| Elena Zamolodchikova | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Zamolodchikova in 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Elena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alternativename(s) | Yelena Zamolodchikova | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Zamo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1982-09-19)19 September 1982 (age 42) Moscow,Russian SFSR,Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 154 cm (5 ft 1 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Russia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years on national team | 1996-2009 (RUS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Dynamo Moscow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Formercoach(es) | Nadesha Maslennikova | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 2009[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Elena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova (Russian:Елена Михайловна Замолодчикова; born 19 September 1982)[3] is a Russian formerartistic gymnast and four-timeOlympic medallist. She is the2000 Olympic champion on vault and floor exercise, and she is a two-time World champion on vault (1999,2002). She also competed at the2004 Summer Olympics where she won a bronze medal with the Russian team. She is a two-timeWorld Cup Final vault champion (2000,2002) and a two-timeEuropean champion with the Russian team (2000,2002). In 2015, she was inducted in theInternational Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[2]
Zamolodchikova was born on 19 September 1982 in Moscow. Her father, Mikhail Alexandrovich, was a member of theSoviet Army and was one of the firstChernobyl liquidators, and her mother, Irina Nikolaevna, was a teacher.[4] She begangymnastics at the age of six.[2] She wanted to start gymnastics after watching a competition on television.[5] She briefly quit gymnastics after being diagnosed with acongenital heart defect, but this diagnosis was refuted by another doctor, and she returned to training.[4]
Zamolodchikova joined the Russian junior national team in 1996 and competed at the1996 Junior European Championships. There, the Russian team won the gold medal, and Zamolodchikova won the silver medal on vault.[5][6]
Zamolodchikova beganage-eligible for senior competition in 1998. She won a silver medal with the Russian team at the1998 European Championships.[5] Individually, she finished fourth on vault.[7] At the1998 World Youth Games in Moscow, she won the all-around title.[8]
In 1999, Zamolodchikova participated in her firstWorld Championships. She won the gold on the vault, silver with the Russian team, and bronze in the all-around. Following the World Championships, she competed at theGlasgow Grand Prix and won the gold medal on the vault.[9] She won another gold medal on vault at theStuttgart Grand Prix.[10]
Zamolodchikova began the Olympic season at theMontreux World Cup where she won the gold medal on the vault.[11] Despite her father's recent death, she chose to still compete at theEuropean Championships.[4] There, she led her team to the gold medal and earned individual silvers in the all-around and vault finals and a bronze on the balance beam.[12][13][14]
Zamolodchikova was selected as a member of the Russian gymnastics team at the2000 Summer Olympics inSydney alongsideSvetlana Khorkina,Yekaterina Lobaznyuk,Elena Produnova,Anastasiya Kolesnikova, andAnna Chepeleva. The team finished in first place during thequalification round.[15] In theteam final, several major mistakes, including Zamolodchikova's fall off the balance beam, cost them the gold medal, and they won silver behind Romania.[16] After two apparatuses in theall-around final, Zamolodchikova was in first place with her stronger exercises still to go. However, she lost her chance of an all-around medal after a fall during her floor exercise rotation. On a night when many gymnasts made uncharacteristic errors, she eventually finished sixth.[17][18]
Zamolodchikova did not initially qualify for the vault final due to the two-per-country rule. However, on the day of the final, Khorkina gave up her spot to Zamolodchikova. Khorkina stated that she felt Zamolodchikova would have a better chance at winning the gold medal, and Zamolodchikova did ultimately win the gold medal with an average score of 9.712.[19] In the floor exercise final, she beat Khorkina by 0.038 points to win her second Olympic gold medal.[5]
After the Olympic Games, Zamolodchikova competed at theWorld Cup final and won gold on the vault and silver on the floor exercise.[20] Then at theStuttgart World Cup, she won gold on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and she tied withJana Komrsková for silver on uneven bars.[21]
