Elena Zamolodchikova
Zamolodchikova in 1998
Personal information
Full nameElena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova
Alternative name(s)Yelena Zamolodchikova
Nickname(s)Zamo
Country represented Russia
Born (1982-09-19) 19 September 1982
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
HometownMoscow, Russia
Height154 cm (5 ft 1 in)[1]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team1996-2009 (RUS)
ClubDynamo Moscow
Former coach(es)Nadesha Maslennikova
Retired2009[2]
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 1 1
World Championships 2 3 2
World Cup Final 2 2 1
European Championships 2 4 3
European Team Championships 1 0 0
Universiade 0 1 3
Total 9 11 10
Representing  Russia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2000 SydneyVault
Gold medal – first place2000 SydneyFloor exercise
Silver medal – second place2000 SydneyTeam
Bronze medal – third place2004 AthensTeam
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1999 TianjinVault
Gold medal – first place2002 DebrecenVault
Silver medal – second place1999 TianjinTeam
Silver medal – second place2001 GhentTeam
Silver medal – second place2003 AnaheimVault
Bronze medal – third place1999 TianjinAll-around
Bronze medal – third place2006 AarhusTeam
World Cup Final
Gold medal – first place2000 GlasgowVault
Gold medal – first place2002 StuttgartVault
Silver medal – second place2000 GlasgowFloor exercise
Silver medal – second place2002 StuttgartBalance beam
Bronze medal – third place2006 São PauloVault
Goodwill Games
Gold medal – first place2001 BrisbaneVault
Gold medal – first place2001 BrisbaneFloor exercise
Bronze medal – third place2001 BrisbaneAll-around
European Championships
Gold medal – first place2000 ParisTeam
Gold medal – first place2002 PatrasTeam
Silver medal – second place1998 Saint PetersburgTeam
Silver medal – second place2000 ParisAll-around
Silver medal – second place2000 ParisVault
Silver medal – second place2004 AmsterdamVault
Bronze medal – third place2000 ParisBalance beam
Bronze medal – third place2004 AmsterdamTeam
Bronze medal – third place2004 AmsterdamAll-around
European Team Championships
Gold medal – first place2001 RiesaTeam
Summer Universiade
Silver medal – second place2009 BelgradeTeam
Bronze medal – third place2005 IzmirTeam
Bronze medal – third place2007 BangkokTeam
Bronze medal – third place2007 BangkokFloor exercise

Elena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova (Russian: Елена Михайловна Замолодчикова; born 19 September 1982)[3] is a Russian former artistic gymnast and four-time Olympic medallist. She is the 2000 Olympic champion on vault and floor exercise, and she is a two-time World champion on vault (1999, 2002). In 2015, she was inducted in the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[2]

Early life

Zamolodchikova was born on 19 September 1982 in Moscow. Her father, Mikhail Alexandrovich, was a member of the Soviet Army and was one of the first Chernobyl liquidators, and her mother, Irina Nikolaevna, was a teacher.[4] She began gymnastics at the age of six.[2] She wanted to start gymnastics after watching a competition on television.[5] She briefly quit gymnastics after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, but this diagnosis was refuted by another doctor, and she returned to training.[4]

Gymnastics career

Zamolodchikova joined the Russian junior national team in 1996 and competed at the 1996 Junior European Championships. There, the Russian team won the gold medal, and Zamolodchikova won the silver medal on vault.[5][6]

1998–1999

Zamolodchikova began age-eligible for senior competition in 1998. She won a silver medal with the Russian team at the 1998 European Championships.[5] Individually, she finished fourth on vault.[7] At the 1998 World Youth Games in Moscow, she won the all-around title.[8]

In 1999, Zamolodchikova participated in her first World Championships. She won the gold on the vault, silver with the Russian team, and bronze in the all-around. Following the World Championships, she competed at the Glasgow Grand Prix and won the gold medal on the vault.[9] She won another gold medal on vault at the Stuttgart Grand Prix.[10]

2000

Zamolodchikova began the Olympic season at the Montreux World Cup where she won the gold medal on the vault.[11] Despite her father's recent death, she chose to still compete at the European Championships.[4] There, she led her team to the gold medal and earned individual silvers in the all-around and vault finals and a bronze on the balance beam.[12][13][14]

2000 Summer Olympics

Zamolodchikova was selected as a member of the Russian gymnastics team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney alongside Svetlana Khorkina, Yekaterina Lobaznyuk, Elena Produnova, Anastasiya Kolesnikova, and Anna Chepeleva. The team finished in first place during the qualification round.[15] In the team final, several major mistakes, including Zamolodchikova's fall off the balance beam, cost them the gold medal, and they won silver behind Romania.[16] After two apparatuses in the all-around final, Zamolodchikova was in first place with her stronger exercises still to go. However, she lost her chance of an all-around medal after a fall during her floor exercise rotation. On a night when many gymnasts made uncharacteristic errors, she eventually finished sixth.[17][18]

