Zach's Gymnastics Biographical Index
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Welcome to my gymnastics page. Within this page you can find links to many
other gymnastics sites on the web, a (small) gallery of images of my favorite
gymnasts, and the gymnastics biographical index - a compendium of bios, with links, of the world's top female gymnasts of the '90s. This page is under constant construction.
General info
Here are links to some helpful gymnastics-related sites:
General Info:
National Gymnastics Federations
For the federation of the United States use the USA Gymnastics online link in the previous section.
National Teams Fan/Info Pages:
Photo Archives and Misc. Sites:
Now Something Completely Different:
One of my favorite US gymnasts - who unfortunately didn't make the Olympic team, but comes back strong in becoming the 1997 U.S. National Co-Champion (tied with Vanessa Atler, another favorite):
Kristy Powell fan page.
Members of the U.S. National Teams with their own home pages:
Of local interest: Penn State Gymnastics
Penn State Lady Lion Gymnastics
Shannon Miller on the beam during the event final in the Atlanta Olympics.
Under construction: a photo gallery of my favorites gymnast from each nation.
Warning: download might be slow due to the large number of image files.
They are:
- Yelena Piskun (Belarus)
- Mo Huilan (China)
- Henrietta Onodi (Hungary)
- Simona Amanar (Romania)
- Roza Galiyeva (Russia)
- Lilia Podkopayeva (Ukraine)
- Shannon Miller (USA)
To honor my very favorite gymnast, Henrietta Onodi, I maintain a fan page of her on the web. Please step right in and take a visit!
Leap to Henrietta's Dominion
(Really Easy) Trivia: Who is the only woman to win the AA gold medal in the Olympics, but whose team finished out of the top three?
(Easy) Trivia: Name the 6 members of the '92 US women's Olympic gymnastic team that won the team bronze medal.
Trivia: Name the 7 members of the '84 US women's Olimpic gymnastic team that won the team silver medal (albeit in a boycotted Olimpic Game).
(See the end of this page for the answers)
The top finishers of the floor exercise event final pose for the cameras
during the Centennial Olympics. From left to right: Dominique Dawes, USA
(bronze), Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukraine (gold), and Simona Amanar, Romania
(silver).
Teammates, best friends, and roommates in the Russian National Training Center- Yelena Grosheva(left) and Svetlana Khorkina
Fun Fact: By beating out Simona Amanar (by 0.037 point) for the FX gold in Atlanta, Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine becomes the first non-Romanian gymnast since 1976 to win the women's FX event final in Olympic Games. The FX winners during the streak are: Nadia Comaneci '80, Ecaterina Szabo '84, Daniela Silivas '88, and Lavinia Milosovici '92.
Gymnasts Index
I try to keep a short bio for each of the top female gymnasts of the '90s.
If you have more information than what's listed here, or if you think someone
should be added, please contact me.
I am currently looking for information on the following gymnasts:
Bi Wenjing (China), Andreea Cacovean(Romania), Ji Liya(China), Li Li(China), Tatiana Lisenko(Ukraine), Henrietta Onodi(Hungary), and Adrienn Varga(Hungary).
List of gymnasts in the index by country:
Roza Galiyeva and Dina Kochetkova of Team Russia at the 1996 Pro Team Competition. Image taken from ESPN, courtesy of Rozalia's Republik.
A note about the selection of gymnasts found within the index (Formerly "why isn't Viktoria Karpenko in it?"): When choosing gymnasts for inclusion into this index, I have to draw a line somewhere. Right now the first criteria is that a gymnast must have won at least a medal (of any kind) in a World Championships or Olympics competition since 1989 to be considered for inclusion. Gymnasts such as Karpenko, Teza, or Varga, while very talented (probably more so than some who are in the index already), fail to meet this condition. I am reconsidering this criteria, and may relax the condition so that obviously talented gymnasts who just missed being
a medalist in the big meets (or simply because she is born in the wrong country to be able to ride the team-medal coattails) to be included in here. (In one instance this has happened already - but Ana Maria Bican would without a doubt have had won a team medal with Team Romania had she not been injured during training just a week before the start of the '96 Olympics.)
Update: Viktoria Karpenko's bio is now included in the index!
Gymnasts appear in alphabetic order.
