The extreme political dynamics of the era that Mukhinas athletic career were defined by, and her rapidly rising up the ranks so fast, that it should have been impossible. Every single factor dictated that a gymnast needed time to rise that fast. These are real clips of a real person who in the end, really did get hurt, and the damage couldnt be undone. After the incident, Mukhina told Ogoniok about how fans wrote to her asking when she would compete again. For the Soviet team, coached by former champion Latynina, Comaneci's dominance was a galling experience against a supposedly lesser sporting nation in the empires sphere of influence. Kerri delivered a perfect vault pass on the second try despite the injury and helped the team score the all-around gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. Elena Mukhina and Nelli Kim win the gold medal In The Strasbourg World Championship. Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina (Russian: ; name sometimes rendered "Yelena Muchina"; June 1, 1960 - December 22, 2006), born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, was a former Soviet gymnast who won the All-Around title at the 1978 World Championships at Strasbourg, France. In an article forDaily Mail, he urged Biles to "get back out there Simone, and dont get sucked into all the weak woke failure-loving Twitter nonsense youre too great a champion to be labelled a quitter.". Most Popular #24272. That there is a direct connection between them and how a person feels. . When the doctors removed the cast against her wishes and had her attempt to walk on the leg, she said she knew that was walking crookedly, and that something wasnt right. On July 3, 1980, two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, Elena Mukhina was practicing the pass containing the Thomas salto when she under-rotated, and crash-landed on her chin, snapping her spine and leaving her quadriplegic. In one of her few interviews about the tragedy, she criticized the Soviet gymnastics program for deceiving the public about the severity of her injury, and for the systems insatiable appetite for gold medals and championships. On Twitter, Morgan further trashed the mental health reasoning behind her departure. It had to be rectified, and Mukhina emerged as one of the answers. Mukhina took an interest in gymnastics and figure skating at an early age. I do not believe it was a coincidence that this story ended in tragedy, but the tragic ending was a direct byproduct of the unconventional backgrounds Mikhail Klimenko and Elena Mukhina shared. Find your friends on Facebook. Now she will watch the games from her hospital bed, her future uncertain but her gymnastics career surely ended. Video: El ejercicio que quiso imitar Elena Mukhina y la dej tetrapljica 0 seconds of 12 secondsVolume 0% 00:25 00:12 ltimos Videos 13/09/2020 12:05 Clarn.com Deportes Actualizado al. Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina ( Russian: ; first name sometimes rendered "Yelena", last name sometimes rendered "Muchina"; 1 June 1960 - 22 December 2006) was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. Gymnast #43. In the context of larger geopolitical events, Soviet leadership wanted results and were willing to push the limits. Post continues below. Mukhina was rushed into surgery again. The day Mukhina was injured, Soviet national team coaches working with her had violated half a dozen safety guidelines. 0 views, 55 likes, 11 loves, 12 comments, 120 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina - 1960-2006: Video of the documentary "More Than a Game", 1991, shows that the testimony. Strug never competed again. In the lead-up to the Olympics, Elena had broken her leg but despite this, her coach insisted that she continue . Mukhinas career ended in tragedy, an injury on the eve of the 1980 Olympics left her paralyzed from the neck down just one month after celebrating her 20th birthday. 01:46 Now playing - Source: WFSB 'Give me a break': Ex-CIA official on US response to Chinese balloon . When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Information began to emerge slowly. She was relegated to alternate status on the strong Soviet team for the Olympics, but still hoped to regain her place on the team and captivate the home fans. Another questionable cut comes at 1:04 where Mukhina suddenly has a more positive demeanor, but Mukhinas arm placement is inconsistent suggesting filmmakers used different footage to fake her response to what Klimenko was saying. But the more time passed, the more Klimenkos career seemed to regress, at least in international competition. Her response was, its not my fault that Nadia Comaneci was born in Romania. The other was when Elena Mukhina transitioned to working with Soviet mens coach Mike Kilmekno, who helped turn her into a show-stopping gymnast. During an interview with Ogonyok magazine, Mukhina blamed the doctors at TsITO (Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics), who were tending to the Soviet Nation Team for attempting to push her back into training too soon. In a 2004 interview, Larisa Latynina claimed that Mukhinas coach, Mikhail Klimenko, was affected by her injury. 