Skip to main content

Elena Gurova - Tiny Dancer

 

Baby face ... Born 30 December 1972, Elena Gurova was one of the Soviet Union's gymnastics prodigies who blossomed early, but never quite showed her full flowering.  At the age of 14, Elena took multiple medals at the Soviet Cup and Soviet Championships to qualify as a member of her country's team at the World Championships in Rotterdam.  Despite a stunning floor routine, including a double layout opener and a final tumble of full twisting double back, Elena received just one medal there, a silver for her team contribution.  She failed to qualify to any individual final, thanks to the incredible depth of a Soviet team that included eventual World - and Olympic - Champions Shushunova, Omelianchik, Boguinskaia and Baitova.


The following year she competed at the World Sports Fair, taking the AA gold with, by her standards, watered down routines.  Sadly she was not named to the Soviet Olympics team and her competitive record then runs dry - does anyone know any more?


In the picture, taken in 1985, Elena would have been only twelve years old.  This was the first time that I saw her compete at international senior level, at Wembley in the Champions All competition.  


Elena trained in Moscow at the same CSKA club as Elena Shevchenko, Olga Chudina and, later, Anastasia Grishina.  She shared the same meticulous approach to her technical elements, was especially powerful on bars and beam and is one of the gymnasts credited as having competed the double twisting Yurchenko first.  Her coaches, Viktor and Irina Razumovsky, still work at the same club today and look after one of Moscow's leading gymnasts, Daria Mikhailova.


You can watch Elena's 1987 floor routine here.

Comments

  1. This young woman was SPECTACULAR in the 80s ... on youtube, check out her performances at the 1987 Chinichi Cup and Tokyo International. I thought for sure that she would be the next World Champion on floor -- so few gymnasts were doing such difficult tumbles. Alas, it just wasn't in the cards. Please let her know that gymnastic fans in the US really respect her efforts and remember her still.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stratovich will take a surgery in Germany as soon as posibel according to Alfosov and Rodionenko , Ivan will miss Russian Nationals and Euros http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170121/1115218505.html and Nagornyi will start full trainings only in the end of january http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20170121/1115219527.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had once read that she had a brief stint with judging. But apparently she was said to now be an office employee of some sort in Moscow. But that was a while ago. Who knows what she is doing now.

    She was so good from 1984 to 1987 but after that, she really seemed to struggle with growth and body changes. Still, she left a great body of work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I thought her first international appearance was in 1984 at the DTB Cup. She also competed in Druzhba that year finishing second to Silivas (due to Gurova having a poor beam routine).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love this photo. The Black and White of Shushunova was wonderful. I too would cut out any scrap of information about the Soviets from the time of Olga Korbut. I did not know what gymnastics was before 1970 Olympics.

    Would subscribe to Euro gymn mags, it looks like the newspapers in Britain did much more on the Soviet Tours even before the two boycotted Olympics.

    Have been painting and doing computer graphics of Natalia Frolova, Baraksanova and Ilyenko and Shaposh for a number of years. So glad for the gymnternet to see these performances again and again and again.

    I love Queen Elizabeth's comments on grace and artistry. It seems like they have tried to destroy all the emotion in all the arts. The Guardian has an article online about a book called The CIA and modern art. Art Renewal, the most visited museum online for realistic art has some great articles on this subject to do with the visual arts.



    https://www.facebook.com/Movement-Works-Studio-470457819669706/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda, your art is beautiful and I have shared your page on RRG’s Facebook site. Do you ever sell your art?

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...

Mustafina Interview 2 of 2 : 'I will only perform under the Russian flag'

Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...

I am looking forward with inspiration - Melnikova returns to international competition

Angelina Melnikova will be the first Russian WAG to compete internationally since the IOC ban in 2022 when she appears at the World Challenge Cup in Paris on September 13 and 14 this year. Travelling with her will be coach Konstantin Pluzhnikov and judge Elena Redyanova.   Angelina says she will compete AA with a relatively simple programme. I’m glad Angelina is making this start for Russia.  It’s a real tribute to this young woman that she is trusted with the first effort at coming back after such a long time, and I hope people welcome her back warmly.  Angelina will be competing as a neutral athlete, of course.  She was awarded this status after a fair and rigorous process of evaluation by the FIG.   Here is what Angelina said today to Match TV: Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Angelina Melnikova told Match TV how she reacted to being admitted to the FIG World Challenge Cup tournament in France. ❓What emotions did you experience from the fact that you w...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more