* - denotes the gymnast has won the All-Around title in a World Championships or Olympic Games competition, with the year(s) in parenthese.
Simona Amanar (Romania)
- Birthdate: October 7, 1979
- Hometown: Constanta, Romania
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSS Cetate Deva
- Hobby: figure skating, action movies, listening to music
- Parents: father Vasile, mother Sofia(housewife)
- Sibling: 1 brother(Andrei)
- Top achievement: '95 World Championships- 1st(team,V); '96 Olympics-
gold(V), silver(FX), 2 bronzes(team,AA); '96 World Championships- 2nd(V); '97 World Championships- 1st(team,V), 2nd(AA)
- Status: active
- Note: Due to a fall on the beam during the compulsories, Amanar failed to qualify for the AA event. But coach Belu decided to substitute Amanar for Alexandra Marinescu's spot since he felt that Amanar would have a better chance at a medal. Amanar ended up tied for the bronze with teammate Lavinia Milosovici. (cf. Tatiana Gutsu, who won the AA gold in '92 under a similar circumstance.) The exact same thing happened again in the '97 Worlds, when she fell off the beam during the team competition, but was put into AA in the place
of Marinescu and ended up finishing in second place behind Svetlana Khorkina of Russia.
Find out more:
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Bi, Wenjing (China)
- Birthdate: July 28, 1981
- Hometown: ???, Shandong Province, China
- Coach: Lu Shanzhen
- Hobby:
- Sibling:
- Top achievement: '96 Olympics- silver(UB); '97 World Championships- 3rd(team,UB)
- Status: active
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Ana Maria Bican (Romania)
- Birthdate: March 3, 1980
- Hometown: Zarnesti, Romania
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSS Cetate Deva
- Hobby: reading, electronic games
- Parents: father Grigore(engineer), mother Stefana(chemistry lab worker)
- Sibling: 2 brothers(Ion and Catalin)
- Top achievement: '93 European Junior Championships- 1st(V), 3rd(AA)
- Status: retired (1996)
- Note: Ana Maria is the "missing" member of the Romanian '96 Olympic Team. She hurt her knee during training in Atlanta just a week before the start of the Olympics - the reason the Romanian was competing with only 6 members.
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Cristina Bontas (Romania)
- Birthdate: December 5, 1973
- Hometown: Bacau, Romania
- Residence: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSS Onesti
- Hobby: listen to music, watch videos, being with family
- Sibling: 1 older sister and 1 younger brother
- Other: Favorite food- cheese, candy, and whipped cream
- Top achievement: '89 World Championships- 2nd(team,V), 3rd(FX); '91 World Championships- 1st(FX), 3rd(team,AA); '92 Olympics- silver(team), bronze(FX)
- Status: retired
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Amanda Kathleen Borden (USA)
- Birthdate: May 10, 1977
- Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Nickname: Pepsodent
- Coach: Mary Lee Tracy
- Club: Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy
- Hobby: bicycling, reading, shopping, playing on computer
- Parents: father Doug, mother Patty
- Sibling: 1 older brother(Bryan)
- Top achievement: '94 World Championships- 2nd(team); '96 Olympics- gold(team)
- Status: retired
- Write to: Amanda Borden, c/o Cincinnati Gymnastics, 3330 Port Union Road,
Fairfield OH 45014
Find out more:
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Svetlana Leonidovna Boguinskaia*('89) (Belarus)
- Birthdate: February 9, 1973
- Hometown: Minsk, Belarus
- Residence: Houston, Texas
- Nickname: the Belarussian Swan
- Coach: Bela and Marta Karolyi
- Club: Karolyi's Gymnastics; (formerly) Trudovye Rezervy Minsk
- Hobby: listening to music, reading sci-fi
- Sibling: 1 older brother(Igor)
- Top achievement: '88 Olympics- 2 golds(team,V), silver(FX), Bronze(AA);
'89 World Championships- 1st(AA,FX); '91 World Championships- 1st(team,BB), 2nd(AA); '92 Olympics- gold(team); '92 World Championships- 2nd(V); '96 European Championships- 2nd(AA)
- Note: The first female gymnast to compete in 3 Olympic Games since Lyudmila Turischeva(1968-76); Boguinskaia moved to the US in Feb. of 1994 and has since become a permanent resident of the United States. She now resides in Houston.
