Your email address will not be published. As a person, he wasnt just trying to preserve his coaching career, but his social status in which his coaching career depended on. I know many won't watch it mainly due to the length of it, but I HAD to just explain basically everything because the. The weight was becoming intolerable, all the while Mukhina missing out on the carefree life of a regular teenage girl. Mukhina wasnt being coerced into solving a difficult math problem on the chalk board, but to keep working past her physical limits as she was encouraged to perform increasingly more dangerous acrobatic stunts. The moment she fell to the floor, Mukhina described her first thought as, "Thank God, I won't be going to the Olympics.". Elena Mukhina: The Thomas Salto Tragedy The Dark Side Of Life The Small Sports Blog. Just a month prior to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, 20-year-old Elena Mukhina under-rotated the Thomas salto, landing on her chin. Elena Mukhina Is A Member Of . She dies decades later at 45. Soon after Mukhina's paralytic injury, Klimenko emigrated to Italy, where he lived with his children until his death from cancer on November 14, 2007, his 65th birthday. It would ultimately result in her premature death at the age of 46. Sign Up. Youre part of the problem," one person wrote. A true champion! and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastics' Greatest Stars. There will be plenty of women's gymnastics videos including vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise compliations! Only Nellie Kim and Stella Zakharova were able to medal. 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. Elena Mukhina-41977 1978 1979 UPUP Share with us. Among the negativity, Strug tweeted a message of support for Biles' decision - her own story proving just how important it was for Biles to step back. Orphaned at the age of five and brought up by her grandmother, Mukhina joined a sports club and took up gymnastics. She lost her mother at an early age, in a tragedy apparently caused when her alcoholic father set fire to their apartment. She likes music, poetry and to sit and think. Mukhina took a keen interest in children and young gymnasts both before and after her injury. Mukhina did survive after surgery, and despite being wedded to a wheelchair, she is said to have found a new perspective in the wake of tragedy. The coaching relationship between Mukhina and Klimenko was marked by a power imbalance. I always try to add a hint of humor in each blog and promise to always unapologetically be myself. We are only left to assume that there were controversial exchanges that never made it into the published version. 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. Nothing exists except work and pressure, which constantly increase, and sometimes it seems thatthat's it, you haven't got any more strength. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Stella Zakharova compared him to infamous Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and called Klimenko a tyrant. Maria Filatova referred to Klimenko as a beast and when given the option to be coached by him said, I wouldnt go to Klimenko even at gunpoint. Both were members of the 1980 Soviet Olympic team and had trained alongside Mukhina. I hope you enjoy my page! There will also be men's gymnastics videos in which we will showcase floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar montages! Elena Mukhina is a great gymnast, world champion. The camera constantly makes cuts and pans, often under questionable circumstances. What they will find at her grave is that image of a girl looking out intently yet elegantly, set amid a darker backdrop. Im sure you all have seen the gymnast suffer broken ankles, leg, and such live on television or in past footage. The move shocked the world. Sputnik, Mukhina was paralyzed by the accident. Bna. Likewise, her full name is Ekaterina Alexandrovna Gordeeva. The Thomas salto is now banned for both men and women. Most notably Aleftina Pryakhina who won two medals at the 1987 European Championships, exactly ten years after Mukhina achieved breakout success at this very same competition in 1977. 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. We offer you the possibility to receive RT's news highlights every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by email. 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 OLYMPIC CHAMPION" is the story of Elena Mukhina, Soviet gymnast, World Champion 1978, who had an injury just few days before the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 4 Elena Mukhina, Uneven Bars . However, in Tuesday's Olympic women's gymnastics team final, thousands of people watched on as Biles lost her bearings in the middle of a vault, grimacing as she shakily landed on her feet. My coach came the next day and said that I wasn't conscientious and that I could train in a cast.". Biles would later say she had suffered from the twisties, a form of gymnastics yips that leaves its sufferers feeling lost in the air. MS ALL DE SUS LMITES porque eso fue lo que Klimenco con Mukhina. Group #2: Elena Mukhina, Elena Naimushina, and Svetlana Agapova. But do not break down and go on living in spite of everything, understanding all her tragedy . Elena Mukhina. It must be remembered that this documentary was being filmed in 1978 when the Soviet Union had extreme censorship standards in place. I am frequently asked as to whether Klimenko is to blame for Mukhinas injury. The clips can be found in the above YouTube video. Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina ( first name sometimes rendered "Yelena", last name sometimes rendered "Muchina"; June 1, 1960December 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. Today. She was instantly rendered a quadriplegic. But that didn't stop her from handwriting a letter 18 months later. It was, however, from these inauspicious beginnings that a prodigious talent was born. That realization precipitated a meeting on December 28, 1974, with the man who would alter the course of Mukhinas life thereafter: Mikhail Klimenko. Up until 1975, Mukhina was an unremarkable gymnast, and Soviet coaches largely ignored her. In a 2004 interview, Larisa Latynina claimed that Mukhinas coach, Mikhail Klimenko, was affected by her injury. Where I disagree with Soviet officials is their claim that it was all Klimenkos fault. No you cant. Unlike Simone Biles, Mukhina is the tragic example of what happens when you're not allowed to say no. 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. And I realized that, compared to the ability to think, the inability to move is such nonsense. 5 19761976 . Elena Mukhina, Russia Gymnast. Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. Bilozerchev is champion again, smelling the roses and dancing until dawn. The Moscow Games have not even begun, but this must be one of their saddest stories. Elena Mukhina died of apparent complications from quadriplegia on December 22, 2006 (aged 46). In 1983, Bilozerchev became the . Other critics mocked Biles and compared her to Kerri Strug, who famously vaulted on an injured ankle for the United States at the 1996 Olympics, winning a gold medal. This website uses cookies. 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. Dos semanas antes de los Olmpicos en Rusia qued tetrapljica . Action Images, Mukhina had emerged as a world-beating force but faced increasing pressure. It didnt help that a tense political rival existed between Romania and the USSR. Cest un vritable travail de mmoire. There are other tough moments in the footage. However, until now, it has almost been unheard of for any high-level gymnast to withdraw from competition for health reasons. Her career was on the rise, and she was widely touted as the next great gymnastics star until 1979, when she broke a leg and missed several competitions. The cast was removed from her leg even though Mukhina had concerns that she was not yet ready to resume training. These are real clips of a real person who in the end, really did get hurt, and the damage couldnt be undone. Strug never competed again. 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. It would take two separate incidents to bring her to the forefront of the Soviet team. JUSTICIA!!! Surveillance video sheds light on 'cartel . Biryulina became the first woman to throw the javelin more than 70 meters. Because of the devastating injury, Elena Mukhina could not be added to the 1980 Soviet Union Olympic team roster. ELENA MUKHINA 1978 WORLD'S ALL-AROUND-ALL 4 ROUTINES! She was 20 years old. Siempre me ha fascinado su historia: perdi a sus padres cuando era muy pequea y se fue a vivir con su abuela y, muy pronto, empez a dedicarle su vida a la gimnasia. Elena Mukhina -1977 Paris Grand Prix Floor It is such a sad story so not recommended for the weak of hearts. Internacional. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardise my health and well-being," she said. Mukhina is confined to a wheelchair that she knows she may never be without. Mukhina spoke up and tried to convince her coach of how dangerous the element was. By the time of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, she was already making a name for herself but was not yet consistent enough to earn a place among the Soviet ranks. Gymnasts . At 2:11 Klimenko outright dares Mukhina to leave him and train without a coach. Mikhail Klimenkos treatment of Mukhina was atrocious, and there is so much to say on that topic that it deserves its own separate article. 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. 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. Alberto Capra. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Under different circumstances the Soviets might have been less likely to give such guarantees to as many as five gymnasts. karma. She had gone, but her legacy was far from forgotten. Together, they accomplished more than they could ever dream and reached levels they once considered to be impossible. "She is too easily touched," a team coach said at the time. Mukhina, a 20-year-old Soviet gymnast, was encouraged to train on a broken leg in the lead up to the 1980 Olympics. I realized that the commandments do not think badly, do not act badly, do not envy are not just words. In an interview with Ogonyok magazine, Mukhina blamed the doctors at TsITO (Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics) who were serving the National Team for attempting to rush her back into training too soon, saying she begged them not to remove her cast and discharge her because \"they're dragging me from home to workouts\" and she knew she was not yet healed. Elena Mukhina died of apparent complications from quadriplegia on December 22, 2006 (2006-12-22) (aged 46). 