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ELENA ZAMOLODCHIKOVA
Elena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova (born September 19, 1982 in Moscow, Russia), nicknamed "Zamo," is a
two-time Olympic gymnast. She began gymnastics at the age of six. In 1999 she participated in her first major senior
competition, the World Gymnastics Championships, where she won the gold in vault, the bronze in the all-around. She is
also one of a handful of women to have successfully competed the double double on floor. (Others include
Cheng Fei,
Daniela Silivas,
Vanessa Ferrari and
Shawn Johnson of the United States.)
At the 2000 European Championships in Paris, Zamolodchikova produced a stunning performance, inspiring viewers
both with her physical ability and her psychological strength. Just days before the competition, her father died as
a result of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl accident. In the midst of her shock and grief, she led her team
to the gold medal and earned individual silvers in the all-around and vault finals and a bronze on the beam.
Zamolodchikova was selected as a member of the Russian gymnastics team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She initially
did not score into the all-around or vault finals. However, she earned spots in both when Elena Produnova withdrew
from the all-around and Svetlana Khorkina decided to give up her spot to
Zamolodchikova. In the team competition, the Russians were leading after the preliminary rounds, and had a good chance
of repeating this feat in finals. However, the four "star" gymnasts on the team all made mistakes. Elena's was perhaps
the most dramatic, slipping off the beam as she took off for a Rufolva and narrowly missing her head. These mistakes
cost the Russians the gold.
After two apparatus in the all-around, Elena was in first place with her stronger exercises still to go. However,
she lost her chances of an all-around medal with a fall on the floor exercise, ironically on her simplest tumble.
On a night where many gymnasts made uncharacteristic errors, she eventually finished 6th. Had she scored the same
in the all-around as she did for her team finals performance, her total would have been enough to win her the gold.
However, she came back to win gold on both the vault and floor, thus becoming a two-time Olympic champion.
During vault finals, Khorkina sat in the stands, cheering loudly for her teammate for whom she gave up her spot.
Ironically, Khorkina was leading in the floor finals until Zamolodchikova performed; both were vying for a second gold.
Elena's superior tumbling won the day over Khorkina's artistry.
After becoming a double Olympic Champion, Zamolodchikova won the World vault title in 2002 and a European all-around
bronze medal in 2004, in addition to numerous other awards.
Zamolodchikova, incidentally a lieutenant in the Russian Army, competed in her second Olympic games in 2004. The
Russian team won a bronze medal, and Zamolodchikova just missed out on an individual vault medal, placing fourth
behind Monica Rosu of Romania, Annia Hatch of the United States, and a fellow Russian,
Anna Pavlova.
She competed most recently at the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, where she was again unlucky, placing fourth
in both vault and floor finals. Floor finals were particularly disappointing; she performed four extremely difficult
tumbling passes, landing each one cleanly, but did not successfully compete all of her dance combinations. Her start
value was lowered as a result from 10.0 to 9.7, and she scored a 9.162, placing her behind Americans
Alicia Sacramone and
Nastia Liukin, and Dutch gymnast Suzanne Harmes. Zamolodchikova's low score
was unpopular with the crowd, who appeared to think she should have won bronze. She scored an average of 9.318 on her
two vaults, finishing behind Cheng Fei of China,
Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, and
Alicia Sacramone of the U.S.
Many gymnasts retired as the new code was introduced, but not Elena. Despite speculation amongst fans, she has just
kept on going, and improved vastly throughout 2006. At the her first competition of the year, the American Cup, she
had a disappointing competition, especially on bars, where she fell. Zamolodchikova was highly emotional after her
routine and was seen crying. Problems were compounded when an injury prevented selection for the 2006 European
Championships in Volos, Greece.
However, despite both this and her advanced age (by gymnastics standards), Elena bounced back. She helped the Russian
team to a bronze medal in the team event, their first at world level since 2001, and qualified to vault finals where
she was fourth. In 2006, she also competed her new vault skill, a Yurchenko laid out half-on, half-off which has an
A-score of 5.6 points in the new code.
After the World Championships, she competed in a few World Cup competitions winning a bronze medal on vault in the
DTB-Cup in Stuttgart and two silver medals on vault and on floor in the Glasgow Grand Prix. She crowned her year
with a bronze on vault at the World Cup Finals in São Paulo, Brazil.
For more information, visit her
profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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