- Status: active
- Write to: Svetlana Boguinskaia, c/o IMG, 22 East 71st Street, New York NY 10021
Find out more:
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Andreea Cacovean (Romania)
- Birthdate: September 15, 1978
- Hometown: Turda, Romania
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSS Cetate Deva
- Hobby: listening to music
- Parents: father Mircea, mother Ana Maria(both are hydrological technicians)
- Sibling: 2 brothers(Andrei and Mircea)
- Top achievement: '93 World Championships- 3rd(UB); '93 European Junior Championships- 1st(UB), 2nd(AA,BB), 3rd(FX)
- Status: retired??
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Amy Lou Chow (USA)
- Birthdate: May 15, 1978
- Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
- Nickname: the Trickster
- Coach: Mark Young and Diane Amos
- Club: West Valley Gymnastics School
- Hobby: piano, reading
- Parents: father Nelson, mother Susan
- Sibling: 1 younger brother(Kevin)
- Top achievement: '94 World Championships- 2nd(team); '96 Olympics- gold(team), silver(UB)
- Status: retired
- Write to: Amy Chow, c/o Advantage International, 1751 Pinnacle Dr. Suite 1500, McLean VA 22102
Find out more:
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Oksana Alexandrovna Chusovitina (Uzbekistan)
- Birthdate: June 19, 1975(Boukhara, Uzbekistan)
- Hometown: Tashkent, Uzbekistan
- Coach: Svetlana Kuznetsova
- Club: Prorsoivi
- Hobby: listen to music
- Sibling: one brother, 2 sisters
- Top achievement: '91 World Championships- 1st(team,FX), 2nd(V); '92 Olympics- gold(team); '92 World Championships- 3rd(V); '93 World Championships- 3rd(V)
- Status: active
Find out more:
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Dominique Margaux Dawes (USA)
- Birthdate: November 20, 1976
- Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland
- Nickname: Awesome Dawesome
- Coach: Kelli Hill
- Club: Hill's Angels
- Hobby: cooking, movies, singing
- Parents: father Don, mother Loretta
- Sibling: 1 older sister(Danielle), 1 younger brother(Don)
- Top achievement: '92 Olympics- bronze(team); '93 World Championships- 2nd(UB,BB); '94 World Championships- 2nd(team); '96 World Championships- 3rd(BB); '96 Olympics- gold(team),
bronze(FX)
- Status: retired
- Write to: Dominique Dawes, c/o Hill's Angels, 7557 Lindbergh Dr., Gaithersburg MD 20879
Find out more:
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Yelena Dolgopolova (Russia)
- Birthdate: June 23, 1980
- Hometown:
- Coach: Tamara Khokhlova
- Club: Central Red Army Club
- Hobby: listening to music
- Top achievement: '96 Olympics- silver(team); '97 World Championships- 2nd(team)
- Status: active
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Oksana Ilinichna Fabrichnova (Russia)
- Birthdate: November 24, 1978
- Hometown: Moscow, Russia
- Coach: Natalia Tokareva
- Club: Dynamo Moscow
- Hobby: music, dancing, reading
- Parents: father Ilia (driver), mother works in daycare
- Sibling: one older sister(Lora), one brother(Ilia)
- Top achievement: '93 World Championships- 5th(AA); '94 World Championships- 3rd(BB); '94 Goodwill Games- 1st(team), 2nd(BB)
- Status: retired
- Note: Russia's top gymnast in the period immediately following the '92 Olympics, Fabrichnova's once promising gymnastics career was unfortunately cut short by a series of injuries. After narrowly failing to make Russia's '96 Olympics team, it was reported recently that she had announced her retirement.
- E-mail: Here is an (unconfirmed) address I found, you can give it a try: FABRICHNOVA@T-Online.de
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Ludivine Furnon (France)
- Birthdate: October 4, 1980
- Hometown: Nimes, France
- Residence: Marseille, France
- Nickname: Lulu
- Coach: Nelu Pop
- Club: GIG 30
- Hobby: shopping, movies, comic strips, skiing
- Parents: father Joel, mother Celine Martinez
- Sibling: 1 older sister(Nathalie), 1 younger sister(Marjorie)
- Top achievement: '95 World Championships- 3rd(FX)
- Status: active
- Note: Furnon is the first French female gymnast ever to win a medal of any kind at the World Championships.
