| Tamara Manina | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Tamara Manina at the 1964 Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Tamara Ivanovna Manina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Monia The Bird | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1934-09-16)16 September 1934 (age 90) Petrozavodsk, Respublika Kareliya,Russian SFSR,Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Burevestnik,Leningrad[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Tamara Ivanovna Manina (Russian:Тама́ра Ива́новна Ма́нина; born 16 September 1934) is a retiredSoviet Olympicgymnast and a sports scientist.
Her family lived inPetersburg (and later inLeningrad), but Manina was born in Petrozavodsk, where her father was on a long mission. During theGerman-Soviet War she was evacuated from besieged Leningrad intoTashkent. She returned into Leningrad in 1944 and began gymnastics at the LeningradYoung Pioneer Palace in the same year. She was called "Monia the Bird" by groupmates for her graceful and lightvaults.[2][3]
Competing as a junior, she won the all-around title at the USSR Nationals in 1953, and became a candidate for theUSSR team. In the same year Manina debuted at the senior USSR Championships, placing 12th in the all-around. Between 1953 and 1964 Manina successfully competed in many national and international events.[2][3]
One of Manina's most successful performances took place at the1954 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, where she earned several gold medals on vault, on thefloor and in the team competition. At the1956 Olympics she rivalledÁgnes Keleti,Larisa Latynina, and other strong competitors, and placed 6th in the all-around, but won silver medals on vault andbalance beam. She also contributed to the team's gold and bronze medals.[1] TheUSSR team won more gold medals than any other country at that year's Olympics. In one of her interviews Manina said, that the team had a warm welcome everywhere in the USSR: on their way by train fromVladivostok toMoscow they were met with flowers on each small station, people organized solemn meetings and made other arrangements to honor their visit.[2]
Although in the event finals of the1958 Worlds Manina, apart from the gold in the team competition, won a gold on the balance beam,[4] and won a silver medal on vault, she placed 3rd in the all-around to Latynina andEva Bosáková. She missed the1960 Summer Olympics due to an injury, but competed in the1962 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, contributing to the team's gold and winning the bronze on vault. At age 30 she went to the1964 Summer Olympics and won the team's gold and silver on the balance beam. Finishing her competitive career, Manina seriously injured her ankle during the display competition inVienna and was not able to continue training afterward. She coached the French national team in 1975 and has been an international judge since 1971.[2][3]
Manina is also known for her scientific activities. Starting in 1958, she studied atthe Leningrad State Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics, and graduated in 1965. She defended a dissertation for theCandidate of Science degree at the Lesgaft State Institute of Physical Culture in 1969 and taught at the gymnastics department of the institute until 1973. Since 1975 she has been a professor at the Saint Petersburg State Art-Industrial Academy. She has published more than 40 scientific, methodical and popular science books.[2][3]
Tamara Manina lives and works in Saint Petersburg. She is married to Valery Lutkov, a sports medicine doctor, and has a son, also named Valery Lutkov, an international tennis official.[2][3]