Zamolodchikova won the all-around title at the2001 American Cup.[22] Then at theParis World Cup, she won gold on vault and floor exerciser and silver on balance beam behindSun Xiaojiao.[23] She won another vault gold medal at the Cottbus World Cup in addition to a silver on uneven bars behind teammateSvetlana Khorkina.[24] She was a member of the Russian team that won gold at theEuropean Team Championships.[25] At the2001 Goodwill Games, she won the all-around bronze medal behindSabina Cojocar and Svetlana Khorkina.[26] In the event finals, she won gold on both vault and floor exercise.[27] She injured her foot during the qualification round of theWorld Championships, but she still received the silver medal the Russian team won.[2][28] Despite the injury, she competed at the Stuttgart World Cup and won the gold medal on vault.[29]
Zamolodchikova won a gold medal on vault and a bronze medal on uneven bars at theGlasgow World Cup.[30] Then at the Paris World Cup, she won silver on uneven bars and bronze on vault.[31] She was a member of the Russian team that won gold at theEuropean Championships, and she finished fourth in the vault final.[32] She won the gold medal on vault at theWorld Championships.[33] At the2002 World Cup Final, she tied for the gold medal on vault withOksana Chusovitina, and she won silver on balance beam behindSun Xiaojiao.[34][35]
Zamolodchikova withdrew from theAmerican Cup after falling and injuring her leg on the uneven bars.[36] She returned to competition at theParis World Cup and won a bronze medal on the vault.[37] She then won gold on vault at the Glasgow World Cup and a silver on balance beam, and she won another gold on vault at the Stuttgart World Cup.[38][39] At theWorld Championships, the Russian team only finished sixth, but Zamolodchikova won the silver medal on vault.[40]
Zamolodchikova won a bronze medal with the Russian team at theEuropean Championships. Individually, she won a bronze medal in the all-around and tied with teammateAnna Pavlova for the silver medal on vault.[41] She was then selected to representRussia at the 2004 Summer Olympics alongside Pavlova,Ludmila Ezhova,Svetlana Khorkina,Maria Kryuchkova, andNatalia Ziganshina. Theteam won the bronze medal, and Zamolodchikova finished fourth in thevault final.[42][43]
After the Olympic Games, she won a gold medal on the vault at theGlasgow World Cup.[44] She then won a silver medal on vault at the Stuttgart World Cup behind Pavlova.[45] Then at theWorld Cup Final, she finished fourth on vault and eighth on floor exercise.[46]
At the2005 European Championships, Zamolodchikova qualified for the vault and floor exercise finals where she finished fifth and eighth, respectively.[47] She was a part of the Russian team that won the bronze medal at the2005 Summer Universiade.[1] Then at the2005 World Championships inMelbourne, she placed fourth in both vault and floor finals.[4]
Zamolodchikova finished in last place at the2006 American Cup after falling off the uneven bars.[48] At the2006 World Championships, she helped the Russian team to a bronze medal in the team event, their first at the World level since 2001, and qualified for the vault finals where she was fourth.[49] After the World Championships, she won a bronze medal on the vault in theStuttgart World Cup and two silver medals on the vault and floor exercise in the Glasgow World Cup.[50][51] She finished her year with a bronze on the vault at theWorld Cup Finals inSão Paulo,Brazil.[34]
Zamolodchikova missed the2007 European Championships due to a leg injury.[4] She competed at the2007 Summer Universiade and won bronze medals with the Russian team and on the floor exercise.[1] At the2007 World Championships, her teammateEkaterina Kramarenko ran up and touched the vaulting table but stopped and received a 0. Zamolodchikova performed a solid vault, but the Russian team had already ended up eighth.[52] In the event finals, she fell on her second vault and finished again in eighth.[53]
Zamolodchikova continued training in 2008 in hopes of making the Russian Olympic team for the third time, but a back injury prevented her from making the team.[54] After the Olympics, she competed at the2008 World Cup Final and finished sixth on the vault and fourth on the floor exercise.[55]
Zamolodchikova made her last competitive appearance at the2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade where she helped the Russian team win the silver medal.[2]
After retirement, Zamolodchikova became a gymnastics coach and a certified judge.[56] She graduated fromLesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health with a coaching degree.[4] She had a heart attack in 2013.[57] She gave birth to her first child on 21 April 2021.[58]
Zamolodchikova has two eponymous skills in theCode of Points.[59]
| Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty[a] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vault | Zamolodchikova | Tsukahara stretched with 2/1 turn (720°) off | 5.2 |
| Balance beam | Zamolodchikova | Round-off in front of beam - flic-flac with 1/1 turn (360°) to hip circle backward | E (0.5) |
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