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. Mikhail Klimenko was a relatively young coach who was trying to prove himself, and was far too willing to push the limits and win by any means necessary. One of the most talented athletes,which was brought up by the school of artistic gymnastics of the Soviet Union, was Mukhina Elena. Created by a writer as part of plot-building device to foreshadow the climatic twist to the story where the popular protagonist meets his or her doom. Adding to the perplexing chain of events making Mukhina was the most unlikely gymnast to have ever achieved breakout success. A great history and analysis a tragic result with a winning at all costs attitude, only disaster results always look at the US program under Karolyi.. the success masked the tragic and sinful culture there will always be the next champion but certain things can never be erased.. and should not be forgotten ! Back in 1975, she had suffered a spinal injury which required hospital treatment and rest. One example comes at 1:40 where there is a cut between the comment made by Klimenko and Mukhinas response. A . The fans had been trained to believe in athletes heroism athletes with fractures return to the soccer field and those with concussions return to the ice rink, she said. What followed was months, turned years, of cover-ups. Perhaps the most significant part of the footage comes when Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci is invoked in the discussion. On Twitter, Morgan further trashed the mental health reasoning behind her departure. One person who wasn't impressed by the headlines was controversial TV personality Piers Morgan, who called Biles' decision to withdraw a joke". Post continues below. I thought after my last very long article and all the information in it that I gave you guys to digest I would post something shorter this time. Work, work, work. Elena Mukhina. Elena Mukhina: You Are In Gymnastics (1978) Share Watch on The documentary features a "pep talk" between Mukhina and her coach Mikhail Klimenko. In 2021, she was posthumously inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. None of this is to say I completely absolve Klimenko of blame, as I do consider his coaching tactics to be a significant factor leading to Mukhinas paralysis and even agree with Soviet officials on that particular point. Who is India's National Security Advisor and why did Putin decide to meet him one on one? Even though she won the all-around and floor exercises in 1978, with her daring bar routine, a revolutionary balance beam dismount, and a floor routine with a signature move, Mukhina was pressured by Kilmenko and other high-ranking Soviet coaches to add the mens element to her floor exercises. It had been a staple of Soviet womens gymnastics since the 1960s. We love, we remember. Gymnasts With the Most 4th Place Finishes at the Olympics, Gymnasts With the Most 4th Place Finishes, After Her Injury a Soviet Coverup Hurt Elena Mukhina Even More, Shortly After Her Paralysis Elena Mukhina Wrote a Letter. Mukhina took a keen interest in children and young gymnasts both before and after her injury. Initial rumors were that she had fallen while making her approach to the vault, then Soviet newspaper reported she had fallen during a dismount from the balance beam and had a blackout, but got back up to finish her routine without knowing how badly she had been hurt. The exchange is roughly 3.5 minutes in length and is broken up into four clips throughout the half hour documentary. As a result, abusive coaches pivoted even more towards mental/emotional abuse. Estimated Net Worth in 2020. As for the gold medal? Tatyana Biryulina, 24, a Tashkent student who had not expected to qualify for the Soviet team, set a world record in the javelin in the final trials at Podoysk, about 50 miles from Moscow. Elena Mukhina and Nelli Kim win the gold medal In The Strasbourg World Championship. But the nightmare and the pain wasn't over. Reinforcing the idea on Mukhina that she is a burden to him. She is from Russia. In trying to complete the salto, the gymnast landed on her chin and effectively snapped her spine. Logr en tampoco tiempo lo que otras lo hicieron en ms aos. She was instantly rendered a quadriplegic.\r\rElena Mukhina died of apparent complications from quadriplegia on December 22, 2006 As a rising star, everyone had their eyes on her for the coming Olympic games, something Mukhina said pressured her into pushing through her injury. For those who dont know who Elena Mukhina is, she is the most heartbreaking story to have come out of the Soviet gymnastics program. Mukhina was a guest columnist for Moscow News in the late 1980s. The real world doesnt think like that.. Mukhina died in 2006, at the age of46, from complications of quadriplegia. Required fields are marked *. GYMANGELS 1M views 16 years ago World War II Every Day with Army Sizes Christopher 25M views 11 months ago Comaneci VS Mukhina: A MAIOR. The slightest lapse - whether it be physical or mental - can be life changing, sometimes even fatal. And they dont take offense at fate.". You Are in Gymnastics is different because the four Mukhina clips provide very questionable moments where it is possible the producers made edits to misrepresent the actual conversation at hand. Soviet team coach Yuri Titov deflected questions about whether or not Mukhina would be trying for a comeback in the 1984 Summer Olympics, even blaming her injury on attempting a skill that she was not able to do but thought she needed to make the team. Remember, you don't have to agree with my opinions but I am still free to express them. The Code of Points was later modified to ban standing on the high bar during routines. Usually when a gymnastics documentary is being selectively edited to present a more favorable narrative, the controversial moments are excluded entirely. The following year Mukhina achieved the trademark win of her career by winning the All-Around title at the 1978 World Championships. Why?, "Even though athletes get to travel and see so much, they are terribly deprived spiritually. They were being pressured to make sure the Moscow Olympics featured the strongest lineup of Soviet gymnasts to ever be assembled. TM. Eglit, however, gradually came to understand that the gaunt-looking child in his charge possessed a talent which warranted more professional attention. 