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Gymnastics Olympics Champions From 1988-2004
Here are the men’s and women’s all-around champions from the
last five Olympic Games -- these are just brief biographies, but
they surely give you an idea of your gymnast’s potential.
2004 Paul Hamm, Carly Patterson
Paul Hamm, the 2004 men’s all-around champion in gymnastics, was
born on September 24, 1982, and has a twin brother by the name
of Morgan. Paul was the first American man to take the gold for
the all-around competition in a fully attended Olympic Game. He
is noteworthy for some controversy surrounding his title.
Carly Patterson was born on February the fourth, 1988, in Baton
Rouge,Louisiana, to a pair of loving parents - her mother,
Natalie, and her father, Ricky. She is the first of a pair of
girls (her younger sister is Jordan). In 2004, she became the
first all-around Olympic champion for the United States in more
than two decades, and was also the first to win for the US in
the past two games. The last female all-around gymnastics
champion for the United States won in 1984, when the Soviet
Union had boycotted the Olympics entirely.
2000 Andreea Raducan, Alexei Nemov
Andreea Madalina Raducan was born on the thirtieth of September,
1983, in Birlad, Romania. She was trained under Octavien Belu
and Mariana Bitang of the Cetate Deva Club in Romania and began
gymnastics at the age of five. She has several gold and silver
medals under her belt from national and international
competitions. Though she is listed as the official Olympic
all-around female champion, the IOC stripped her of her medal
when she tested positive for pseudophedrine (the active
ingredient in many decongestants) after having taken a cold pill
given to her by the Romanian Olympic Team doctor. Regardless of
whether or not she has the medal, she is a champion - and an
incredible one at that.
Alexei Nemov is considered to be one of the best male gymnasts
in the world, as well as being a pin-up for the girls. He was
born on May 28th, 1976, in Barashevo, Russia. His start on
gymnastics started early. At the age of five, his mother took
him to the local gym, thinking that gymnastics would be an
acceptable alternative to a more violent sport. He has had his
ups and downs in gymnastics -- namely, with many injuries to his
arms and shoulders -- but left the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics
with six medals each. In 2000, he was crowned the men’s
all-around gymnastics champion and bore his gold medal proudly.
1996 Li Xiaoshuang, Lilia Podkopayeva
Li Xiaoshuang, men’s all-around gymnastics champion in the 1996
Olympics, was born on November 1, 1973, in Xintao, Hubei
Province, China. His career has been marked with many successes.
At the age of seven, he took up gymnastics; two years later, he
was part of his provincial team, and at twelve years of age, he
was part of the Chinese national gymnastics team. He has won
many gold medals in his time, including two from separate
Olympic games - 1992 and 1996 - and three from the World
Gymnastics Championships. In 1995, he was awarded the
well-deserved title of International Master of Sports and
continues, to this date, to impress.
Lilia Podkopayeva was born on August 15, 1978 in Donestk,
Ukraine. Her coach, Galina Lossinskaya, brought her through more
than ten competitions all together, in which she fared well. In
the 1996 Atlanta Georgia Olympic Games, she placed first in the
all-around women’s competition and since then has toured the
United States in the John Hancock Tour of World Gymnastics
Champions.
1992 Tatiana Gutsu, Vitaly Scherbo
Tatiana Gutsu, women’s all-around champion in the 1992 Olympics,
has an excellent record of performance. She was born on the
fifty of September, 1976 in the Soviet Union, and was selected
at a very young age by her coach and trainer, Victor Dikii. In
the 1992 Olympics, her career became tarnished by conspiracy
when she took the place of Roza Galieva in the all-around
competition, one for which she did not qualify. It later became
known that Galieva was not really injured, and though it was
apparently not Gutsu’s idea to take over that part of the
competition, the two of them split the prize earnings and became
bitter acquaintances. Today, Tatiana lives in the United States.
Vitaly Scherbo, men’s all-around champion in 1992, has a very
impressive record. He won an unprecedented six individual gold
medals at the ‘92 Olympics and, all told, he holds more than
fifty medals in total from championships around the world.
Coached by two of the best in the world -- Leonid Filipenok and
Sergei Shinkar, he is truly an impressive gymnast. Now, with his
wife and daughter, Irina and Kristina respectively, he runs the
Vitaly Scherbo School of Gymnastics in Las Vegas. The website
for the school of gymnastics can be found at
http://www.vssg.net/.
1988 Elena Shoushounova, Vladimir Artemov
Elena Shushonova, women’s all-around Olympic champion of 1988,
was born in May of 1969 in Saint Petersburg, which was, at the
time, Leningrad. She trained under Viktor Gavrichenkov at the
Central Army Club in the then Soviet Union. With two Olympic
gold medals, a bronze medal and a silver medal, and more than
twenty other medals from championships around the world, Elena
Shushonova has an illustrious history of gymnastic prowess, and
in 2004, she was added to the International Gymnastics Hall of
Fame.
Born in the town for which he was named in December of 1964,
Vladimir Artemov came away with the all around gold medal in the
1988 Olympics. In fact, he came away a champion several times
over, with gold or silver in all of his events, a truly
impressive finish. Trained under Viktor Firsov at Burevestnik,
at that time a part of the Soviet Union, he also received
thirteen other medals in all of his other endeavors. Now, he
lives in the United States with his wife and children, and is a
part of the National Coaching Staff.
By Murray Hughes Gymnastics Secrets Revealed ”The book EVERY
gymnastics parent should read”
http://www.gymnasticssecretsrevealed.com/gymnastics-articles/prof
essional-gymnastics.htm
About the author:
If your child is a gymnast and you enjoyed this article, you
will definitely enjoy reading the zero cost, 5-day course
Gymnastics Tips Course written especially for gymnastics parents
by a gymnastics parent. http://www.GymnasticsSecretsRevealed.com
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