), Latynina was the favorite for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[5] 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 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 added 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, except for the 1956 balance beam where she came in fourth.

Latynina's nine gold medals make her second on the list of most Olympic gold medalists. She held the distinction of having more Olympic medals (either individually or with a team) than anybody, from 1964 until 2012. She is the only woman to have won nine gold medals.[6] She is also the only female athlete who at some point has held the record for most Olympic gold medals. Additionally, within the sport of gymnastics, she is the only woman who has won an all-around medal in more than two Olympiads, the only woman who has won an individual event (floor exercise) in more than two Olympiads, and one of only three women who have won every individual event at either the World Championship or Olympic level. She is the only female gymnast to have twice won team gold, all-around gold, and an event final gold at the same Olympics, having done so in 1956 and four years later, in 1960.

Family

She was born to Pelageya Anisimovna Barabamyuk (1902–1975) and Semyon Andreevich Diriy (1906–1943), who died in the Battle of Stalingrad. Larisa was married three times.[7] Her current husband is Yuri Izrailovich Feldman (b. 1938), a member of the Russian Academy of Electrotechnical Sciences and a former competitive cyclist. Her daughter from a former marriage, Tatyana Ivanovna Latynina (b. 1958), is a folk dancer. She was born only five months after her mother won a world all-around title, and seven months after her birth Latynina competed at the national championships. Latynina kept her pregnancy a secret, even from her coach. She also had a son.[1][7][8]

Retirement

Latynina retired after the 1966 World Championships and became a coach for the Soviet national gymnastics team, a position she held until 1977.[8] Under her coaching the Soviet women team won gold in the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics.[5] She organized the gymnastics competition at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

She holds Russian citizenship and lives in Moscow. Latynina has received numerous Soviet and Russian state accolades.[9]

In 2023, she spoke out against Russian athletes competing under a neutral flag at the Olympics due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it "unpatriotic".[10]

Awards and honors

1989: Olympic Order (silver), International Olympic Committee
1998: Inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame[11]

Competitive history[12]

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
1954USSR Championships1643rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Rome World Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)145
1955USSR Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
USSR Cup4
Warsaw International1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
1956Liberation Day International1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Championships41st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)
Melbourne Olympic Games1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)41st place, gold medalist(s)
1957USSR Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)42nd place, silver medalist(s)51st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Cup5
Bucharest European Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
Moscow Summer Sports Games1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
1958USSR Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)51st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
Moscow World Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)
1959GDR-USSR Dual Meet1st place, gold medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
USSR Championships42nd place, silver medalist(s)5
1960USSR Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)53rd place, bronze medalist(s)
USSR Cup2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Rome Olympic Games1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
1961USA-USSR Dual Meet (Pennsylvania)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR-USA Dual Meet (Moscow)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
Leipzig European Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)42nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
USSR Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)
1962USSR Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)62nd place, silver medalist(s)
USSR Cup2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Prague World Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
1963USSR Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)53rd place, bronze medalist(s)
1964SWE-USSR Dual Meet1st place, gold medalist(s)4
USSR Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)4
USSR Cup3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Tokyo Olympic Games1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
1965USSR Championships7
Sofia European Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)
1966USSR Championships3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
USSR Cup5
USSR World Trials6
Dortmund World Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)11

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Larisa Latynina". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  2. "Legendary Olympians". CNN. 19 August 2008.
  3. Лариса Латынина: «Я ушла от мужа к человеку, о котором не хочу даже вспоминать». 7Days.ru (in Russian). April 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  4. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/05/06/larysalatynina/index.html
  5. 1 2 Nick Zaccardi; Gennady Fyodorov (10 July 2012). "With her all-time record set to fall, little-known Latynina looks back". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  6. Wallechinsky, David; Jaime Lucky (2008). The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. Aurum Press. p. 702. ISBN 978-1-84513-330-6.
  7. 1 2 Латынина, Лариса Семёновна. Encyclopedic Dictionary
  8. 1 2 Лариса Латынина – биография. bestpeopleofrussia.ru
  9. Справка. Лариса Латынина. Биография. «РИА Новости» // ria.ru (27 декабря 2014 года)
  10. "Лариса Латынина не поддержала участие российских спортсменов в нейтральном статусе". championat.com. 1 February 2023.
  11. "Larissa Latynina – The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  12. "Gymn Forum: Larissa Latynina Biography".

Bibliography

  • Larisa Latynina (1975). The Balance (in Russian). Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
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