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Svetlana Boginskaya
Святлана Багінская
Personal information
Full name	Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya
Nickname(s)	Belarusian Swan, Goddess of Gymnastics
Born	(1973-02-09) February 9, 1973 (age 51) Minsk, Belarusian SSR, USSR (now Belarus)
Height	158.5 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Country represented	Belarus
Former countries represented	CIS ( Unified Team),  Soviet Union
Level	Senior International Elite
Head coach(es)	Tatiana Grosovivich
Former coach(es)	Lyubov Miromanova
Retired	1997
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 1 1 World Championships 5 3 1 European Championships 9 1 0 World Cup Final 1 1 1 Goodwill Games 2 1 1 American Cup 0 1 0 Total 21 8 4 Representing  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Team 1988 Seoul Vault 1988 Seoul Floor Exercise 1988 Seoul All-Around World Championships 1989 Stuttgart Team 1989 Stuttgart All-Around 1989 Stuttgart Floor Exercise 1991 Indianapolis Team 1991 Indianapolis Balance Beam 1987 Rotterdam Team 1991 Indianapolis All-Around 1987 Rotterdam Balance Beam European Championships 1989 Brussels All-Around 1989 Brussels Vault 1989 Brussels Floor Exercise 1990 Athens All-Around 1990 Athens Vault 1990 Athens Uneven Bars 1990 Athens Balance Beam 1990 Athens Floor Exercise World Cup Final 1990 Brussels Floor Exercise 1990 Brussels All-Around 1990 Brussels Vault Goodwill Games 1990 Seattle Team 1990 Seattle Floor Exercise 1990 Seattle All-Around 1990 Seattle Balance Beam Representing  CIS ( Unified Team) Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team World Championships 1992 Paris Vault Representing  Belarus European Championships 1992 Nantes Balance Beam 1996 Birmingham All-Around American Cup 1996 Fort Worth All-Around

Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya (born February 9, 1973) is a former artistic gymnast for the Soviet Union and Belarus of Belarusian origin. She is a three-time Olympic champion, with an individual gold medal on vault from the 1988 Summer Olympics and team gold medals from the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Boginskaya was born in Minsk, Belarus on February 9, 1973. She practiced figure skating before beginning gymnastics at age six, after seeing Nadia Comăneci compete at the Olympics. Two years later, she moved to Moscow to train full-time at the Round Lake Gymnastics Center, where she trained with Lyubov Miromanova.

Gymnastics career

Boginskaya became a member of the Soviet national team at age 14. She competed internationally for the first time at the 1987 World Championships, where she placed third on balance beam; the team placed second. She went on to compete in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, where she won four medals: gold in the team competition, gold on vault, silver on floor, and bronze in the individual all-around.

Three days after the Olympics, Boginskaya's longtime coach, Lyubov Miromanova, died by suicide. Miromanova had been a surrogate mother to Boginskaya, coaching and caring for her after she moved from Minsk to train full-time in Moscow.

After Miromanova's death, Boginskaya began training with Tatiana Grosovivich. Under Grosovivich's tutelage, Boginskaya competed at the 1989 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, where she received gold in all-round, vault, and floor. Later that year, she placed first in all-around, floor, and team events at the 1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, eventually dedicating her performance to her late mentor.

The following year, Boginskaya became the fourth woman to win the gold medal in every individual event at the European Championships. She also competed at the FIG World Cup, where she placed first on floor.

In 1991, Boginskaya won gold at the World Championships on beam and silver in the all-around; the team won gold.

In 1992, Boginskaya competed at the European Championships, where she won gold on beam with a score of 9.95. However, she fell during her final event, the floor exercise, ultimately finishing fifth in the all-around. Her teammate, Tatiana Gutsu, received the all-around title. Despite Boginskaya's fall on floor, she remained a favorite to win the all-around title at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. At the World Championships, Boginskaya won gold on vault and was selected for the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Many in the gymnastics world expected a duel between Boginskaya and Zmeskal at the Olympics, and the media promoted this story. At the Olympic games, Boginskaya won her third Olympic gold in the team competition; in the individual competition, she faltered on the uneven bars and finished fifth in the individual all-around; Zmeskal finished tenth.

Following the 1992 Olympics, Boginskaya retired. However, she returned to the sport in 1995, stating that she had been inspired by Katarina Witt who had a memorable comeback at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Boginskaya moved to Houston, Texas to train with Bela Karolyi and upgraded the difficulty of her routines. At the 1995 European Championships, she won silver in the all-around.

In 1996, at age 23, she placed second in the all-around at the American Cup behind one of Karolyi's pupils, Kerri Strug. She also placed second at the European Championships in Birmingham behind the defending world champion Lilia Podkopayeva. She then progressed to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was one of a number of older gymnasts competing. Boginskaya competed in the all-around and vault finals, but did not medal. The Belarusian team came in sixth.

Following the 1996 Olympics, Boginskaya retired from gymnastics.

Boginskaya is among a small group of women to have competed in three Olympic Games; and due to the break-up of the Soviet Union, she competed at each Games under a different flag: USSR, the Unified Team, and Belarus. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005.