Find out more:
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Rozalia "Roza" Ilfatovna Galiyeva (Russia; ex-Uzbekistan)
- Birthdate: April 28, 1977 (Almalyk, Uzbekistan)
- Hometown: Moscow, Russia
- Coach: Leonid Arkaev
- Club: Dynamo Moscow
- Hobby: Nintendo Gameboy, reading
- Top achievement: '92 Olympics- gold(team); '96 Olympics- silver(team)
- Status: retired
- Note: An ethnic Russian raised in Uzbekistan, Galiyeva competed for Uzbekistan for a few years after the breakup of the USSR, before immigrating to Russia. She became a Russian citizen in late 1995, and was a leader of the '96 Russian Olympics team. Galiyeva qualified for the All-around competition in the '92 Olympics, but was pulled by officials of the Unified Team, citing a nonexisting injury, in favorite of the eventual AA winner Tatiana Gutsu, who didn't qualify because of a fall on the beam during the team competition. To this date Roza holds a great animosity toward Gutsu.
Find out more:
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Gina Elena Gogean (Romania)
- Birthdate: September 9, 1977 (Cimpuri, Romania)
- Hometown: Focsani, Romania
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSS Cetate Deva
- Hobby: collecting stamps, ice skating, shopping
- Parents: father Emil(driving instructor), mother Anica
- Sibling: 1 sister(Marichica)
- Top achievement: '92 Olympics- silver(team); '92 European Championships- 2nd(AA); '93 World Championships- 2nd(AA); '94 World Championships- 1st(V), 3rd(FX); '94 European Championships- 1st(AA); '96 Olympics- silver(AA), 3 bronzes(team,BB,V); '96 World Championships- 1st(FX,V); '97 World Championships- 1st(team,BB,FX), 3rd(v)
- Status: active?? (Well Gina keeps saying she's retiring, but she is still there in many big meets presently)
Find out more:
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Yelena Nikolayevna Grosheva (Russia)
- Birthdate: April 12, 1979
- Hometown: Yaroslavl, Russia
- Hobby:
- Top achievement: '94 Goodwill Game- 3rd(AA); '96 Olympics- silver(team); '97 World Championships- 2nd(team)
- Status: retired
Find out more:
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Tatiana Constantinovna Gutsu*('92) (Ukraine)
- Birthdate: September 5, 1976
- Hometown: Odessa, Ukraine
- Residence: Westland, Michigan
- Nickname: the Painted Bird
- Coach: Victor Dikii
- Club: TSKA
- Hobby: art, music, movies
- Sibling: 3 sisters(Ira, Olga, Marina)
- Top achievement: '91 European Championships- 1st(AA); '92 European Championships- 1st(AA); '92 Olympics- 2 golds(team,AA), silver(UB), bronze(FX)
- Status: retired
- Note: Gutsu has been coaching gymnastics in the US for the past few years. She beat out Shannon Miller of USA for the '92 Olympics AA gold by the narrowest margin ever (by 0.012, 39.737 vs. 39.725) after the Unified Team officials substituted her for Roza Galiyeva.
- Write to: Tatiana Gutsu, c/o Rick Resener, 1056 Virginia Ave., Indianapolis IN 46203; or you can try this: Tatiana Gutsu, 5870 N. Hix Rd., Westland MI 48185
Find out more:
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Vanda Maria Hadarean (Romania)
- Birthdate: May 3, 1976
- Hometown: Cluj Napoca, Romania
- Residence: Peterbourough, Ontario, Canada
- Coach: Lusan
- Club: CSS Cetate Deva
- Hobby:
- Sibling:
- Top achievement: '91 European Junior Championships- 1st(AA,UB); '92 Olympics- silver(team); '92 European Championships- 3rd(AA)
- Status: retired
- Note: It is reported in IG, March of 1998, that Hadarean has accepted a job coaching for the Moceanu Gymnastics. So she should be moving to Houston, Texas soon.