Zamolodchikova did not initially qualify for the vault final due to the two-per-country rule. However, on the day of the final, Khorkina gave up her spot to Zamolodchikova. Khorkina stated that she felt Zamolodchikova would have a better chance at winning the gold medal, and Zamolodchikova did ultimately win the gold medal with an average score of 9.712.[19] In the floor exercise final, she beat Khorkina by 0.038 points to win her second Olympic gold medal.[5]

After the Olympic Games, Zamolodchikova competed at the World Cup final and won gold on the vault and silver on the floor exercise.[20] Then at the Stuttgart World Cup, she won gold on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and she tied with Jana Komrsková for silver on uneven bars.[21]

2001–2004

Zamolodchikova won the all-around title at the 2001 American Cup.[22] At the 2001 Goodwill Games, she won the all-around bronze medal behind Sabina Cojocar and Svetlana Khorkina.[23] In the event finals, she won gold on both vault and floor exercise.[24]

Zamolodchikova won the gold medal on vault at the 2002 World Championships.[25]

Zamolodchikova withdrew from the 2003 American Cup after falling and injuring her leg on the uneven bars.[26]

Zamolodchikova competed in her second Olympic games in 2004. The Russian team won a bronze medal, and Zamolodchikova just missed out on an individual vault medal, placing fourth behind Monica Roşu of Romania, Annia Hatch of the United States, and a fellow Russian, Anna Pavlova.

2005

At the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, she placed fourth in both vault and floor finals. In the floor finals, she performed four extremely difficult tumbling passes, landing each one cleanly, but did not successfully compete all of her dance combinations. Her start value was lowered as a result from 10.0 to 9.7, and she scored a 9.162, placing her behind Americans Alicia Sacramone and Nastia Liukin, and Dutch gymnast Suzanne Harmes. Zamolodchikova's low score was unpopular with the crowd, who appeared to think she should have won bronze. She scored an average of 9.318 on her two vaults, finishing behind Cheng Fei of China, Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, and Alicia Sacramone of the U.S.

2006

Although many gymnasts retired as the new code was introduced, Zamolodchikova decided to continue competing. She struggled at her first competition of 2006, the American Cup, particularly on bars where she had a fall. An injury prevented selection for the 2006 European Championships in Volos, Greece.

Zamolodchikova helped the Russian team to a bronze medal in the team event, their first at world level since 2001, and qualified to vault finals where she was fourth. In 2006, she also competed her new vault skill, a Yurchenko laid out half-on, half-off which has an A-score of 5.6P in the new code.

After the World Championships, she competed in a few World Cup competitions winning a bronze medal on vault in the DTB-Cup in Stuttgart and two silver medals on vault and on floor in the Glasgow Grand Prix. She crowned her year with a bronze on vault at the World Cup Finals in São Paulo, Brazil.

2007–2009

At the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, her teammate Ekaterina Kramarenko ran up and touched the vaulting table but stopped and received a 0. Zamolodchikova performed a solid vault, but the Russian team had already ended up eighth (last). In the event finals, she fell on her second vault, and finished again in eighth.

Zamolodchikova continued training in 2008 in hopes of making the Russian Olympic team for the third time, but a back injury prevented her from making the team.[27] Instead, she competed in various World Cup events, narrowly missing a medal on floor at the 2008 World Cup Final in Madrid, where she finished fourth.

Zamolodchikova made her last competitive appearance at the 2009 Universiade in Belgrade where she helped the Russian team win the silver medal.[2]

Post-gymnastics

After retirement, Zamolodchikova became a gymnastics coach and a certified judge.[28] She graduated from Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health with a coaching degree.[4]

Eponymous skills

Zamolodchikova has two eponymous skills in the Code of Points.[29]

ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficulty[lower-alpha 1]
VaultZamolodchikovaTsukahara stretched with 2/1 turn (720°) off5.2
Balance beamZamolodchikovaRound-off in front of beam - flic-flac with 1/1 turn (360°) to hip circle backwardE
  1. ↑ Valid for the 2022-2024 Code of Points

