Polina Astakhova

Polina Astakhova
— Gymnast —
Polina Astakhova at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Polina Grigoryevna Astakhova Поліна Григорівна Астахова Полина Григорьевна Астахова
Country represented	Soviet Union
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)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
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 Soviet artistic gymnast. Competing for the Soviet Union she won ten medals at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics.

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. 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.

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. Astakhova spent the last years of her life in Kiev before her death at age 68 from pneumonia.

Non-Olympic achievements

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Polina Astakhova.

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

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 2016 United States
1956:  Soviet Union (URS), Polina Astakhova, Lyudmila Yegorova, Lidiya Kalinina, Larisa Latynina, Tamara Manina, Sofia Muratova 1960:  Soviet Union (URS), Polina Astakhova, Lidia Ivanova, Larisa Latynina, Tamara Lyukhina, Sofia Muratova, Margarita Nikolaeva 1964:  Soviet Union (URS), Larisa Latynina, Polina Astakhova, Tamara Manina, Yelena Volchetskaya, Tamara Zamotaylova, Lyudmila Gromova

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
1958:  Soviet Union (URS), Polina Astakhova, Raisa Borisova, Lidiya Kalinina, Larisa Latynina, Tamara Manina, Sofia Muratova 1962:  Soviet Union (URS), Polina Astakhova, Lidiya Ivanova, Larisa Latynina, Tamara Manina, Sofia Muratova, Irina Pervushina

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