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Ji, Liya (China)
- Birthdate: October 20, 1981
- Hometown: ???, Hunan Province, China
- Coach: Ma Jun
- Hobby: music, reading
- Sibling: none
- Top achievement: '94 Pacific Alliance Championships- 1st(BB), 2nd(team,AA,FX); '95 World Championships- 2nd(team,FX)
- Status: active
Find out more:
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Viktoria Karpenko (Ukraine)
- Birthdate: March 15, 1981
- Hometown: Kherson, Ukraine
- Residence: Lvov, Ukraine
- Coach: Oleg Ostapenko
- Club: Dynamo Kherson
- Hobby: collecting pins and stuffed animals
- Sibling: one younger brother
- Top achievement: 1997 Chunichi Cup- 1st(AA)
- Status: active
- Note: Poised to become Ukraine's next super star, Karpenko was plagued by a series of injuries that kept her out of both the 1996 Olympics as well as the 1997 World Championships. Now healthy, she is starting to make her presence felt in the gymnastics world. Karpenko is from the same city and gym club as another recent Ukrainian star, Tatiana Lisenko.
Find out more:
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Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina*('97) (Russia)
- Birthdate: January 19, 1979
- Hometown: Belgorod, Russia
- Coach: Boris Pilkin
- Club: Belgorod
- Hobby: listening to music, eating
- Parents: father Vasily(businessman), mother is a doctor
- Sibling: 1 younger sister(Yulia)
- Top achievement: '94 World Championships- 2nd(V,UB); '94 European Championships- 2nd(AA); '95 World Championships- 1st(UB), 2nd(AA); '96 Olympics- gold(UB), silver(team); '96 World Championships- 1st(UB); '96 European Championships- 1st(UB); '97 World Championships- 1st(AA,UB), 2nd(team,BB,FX)
- Status: active
- Note: at over 5'4", Khorkina is the tallest among the world's elite gymnasts; the current world AA champion, she is the only gymnast who is from neither the U.S. nor Ukraine to win either the world or the Olympics AA title in this decade (previous winners are Americans Zmeskal and Miller, and Ukrainians Gutsu and Podkopayeva)
Find out more:
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Dina Anatolyevna Kochetkova (Russia)
- Birthdate: July 27, 1977
- Hometown: Moscow, Russia
- Nickname: Denka
- Coach: Leonid Arkaev
- Hobby: reading sci-fi, music
- Parents: father Anatoly(engineer), mother is a nurse
- Sibling: none
- Top achievement: '94 World Championships- 1st(FX), 3rd(AA,UB); '94 Goodwill Games- 1st(AA); '94 European Championships- 2nd(AA); '96 Olympics- silver(team);
'96 World Championships- 1st(BB)
- Status: retired
Find out more:
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Kui, Yuanyuan (China)
- Birthdate: June 23, 1981
- Hometown: Beijing, China
- Coach: Lu Shanzhen
- Hobby:
- Sibling:
- Top achievement: '96 World Championships- 1st(FX); '97 World Championships- 3rd(team,BB)
- Status: active
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Li, Lu (China)
- Birthdate: August 30, 1976
- Hometown: Hunan Province, China
- Residence: Beijing, China
- Coach: Gao Jian, Luo Xe Lian
- Hobby: music, TV, movies
- Sibling: none
- Top achievement: '92 Olympics- gold(UB), silver(BB); '92 Pacific Alliance Championships- 1st (AA)
- Status: retired
- Note: Lu Li scored a perfect 10.0 in winning the UB event final in the '92 Olympics. The perfect score is one of only two given during the Barcelona Olympics (Lavinia Milosovici of Romania scored the other, on FX)
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Tatiana Felixovna Lisenko (Ukraine)
- Birthdate: June 23, 1975
- Hometown: Kherson, Ukraine
- Residence: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Coach: Oleg Ostapenko
- Club: Dynamo Kherson
- Hobby: pets, reading
- Sibling: ???
- Top achievement: '90 World Cup- 1st(AA,UB), 3rd(FX); '91 World Championships- 1st(team); '92 Olympics- gold(team,BB), bronze(V), '92 World Championships- 3rd(FX); '93 World Championships- 3rd(AA)
- Status: retired
- Note: Tatiana Lisenko's best friend is the fellow Ukrainian Olympic champion Tatiana Gutsu.