Competitive history

Zamolodchikova competing on floor exercise
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
1996
Junior European Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)52nd place, silver medalist(s)8
Senior
1998
European Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)4
World Youth Games1st place, gold medalist(s)
1999
World Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
Glasgow Grand Prix1st place, gold medalist(s)
Stuttgart Grand Prix1st place, gold medalist(s)
2000Montreux World Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)
European Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)8
Olympic Games2nd place, silver medalist(s)61st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Cup Final1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Stuttgart World Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
2001American Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)
European Team Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)
Goodwill Games3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2002
European Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)4
World Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Cup Final1st place, gold medalist(s)42nd place, silver medalist(s)5
2003American CupDNF
World Championships62nd place, silver medalist(s)
2004
European Championships3rd place, bronze medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)7
Olympic Games3rd place, bronze medalist(s)4
World Cup Final48
2005
European Championships58
Universiade3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
World Championships1644
2006
World Championships3rd place, bronze medalist(s)6
World Cup Final3rd place, bronze medalist(s)6
2007Universiade3rd place, bronze medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
World Championships88
2008
World Cup Final64
2009Universiade2nd place, silver medalist(s)

See also

References and notes

  1. ↑ "Yelena Zamolodchikova". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Elena Zamolodchikova". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  3. ↑ "Замолодчикова Елена Михайловна" [Zamolodchikova Elena Mikhailovna]. Dynamo Sports Club (in Russian). Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "В день рождения ЗМС Елены Михайловны Замолодчиковой - "Легенды отечественной спортивной гимнастики"" [On the birthday of ZMS Elena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova - “Legends of Russian Artistic Gymnastics”]. Artistic Gymnastics Federation of Russia (in Russian). 19 September 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Afanasyev, Vladimir (4 May 2020). "Хоркина помогла партнерше по сборной стать звездой Олимпиады-2000. 2 золота от Замолодчиковой никто не ждал" [Khorkina helped her team partner become a star at the 2000 Olympics. Nobody expected 2 gold from Zamolodchikova]. Sport 24 (in Russian). Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  6. ↑ "1996 Jr. European Championships Women's EF". Gymn Forum. 18 January 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  7. ↑ "1998 European Championships Women's EF". Gymn Forum. 16 January 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  8. ↑ "1998 World Youth Games Women's AA". Gymn Forum. 31 July 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  9. ↑ "Glasgow Grand Prix & 3rd World Cup 1999/2000". Gym Media. Archived from the original on 15 December 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "17th DTB-Pokal Stuttgart 1999 Grand Prix & 5th World Cup". Gym Media. Archived from the original on 15 December 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "World Cup "Le Duel" of Series 1999 / 2000 - Artistic Gymnastics Women - Montreux, Switzerland". Gym Media. Archived from the original on 19 February 2002. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "23rd European Championships Women's Artistic Gymnastics Paris (FRA) May 12 - 14 2000". Gymnastics Results. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "2000 European Championships Women's AA". Gymn Forum. 13 May 2000. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  14. ↑ "2000 European Championships Women's EF". Gymn Forum. 16 January 2004. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  15. ↑ "«На своих первых Играх чувствовала себя как в Голливуде». Истории от Елены Замолодчиковой" [“At my first Games I felt like I was in Hollywood.” Stories from Elena Zamolodchikova]. Artistic Gymnastics Federation of Russia (in Russian). 21 April 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "Russia's star turn falls from grace". The Guardian. 20 September 2000. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  17. ↑ Kamiya, Gary (22 September 2000). ""Survivor" gymnastics". Salon. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  18. ↑ "Sydney 2000 Gymnastics Artistic Individual All-Around Women Results". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  19. ↑ Roberts, Selena (25 September 2000). "A Champion Answers Disaster With Triumph". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  20. ↑ "Artistic Gymnastics, World Cup Series 1999/2000, Overview Women" (PDF). Gym Media. 12 October 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  21. ↑ "Weltcup & "Great Four" 18th DTB Pokal 2000 Stuttgart, Germany, November 24 - 26" [World Cup & "Great Four" 18th DTB Pokal 2000 Stuttgart, Germany, November 24 - 26]. Gym Media (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  22. ↑ "Wilson Wins Fourth Visa American Cup Title". USA Gymnastics. 24 February 2001. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  23. ↑ "Romanian Sabina Cojocar Earns Goodwill Games All-Around Gold". USA Gymnastics. 2 September 2001. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  24. ↑ "McClure Wins Pommel Horse Bronze Medal for USA at 2001 Goodwill Games". USA Gymnastics. 29 August 2001. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  25. ↑ "Kupets Captures Gold". The Washington Post. 24 November 2002. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  26. ↑ Rosewater, Amy (2 March 2003). "Vaulting Into the Spotlight". The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  27. ↑ Petrov, Vladimir (29 October 2009). "Спортсменка Елена Замолодчикова: Для меня было большим ударом не попасть на Олимпиаду" [Athlete Elena Zamolodchikova: It was a big blow for me not to get to the Olympics]. RGRU (in Russian). Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  28. ↑ "Мечты и грезы Елены Замолодчиковой" [Dreams and reveries of Elena Zamolodchikova]. MKRU (in Russian). 29 August 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  29. ↑ "2022-2024 Code of Points Women's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. p. 66, 115, 206, 209. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
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