Boginskaya has remained active in both the American and international gymnastics communities, and works as a consulting guest coach. In the early 2010s, she frequently supported former teammate Oksana Chusovitina, who continues to compete in her late 40s, and has appeared on the competition floor as her coach.

Post-gymnastics and personal life

Boginskaya lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and two children. She runs several businesses, including an online gymnastics apparel retailer and a summer camp for gymnasts.

In popular culture

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After the 1992 Olympics, Boginskaya appeared alongside her compatriot Vitaly Scherbo in the music video for the song "Revolution Earth," by The B-52's.

Trademarks

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Boginskaya's floor routine at the 1988 Olympics was done to the music of Georges Bizet's Carmen, and another routine she performed in parts of 1990 and 1991 was choreographed by the Bolshoi Ballet. Her uneven bars exercise included a signature giant to handstand with 180° split into a toe-on element. Commentators and reporters cited her height and slim stature as elements she used to her advantage through attention to posture and body alignment; meanwhile they also suggested that she relied more on execution and presentation than difficulty, though she did usually fulfill requirements and earn 10.0 start values. She frequently landed dismounts and vaults with her right foot placed slightly in front of her left, an intentional touch of artistry that also helped her stick landings.

Competitive history

See also

• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists
• List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

Notes

1. Belarusian: Святлана Леанідаўна Багінская, romanized: Svyatlana Lyeanidawna Bahinskaya

References

1. "Class of 2005 - Svetlana Boguinskaia". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
2. ^ "Svetlana BOGINSKAYA". Olympics.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
3. ^ "Olympic Champion Svetlana Boginskaya". Russian American Business. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
4. "SVETLANA BOGINSKAYA". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on July 7, 2007. Retrieved May 12, 2007.

External links

• Svetlana Boginskaya - Bio and Competition Results at Gymn Forum
• Svetlana Boguinskaya at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Svetlana Boguinskaia at the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
• Svetlana Boguinskaia bio at CBS Sports at the Wayback Machine (archived April 15, 2003)
• Svetlana Boguinskaia at Olympics.com
• Sviatlana Bahinskaya at Olympedia (archive)
• Svetlana Boginskaya at the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus

v t e Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team All-Around
Summary
1928:  Netherlands 1936:  Germany 1948:  Czechoslovakia 1952:  Soviet Union 1956:  Soviet Union 1960:  Soviet Union 1964:  Soviet Union 1968:  Soviet Union 1972:  Soviet Union 1976:  Soviet Union 1980:  Soviet Union 1984:  Romania 1988:  Soviet Union 1992:  Unified Team 1996:  United States 2000:  Romania 2004:  Romania 2008:  China 2012:  United States 2016:  United States 2020:  ROC 2024:  United States
1988:  Soviet Union (URS), Svetlana Baitova, Yelena Shevchenko, Olga Strazheva, Natalia Lashchenova, Svetlana Boginskaya, Yelena Shushunova 1992:  Unified Team (EUN), Svetlana Boginskaya, Tatiana Gutsu, Oksana Chusovitina, Tatiana Lysenko, Yelena Grudneva, Rozalia Galiyeva

v t e World Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Team Competition
1934:  Czechoslovakia 1938:  Czechoslovakia 1950:  Sweden 1954:  Soviet Union 1958:  Soviet Union 1962:  Soviet Union 1966:  Czechoslovakia 1970:  Soviet Union 1974:  Soviet Union 1978:  Soviet Union 1979:  Romania 1981:  Soviet Union 1983:  Soviet Union 1985:  Soviet Union 1987:  Romania 1989:  Soviet Union 1991:  Soviet Union 1994:  Romania 1995:  Romania 1997:  Romania 1999:  Romania 2001:  Romania 2003:  United States 2006:  China 2007:  United States 2010:  Russia 2011:  United States 2014:  United States 2015:  United States 2018:  United States 2019:  United States 2022:  United States 2023:  United States
1989:  Soviet Union (URS), Svetlana Baitova, Svetlana Boginskaya, Olesya Dudnik, Natalia Lashchenova, Elena Sazonenkova, Olga Strazheva 1991:  Soviet Union (URS), Svetlana Boginskaya, Oksana Chusovitina, Rozalia Galiyeva, Tatiana Gutsu, Natalia Kalinina, Tatiana Lysenko

• 1973 births
• Living people
• Gymnasts from Minsk
• Soviet female artistic gymnasts
• Belarusian female artistic gymnasts
• Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
• Olympic gold medalists for the Unified Team
• Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union
• Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union
• Olympic gymnasts for the Soviet Union
• Olympic gymnasts for the Unified Team
• Olympic gymnasts for Belarus
• Olympic medalists in gymnastics
• Gymnasts at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics
• Gymnasts at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• World champion gymnasts
• Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
• Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR
• Belarusian emigrants to the United States
• Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
• Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Naturalized citizens of the United States
• Goodwill Games medalists in gymnastics
• Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games
• European champions in gymnastics