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Liu, Xuan (China)
- Birthdate: March 12, 1979
- Hometown: Changsha, China
- Coach: Guo Xinming
- Club: Hunan Gymnastics Team
- Hobby:
- Sibling:
- Top achievement: '96 World Championships- 3rd(BB)
- Status: ???
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Alexandra Marinescu (Romania)
- Birthdate: March 19, 1981
- Hometown: Bucharest, Romania
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSS Cetate Deva; (formerly) Triumf Bucuresti
- Hobby: listening to music
- Parents: father Alexandru, mother Anca
- Sibling: none
- Top achievement: '95 World Championships- 1st(team); '96 Olympics- bronze(team); '96 World Championships- 2nd(BB); '96 European Junior Champion(AA); '97 World Championships- 1st(team)
- Status: retired (circa April 1998) due to problem with her back/spine
Find out more:
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Shannon Lee Miller*('93,'94) (USA)
- Birthdate: March 10, 1977 (Rolla, Missouri)
- Hometown: Edmond, Oklahoma
- Coach: Steve Nunno and Peggy Liddick
- Club: Dynamo Gymnastics
- Hobby: swimming, shopping, watching TV
- Parents: father Ron(physics professor), mother Claudia
- Sibling: 1 older sister(Tessa), 1 younger brother(Troy)
- Top achievement: '91 World Championships- 2nd(team,UB); '92 Olympics- 2 silvers(AA,BB), 3 bronzes(team,FX,UB);
'93 World Championships- 1st(AA,FX,UB); '94 World Championships- 1st(AA,BB), 2nd(team); '95 World Championships- 3rd(team); '96 Olympics- 2 golds(team,BB); '97 World University Games- 1st(AA)
- Status: active
- Note: Miller is the most decorated U.S. gymnast ever, winning more World(9) and Olympic(7) medals than any other American gymnast in history. She is the only US gymnast to win back-to-back world AA champions, in '93 and '94. She missed the AA gold medal in 1992 Olympics by the narrowest margin ever, 0.012 point behind Tatiana Gutsu of Ukraine.
- Write to: Shannon Miller, P.O. Box 5103, Edmond Oklahoma 73083-5103
Find out more:
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Lavinia Corina Milosovici (Romania)
- Birthdate: October 21, 1976
- Hometown: Lugoj, Romania
- Nickname: Milo
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSS Cetate Deva
- Hobby: soccer, swimming, cinema
- Sibling: 1 older brother(Cristian)
- Top achievement: '92 Olympics- 2 golds(FX,V), silver(team), bronze(AA); '92 World Championships- 1st(UB);
'94 World Championships- 2nd(AA,FX), 3rd(V); '95 World Championships- 3rd(AA); '96 World Championships- 3rd(FX); '96 Olympics- 2 bronzes(team,AA)
- Status: retired (Sept. 1996)
- Note: Milosovici scored one of the only two 10.0 given in the '92 Olympic Game to win the FX gold (Lu Li of China had the other perfect score, on UB).
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Mo, Huilan (China)
- Birthdate: July 19, 1979
- Hometown: Guilin, Guangxi Province, China
- Nickname: Mighty Mo
- Coach: Guo Xinming
- Club: Hunan Gymnastics Team
- Hobby: Nintendo Gameboy, watching TV, reading
- Sibling: a twin sister(Huifang)
- Top achievement: '94 Asian Game- 5 golds(team,AA,FX,UB,V); '95 World
Championship- 1st(BB), 2nd(team); '96 World Championships- 2nd(UB); '96 Olympics- silver(V); '97 World Championships- 3rd(team)
- Status: active
- Note: Mo is the first female gymnast to perform the Gaylord salto on UB
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Dominique Helena Moceanu (USA)
- Birthdate: September 30, 1981
- Hometown: Hollywood, Calif.