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. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . RIA Novosti, Mukhina was taken under the tutelege of Klimenko. Just a month prior to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, 20-year-old Elena Mukhina under-rotated the Thomas salto, landing on her chin. At 0:10 Mukhina is told she is not trying hard enough and her avoiding the difficult work is a constant theme throughout the Mukhina Tapes. She became famous for her unique working capacity and rejection, as well as her tragic fate. The weight was becoming intolerable, all the while Mukhina missing out on the carefree life of a regular teenage girl. Watch: Susie O'Neill on her 'failure' at the Sydney Olympics. But that didn't stop her from handwriting a letter 18 months later. Klimenko may have been one of the most extreme examples of a Soviet coach utilizing psychology, but he was far from the only one. The balance of power appeared to be shifting. This is probably the LONGEST video I will ever make. Biryulina became the first woman to throw the javelin more than 70 meters. She was 20 years old. Ex-Stratfor Chief George Friedman: Neither Russia nor Ukraine can win, war can only end via negotiation! Soviet gymnast Elena Mukhina was a rising star who was tipped for glory at the 1980 Olympic Games but pushed to extremes and facing mounting pressure, the 20-year-old suffered a life-altering fall. Elena Mukhina. "She is too easily touched," a team coach said at the time. Mukhinas reactions are not always being shown. For a wide variety of reasons, he had become overly invested in a single gymnast. Mukhina was reported to have fallen on first on bars (July 9th), then on the beam, (July 14th) and it wasn't until July 16th that the AP correctly reported she had been injured on floor. El ttulo que le pondra a esa pelicula sera: Elena Mukhina recibi en la Orden Olmpica de Plata en 1981, un ao despus de su lesin. Mukhina was permanently paralyzed, and died at only 46: Claims made in the post were reflected in a GymWikia entry about Mukhina's life, career, and death, indicating she died in 2006 of "apparent complications from quadriplegia." 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). The first was beating Nadia Comaneci to win the 1978 All-Around title which marked her rise to the very top of the gymnastics world, but also her unfortunate demise. She won three gold medals and two silver medals at the 1978 World . To see this all laid out and directly explained to Mukhina in a recorded conversation is a very significant piece footage to have. Already fixated with gymnastics when other girls were keen on figure skating, Mukhina would encounter the hand of fate when coach Atonina Olezhko visited her school and posed the question to the class: who among them would be keen on training? "We have to protect our body and our mind It just sucks when you're fighting with your own head.". Elena Mukhina was born in Russia. Gymnastics Angel. The win effectively made her the top ranked gymnast of the world. Remember Kerri Strug? In 1983, Bilozerchev became the . Id estimate that most gymnasts would have needed about 5-8 years to go from where Mukhina was in 1974 to her emergence as a possible contender for the 1976 Soviet Olympic team. karma. But we also see the type of response that exists in a culture where athletes dont feel comfortable speaking what is on their mind. The exchange is roughly 3.5 minutes in length and is broken up into four clips throughout the half hour documentary. Her career came to an end when two weeks before the 1980 Olympics were to start, Mukhina broke her neck in a training accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down. However, until now, it has almost been unheard of for any high-level gymnast to withdraw from competition for health reasons. (VIDEO), Khabib says Hasbulla can become billionaire. However, Mukhina had not fully healed from her leg injury while she worked on perfecting this stunt. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Indianas Most Terrible Crime: The Case Of Sylvia Likens, Honor Killings: A Horrific Way To Restore A Familys Dignity. Up until 1975, Mukhina was an unremarkable gymnast, and Soviet coaches largely ignored her. During her Ogonyok magazine interview, she said one of the National Team coaches showed up at her hospital room the day after her surgery and flat out told her that she wasnt conscientious, and that she could still train in a cast. All of that rested on the performance of a single individual, Elena Mukhina. After Mukhinas paralysis and other close calls with Olympic-eligible female gymnasts, the Thomas salto was removed from the Code of Points as an allowed skill for women. "Several times I saw my fall in a dream, Mukhina would later say. As Mukhina would later recall, her hand shot up without hesitation. I hope everyone had a great holiday and New Years. Elena Mukhinas floor routine tumbling passes were considered revolutionary at the time because they included the never-before-seen combination salto (the Muchina). The Olympics were barely over before the media had already started to wonder if Nadia would be usurped in 1980 in the same way Korbut had been usurped in 1976. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Elena Mukhina. I also hope 2022 is a lot better than the past two years have been. . was also an option at one point, but I finally decided on the song you hear in the video, and I'd say the lyrics and tune do the justice. Explore. They ended up getting more than they bargained for, and the price for that was paid by Elena Mukhina. Elena Mukhina died of apparent complications from quadriplegia on December 22, 2006 (2006-12-22) (aged 46). The team would have won without her. Elena Mukhina passed away in 2006, 11 months later Mikhail Klimenko passed away at the age of 65. With the Moscow Olympics fast approaching in 1980, the Soviet team was still formidable but success on home soil was non-negotiable. We offer you the possibility to receive RT's news highlights every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by email. 5 19761976 . . It must be remembered that this documentary was being filmed in 1978 when the Soviet Union had extreme censorship standards in place. At the 1978 Worlds in Strasbourg, she won the all-around gold medal, beating out Olympic champions Nadia Comaneci and Nellie Kim, and earning a total of 5 medals, including 3 gold in the Team, All-Around, and Floor Exercise. She was orphaned at the age of 5 and was raised by her grandmother - Anna Ivanovna. The Old Man and the Sea.". 1 week ago But do not break down and go on living in spite of everything, understanding all her tragedy . Mukhina's career ended in tragedy, an injury on the eve of the 1980 Olympics left her paralyzed from the neck down just one month after celebrating her 20th birthday. In 2021, she was posthumously inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. At the end of the day, thats exactly what can happen and in 1980 unfortunately, it did. Her progress was modest and largely ignored. Under different circumstances the Soviets might have been less likely to give such guarantees to as many as five gymnasts. Lastly, Mikhail Klimenko pivoted to WAG only after his coaching career in MAG had failed to materialize. I didn't want to use a stupid song in the background, it HAD to be meaningful. If their top Olympic prospect was injured, they had other Olympic prospects to work on. Adding to the perplexing chain of events making Mukhina was the most unlikely gymnast to have ever achieved breakout success. She dies decades later at 45. They were selected for high-level sports because talent scouts noticed they reveled in pushing their body to the limits, strived for the highest goals imaginable, and wanted the thrill of performing the most dangerous acrobatic skills in the world. Elena Mukhina Popularity . We love, we remember. RIA Novosti, EU must shift to wartime economy industry commissioner, Biden praises Scholz for diversifying away from Russian energy, EU offers Russian banks alternatives to SWIFT media. Up until 1975, Mukhina flew under the radar and Soviet coaches largely ignored her and her abilities. She also took some of the responsibility for not being more forceful about not wanting to perform the move and shared that her first thought when she was laying on the floor with a broken neck was, Thank God, I wont be going to the Olympics.. and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastics' Greatest Stars. You will see YouTube gymnasts such as Whitney Bjerken, and other famous gymnasts such as Simone Biles, Katelyn Ohashi, Gabby Douglas, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson and many more! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Take our survey for a chance to win a $100 voucher. Elena Mukhina, the sensitive Soviet gymnast who won the women's all-around world championship in 1978 and dreamed of regaining her lost form at the Moscow Olympics, crushed several vertebrae in her neck in a training accident and is hospitalized in Minsk following surgery, Soviet officials reported today. (LogOut/ The unlikely gymnast and the unlikely coach is an important component to Mukhinas story because the combination of an unconventional gymnast joining forces with an unconventional coach was a key reason for their shared success. The first group had all been formally named to the Olympic team. And I realized that, compared to the ability to think, the inability to move is such nonsense. . In trying to complete the salto, the gymnast landed on her chin and effectively snapped her spine. The epitome of daring, strength and . Likewise, her full name is Ekaterina Alexandrovna Gordeeva. A memorial service was held in her honor five days later, and she was buried at the Troekourov Cemetery on the southwestern outskirts of Moscow.
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