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Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina (Russian:Елена Вячеславовна Мухина) (born June 1 1960 in Moscow, Russian SFSR) is a former Soviet gymnast who won the All-Around title at the 1978 World Championships at Strasbourg, France.

Elena (also spelled "Yelena") lost both of her parents by the time she was five years old. She was raised by her grandmother, Anna Ivanovna. As a youngster she took an interest in gymnastics and figure skating. When an athletic scout visited her school, she eagerly volunteered to try out for gymnastics. She later joined the CSKA Moscow ("Central Red Army") sports club. In recognition of her accomplishments, Mukhina was inducted into the CSKA Hall of Fame [1].

Up until 1975, Elena Mukhina was an unremarkable gymnast. She was not a serious competitor and Soviet coaches largely ignored her. Then, she teamed up with men's coach Mikhail Klimenko and she transformed into one of the most show stopping gymnasts of her time. She burst onto the scene at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. In one of the most stunning all-around performances in history, she won the gold medal, beating out Olympic Champions Nadia Comaneci and Nellie Kim among others. She also tied for the gold medal in the floor exercise event final, as well as winning the silver in balance beam and uneven bars. She made history in this competition by unveiling her signature moves: a full-twisting layout Korbut salto on bars; a tucked double back salto dismount on beam (a move that is still being used more than 25 years later); and a full-twisting double back somersault on floor (still an E-rated move in the Code of Points). She quickly established herself as an athlete to watch for at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

However, disaster struck in the months and weeks leading up to the Olympic Games. In late 1979 Mukhina suffered a broken leg, which kept her out of the World Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, a competition in which the Soviet team suffered its first defeat at the hands of their archrivals from Romania. After surgery Mukhina's training continued despite her leg having not completely healed. When it was discovered that the fracture had not healed properly, Mukhina was rushed into surgery again. Because of her injury, she had great difficulty re-mastering a signature tumbling run, a Thomas salto (a 1 and 3/4 flip with 1 1/2 twists). Two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, while practicing this exact move, she underrotated the salto, crash-landed on her chin, and her spine snapped. She was rendered a quadriplegic. The Soviet Union awarded her Order of Lenin in response to her injury and in 1983, Juan Samaranch, the IOC President, awarded her the Silver Medal of the Olympic Order.

Following the tragedy, the Soviet Gymnastics Federation remained secretive about the events surrounding Mukhina's cataclysmic injury. Elena herself was reclusive following the incident, seldom publicly discussing the accident. In a rare interview with Olgonyok magazine, Elena spoke candidly about the Soviet gymnastics program, criticizing it for deceiving the public about her injury, and for the system's insatiable desire for gold medals and championships:

"...for our country, athletic successes and victories have always meant somewhat more than even simply the prestige of the nation. They embodied (and embody) the correctness of the political path we have chosen, the advantages of the system, and they are becoming a symbol of superiority. Hence the demand for victory - at any price. As for risk, well... We've always placed a high value on risk, and a human life was worth little in comparison with the prestige of the nation; we've been taught to believe this since childhood." "There are such concepts as the honor of the club, the honor of the team, the honor of the national squad, the honor of the flag. They are words behind which the person isn't perceived. I'm not condemning anyone or blaming anyone for what happened to me. Not Klimenko or especially the national team coach at that time, Shaniyazov. I feel sorry for Klimenko - he's a victim of the system, a member of the clan of grownups who are 'doing their job.' Shaniyazov I simply don't respect. And the others? I was injured because everyone around me was observing neutrality and keeping silent. After all, they saw that I wasn't ready to perform that element. But they kept quiet. Nobody stopped a person who, forgetting everything, was tearing forward - go, go, go!"[2]

Despite this, Mukhina took some of the responsibility for not saying no, to protect herself from further harm.

According to Larissa Latynina's 2004 interview, Mukhina's trainer Mikhail Klimenko has been affected by her injury. Elena was not expected to be added to the Soviet Olympic team roster. There was little doubt that the Soviet Olympic women's gymnastics team would get the gold medal in the team competition at the 1980 Summer Olympics, as it did at all previous Olympics. Nevertheless, Klimenko wanted Mukhina to train because he wanted to become the "Olympic champion's trainer." Soon afterwards Klimenko emigrated to Italy, where he now lives with his children. ^[3]

In the late 1980's Elena Mukhina was a guest columnist for the Moscow News[4]. Her injury was a featured topic in an A&E documentary More Than a Game; and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastic's Greatest Stars. She continues to support the Olympic movement to this day, and the IOC President said in 2005 that he was delighted she still wished to be involved. Former gymnast and friend Elena Gurina currently lives with Mukhina and her grandmother, assisting them with their care.

[edit] Achievements

Year	Event	AA	Team	VT	UB	BB	FX
1977	World Cup				1st	1st
	European Championships	2nd		3rd	1st	1st	1st
	USSR Championships	2nd			3rd		1st
	USSR Cup	2nd
1978	World Championships	1st	1st		2nd	2nd	1st
	USSR Championships	1st			1st		3rd
1979	European Championships				1st		2nd
	USSR Championships				1st

[edit] Reference

• ↑  An interview with Latynina. Dmitry Gordon's website. Retrieved on March 26, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique profile for Elena Mukhina
• List of competitive results at Gymn Forum
• Whatever Happened to Elena Mukhina?
• Yelena Mukhina: Grown-Up Games