- Residence: Houston, Texas
- Nickname: Domi, or Nique
- Coach: Bela and Marta Karolyi
- Club: Karolyi's Gymnastics
- Hobby: swimming, reading, listening to music
- Parents: father Dimitry, mother Camelia
- Sibling: 1 younger sister(Christina)
- Top achievement: '95 World Championships- 2nd(BB), 3rd(team); '96 Olympics- gold(team)
- Status: active
- Write to: Dominique Moceanu, c/o Dominique Moceanu Fan Club, P.O. Box 90908, Houston TX 77290-0908
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Elizabeth "Betty" Okino (USA)
- Birthdate: June 4, 1975 (Uganda, Africa)
- Hometown: Elmhurst, Illinois
- Coach: Bela and Martha Karolyi
- Club: Karolyi's Gymnastics
- Hobby: dancing, swimming, shopping
- Top achievement: '90 Goodwill Games- 4th(AA); '91 World Championships- 2nd(team), 3rd(BB); '92 Olympics- bronze(team); '92 World Championships- 2nd(UB)
- Status: retired
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Henrietta Onodi (Hungary)
- Birthdate: May 22, 1974
- Hometown: Bekescsaba, Hungary
- Residence: San Antonio, Texas
- Nickname: Henni
- Coach: Mihaly and Julia Unyatyinszki
- Club: South Texas Gymnastics Academy; (formerly) Elore Torna
- Hobby: listening to music, reading, collecting stickers
- Parents: father Janos(deceased), mother Kati
- Sibling: 1 older sister(Barbara)
- Favorite food: ice cream and stuffed chicken
- Top achievement: '90 World Cup- 1st(V), 2nd(FX), 3rd(AA,UB); '91 World Championships- 2nd(V); '92 Olympics- gold(V), silver(FX); '92 World Championships- 1st(V), 2nd(FX)
- Status: active (unretired in 1995)
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Mirela Ana Pasca (Romania)
- Birthdate: February 19, 1975
- Hometown: Baia Mare, Romania
- Coach: Octavian Belu
- Club: CSM Baia-Mare
- Hobby: music, swimming
- Sibling: 2 brothers
- Top achievement: '90 World Cup- 2nd(UB),3rd(FX); '90 European Championships- 1st(UB); '92 Olympics- silver(team); '92 World Championships- 3rd(UB)
- Status: retired
- Note: When Pasca won the UB title in 1990 European Championships, it marked the first time the new (post-communist) Romanian national anthem was played in (the medal ceremony of) an international gymnastics competition.
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Jaycie Phelps (USA)
- Birthdate: September 26, 1979 (Indianapolis, Indiana)
- Hometown: Greenfield, Indiana
- Residence: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Coach: Mary Lee Tracy
- Club: Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy
- Hobby: swimming, shopping
- Parents: father Jack, mother Cheryl
- Sibling: 1 older brother(Dennis)
- Top achievement: '94 World Championships- 2nd(team); '95 World Championships- 3rd(team); '96 Olympics- gold(team)
- Status: unknown (had a recent knee surgery)
- Note: Jaycie is named after both of her parents (Jack and Cheryl)
- Write to: Jaycie Phelps, c/o Cincinnati Gymnastics, 3330 Port Union Road,
Fairfield OH 45014
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Yelena Mikhailovna Piskun (Belarus)
- Birthdate: February 2, 1978
- Hometown: Bobruisk, Belarus
- Coach: Valery Kolodinsky
- Club: Spartak
- Hobby: collecting stickers, reading detective novels, computer games
- Parents: father Mikhail works in a tire factory, mother is a bookkeeper
- Sibling: 1 younger brother(Victor)
- Favorite food: anything with sugar in it
- Top achievement: '93 World Championship- 1st(V); '96 World Championships-
1st(UB)
- Status: active
- Note: Piskun speaks English, having studied it on her own for over 5 years; her best friend is Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine
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Lilia Alexandrovna Podkopayeva*('95,'96) (Ukraine)
- Birthdate: August 15, 1978
- Hometown: Donetsk, Ukraine
- Residence: Kiev, Ukraine
- Nickname: Lily Pod
- Coach: Galina Lossinskaya
- Club: Dynamo Donetsk
- Hobby: collecting stuffed animals, ballet
- Sibling: 1 younger brother(Mikhail)
- Favorite food: ice cream and chocolate
- Top achievement: '94 World Championships- 2nd(BB); '95 World Championships- 1st(AA), 2nd(BB,UB); '96 Olympics- 2 golds(AA,FX), silver(BB); '96 European Championships- 1st(AA,UB,FX), 3rd(V)
- Status: active
- Note: Her best friend is Yelena Piskun of Belarus; Lilia is the first female gymnast since Nadia Comaneci(1976) to win an individual-apparatus gold medal after winning the All-around gold in the Olympic Games; she is also the first female reigning World All-around Champion since Lyudmila Turischeva (1972) to also win the Olympic AA title. She was injured while training for the '97 Worlds and thus was unable to defend her title.
