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MARIA FILATOVA
Maria Evgenievna Filatova (born July 19, 1961, Leninsk-Kuznetsky, Siberia) is a retired Soviet gymnast who
competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.
Filatova began competing for the USSR junior team in 1974. In 1976 she placed fourth at the USSR National Championships and
competed well in various international events.
Filatova was originally named as an alternate to the Soviet team at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. However, during podium
training, she received such a positive reaction from the crowd that she was added to the team roster. She shared in the team
gold medal and was ranked ninth overall after the team competition. Due to the facts that four of her teammates scored higher
than she did and only three gymnasts per team were allowed to compete in the all-around, she did not advance to the AA finals
in spite of her high placement.
Following the Olympics and the retirements of several high-profile gymnasts, including
Ludmilla Tourischeva and Olga Korbut, Filatova
emerged as one of the leaders of the Soviet team. She won the World Cup in 1977 and 1978, the USSR Nationals in 1977, and the
Riga International meet in 1977 and 1979. At the 1980 Olympics, Filatova served as the lead-off gymnast on several events, contributed
to the team's gold medal and won a bronze medal on the floor exercise. She continued to the 1981 World Championships, where she
was the silver medalist in the all-around.
British journalist David Hunn referred to Filatova as a "fifteen year old in the Korbut tradition." As Korbut, Filatova was
known for her enthusiastic, expressive floor exercise routines and her difficult acrobatic skills. She was one of the first
female gymnasts to successfully compete a double back somersault on floor in 1975.
Following her retirement in 1982, Filatova worked for several years with the Irish Gymnastics Federation before moving to the United States.
For more information, visit her
profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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