Svetlana Grozdova

Svetlana Grozdova
Born (1959-01-29) 29 January 1959
Rostov on Don, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Gymnastics career
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Country
represented
 Soviet Union
Medal record
Olympic Games
1976 Montreal Team competition

Svetlana Khristoforovna Grozdova (Russian: Светлана Христофоровна Гроздова, born 29 January 1959 in Rostov on Don[1]) is a retired Soviet Russian gymnast.

She started training in gymnastics at age 8 and was coached by Russian gymnastics coach Ruslan Lavrov in a gym in Rostov-on-Don. She was a member of the Soviet Union's 1976 Olympics Gold medal-winning gymnastics team alongside Maria Filatova, Nellie Kim, Elvira Saadi, Ludmilla Tourischeva and Olga Korbut.

In 1974 and 1976, she was the Moscow News All Around champion. She was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor in 1976.[2] In 1980 she left the world of competitive gymnastics and took up sports acrobatics and was competing in it by the mid-1980s.

Her best event was the balance beam. Despite not winning any Olympic medals in this event, she was a pro at wowing the crowds at USSR gymnastics exhibitions around the world with her tremendous flexibility and mesmerising balance on her hands. She had an unusually flexible, rubber-like spine which allowed her to perform walkovers along the 4 in (10 cm) width of the balance beam, and to do a split handstand at the very end of the beam and touching the beam with her foot behind her head.

Competition History

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
1973 GDR-USSR Dual Meet
Druzhba 4 7
Riga International 6
USSR-GDR-CSSR-HUN Meet
1974 Moscow News
Antibes International
Golden Sands International
USSR Championships 4 4
USSR Cup 5
1976 Moscow News
Chunichi Cup 5
Tokyo Cup
USSR Championships 4
USSR Cup 9
USSR-CSSR Dual Meet
Olympic Games
1977 Army Club Championships
1978 FRA-USSR-BUL Meet
USSR Championships 18 7 7
USSR Cup 12
1979 Istanbul International
University Games 4

[3][4]

References

  1. ^ (in Russian) Profile at Gymnast.ru Archived November 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Boris Khavin (1979). All about Olympic Games (in Russian) (2nd ed.). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. p. 542.
  3. ^ "Svetlana Grozdova". 27 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Gymn Forum: Svetlana Grozdova biography".