- Write to: Lilia Podkopayeva, 114 Robert E. Lee Blvd. #142,New Orleans LA
70124, USA, (504) 283-8845
- E-mail: LilyPodGym@aol.com (USA), LilyPod@galaradio.com.ua (Ukraine)
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Yelena Sergeyevna Produnova (Russia)
- Birthdate: February 15, 1980
- Hometown: Rostov, Russia
- Coach: Leonid Arkayev and V. Yakubova
- Club: SKA
- Hobby: ???
- Sibling: ???
- Top achievement: '97 World Championships- 2nd(team), 3rd(AA,FX)
- Status: active
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Isabelle Severino (France)
- Birthdate: April 9, 1980
- Hometown: Paris, France
- Coach: Yves Kieffer
- Club: CMG Garges les Gonosse
- Hobby: singing, walking in Paris
- Sibling: 1 brother
- Top achievement: '96 World Championships- 3rd(UB)
- Status: active
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Lyubov Sheremeta (Ukraine)
- Birthdate: January 17, 1980
- Hometown: Lvov, Ukraine
- Nickname: Lyuba
- Coach: Lyudmila Korolenko
- Club: Construction Worker's Club
- Hobby: ???
- Sibling: ???
- Top achievement: '96 World Championships- 3rd(FX)
- Status: active
- Note: The name "Lyubov" is the Russian word for "love".
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Kerri Allison Strug (USA)
- Birthdate: November 19, 1977
- Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
- Coach: Bela and Marta Karolyi
- Club: Karolyi's Gymnastics; ('93-'94) Dynamo Gymnastics
- Hobby: reading, shopping
- Parents: father Burt(heart surgeon), mother Melanie
- Sibling: 1 older brother(Kevin) and 1 older sister(Lisa)
- Top achievement: '92 Olympics- bronze(team); '94 World Championships- 2nd(team); '95 World Championships- 3rd(team); '96 Olympics- gold(team)
- Status: retired
- Write to: Kerri Strug, P.O. Box 34B, Balboa Island CA 92662 (Official Kerri Strug Fan Club)
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Kimberly "Kim" Lynn Zmeskal*('91) (USA)
- Birthdate: February 6, 1976
- Hometown: Houston, Texas
- Residence: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Nickname: Kimbo
- Coach: Mary Lee Tracey; (formerly) Bela and Marta Karolyi
- Club: Cincinnatic Gymnastics; (formerly) Karolyi's Gymnastics
- Hobby: swimming, collecting bottles, jigsaw puzzles
- Sibling: 1 younger brother(Eric) and 1 younger sister(Melissa)
- Top achievement: '91 World Championships- 1st (AA), 2nd(team), 3rd(FX); '92 Olympics- bronze(team); '92 World Championships- 1st(BB,FX)
- Status: active (un-retired)
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Main sources: GYMN Forum, USA Gymnastics online, International Gymnast Magazine
Balance beam final: The eight finalists of the balance beam apparatus final in the 1996 Olympic Games, prior to the competition. From right to left (in the order of performance appearances): Alexandra Marinescu(ROM), Dominique Moceanu(USA), Dina Kochetkova(RUS), Shannon Miller(USA, gold), Lilia Podkopayeva(UKR, silver), Olga Teslenko(UKR), Gina Gogean(ROM, bronze), Roza Galiyeva(RUS).
Answers to the trivias:
Lilia Podkopayeva ('96) of Ukraine (5th in team competition) is the only AA gold-medalist whose team did not finish in the medal-positions.
The members of the bronze-medal-winning '92 Olympic team are: Wendy Bruce, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug, and Kim Zmeskal.
The members of the silver-medal-winning '84 Olympic team are: Pam Bileck, Michelle Dusserre, Kathy Johnson, Julianne McNamara, Tracee Talavera, Mary Lou Retton, Marie Roethlisberger.