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. Stick-thin, Mukhina was initially viewed as being behind her contemporaries at her new CSKA training home. The win effectively made her the top ranked gymnast of the world. You can find it on BFI player if you are interested. This is one of the other important things to understand about Soviet athletics. The similarities end there for the two athletes from the Soviet Union. Gymnastics Angel. 3.50. Comaneci herself would tip Mukhina for Olympic glory. The other was twice her age who had professional training that could be used as a tool for manipulation. It most likely was an attempt to hide/minimize Mukhinas negative demeanor. Mukhina achieved breakout success at the 1977 European Championships. Likewise, there was desperation from Klimenko to get Mukhina back on her feet and into training to ensure she made the team. El ttulo que le pondra a esa pelicula sera: Klimenko had delivered a broken gymnast to the Soviet team, and it was he who deserves the blame for breaking her. TIL Soviet gymnast Elena Mukhina, widely touted as the next great gymnastics star until 1979. of her own health not just to avoid a blown hamstring or broken bone but to avoid a potentially life-threatening injury and haters have no ground to criticize her for that. 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. I began to feel these connections. This year marks the 15th anniversary since Mukhinas death on December 22, 2006. When life becomes victim to gangsters, murder, myths, legends, and more. It was the worst possible combination, a gymnast willing to tolerate anything her coach threw at her, and a coach willing to push a gymnast as far as he could. That was the story of Elena Mukhina a star that had just begun to rise before her Olympic career was tragically cut short. Whether lingering guilt and depression were contributing factors to his death is an answer we will never know. Fever. What the media had envisioned was a clone of Nadia Comaneci, a hypothetical gymnast who would be 14 years old in 1980, but was only 10 years old in 1976. Mukhina was injured on July 3rd, it would take nearly a week for news of the accident to spread to the Western press. This is probably the LONGEST video I will ever make. Klimenko had broken Mukhina mentally, and he had also broken her physically. Ex-Stratfor Chief George Friedman: Neither Russia nor Ukraine can win, war can only end via negotiation! However, unlike the popular narrative - Strug performed that vault under pressure from her coach, injuring her ankle further. Nadia is a crucial part of Elena Mukhinas story. 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." NTV, Nadia Comaneci was queen at the 1976 Olympics. Gymnasts. But we also see the type of response that exists in a culture where athletes dont feel comfortable speaking what is on their mind. She matched that achievement at the European Championships in Copenhagen, where she also added a silver medal in the floor exercise. The Biggest Tragedy in Gymnastics History (Story of Elena Mukhina) Best Gymnastics 32.4K subscribers Subscribe 17K 1.6M views 2 years ago Leave a LIKE if you enjoyed the Story of "Elena. The tweet sparked an insane backlash, with people slamming Morgan for his comments. On July 3, 1980, two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, Elena was practicing the Thomas salto tumbling move when she under-rotated and crash-landed on her chin, snapping her spine and leaving her quadriplegic. Mukhina took an interest in figure skating and gymnastics at a very early age. Mukhina was rushed into surgery that afternoon, but the damage had already been done to her reputation; one of the National Team coaches, she said in the Ogonyok interview, showed up at her bed the day after surgery and outright stated that she \"wasn't conscientious\" and that she could still \"train in a cast.\" Once more against her wishes, the doctors removed her cast prematurely, and Mukhina returned to training for the Olympics while beginning a strenuous workout program at CSKA Moscow to lose the weight she had gained while laid up from surgery.\r\rWith lingering weakness in her leg and mounting exhaustion from the grueling weight loss workouts, Mukhina had great difficulty coming back up to speed on what was to be the new end element of one of her floor exercise tumbling passes, the Thomas salto, Despite Mukhina's warnings that the element was constantly causing minor injuries and was dangerous enough to potentially cause major injuries, she was pushed to keep the element in her floor routine, and she continued to practice it even knowing it was a dangerous element. 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. 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. "This page is a tribute to the Wonderful Russian gymnast Yelena Mukhina (1960-2006), who was one of the greatest. View all posts by Nikki Young, Your email address will not be published. 42 talking about this. Leave a LIKE if you enjoyed the Story of \"Elena Mukhina\" \u0026 SUBSCRIBE for more gymnastics videos! The clips can be found in the above YouTube video. 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. From the debate over what constitutes emotional/mental abuse, to the sport trying to break its culture of silence. ", I blame Twitters virtue-signallers for fuelling this culture of celebrating weakness. I think I mentioned before that I wanted to be a gymnast growing up but didnt have the discipline because you know when youre ten years old your priority is having fun and pretty much nothing else. Most Popular #24272. Soviet gymnastic Nellie Kin was her main rival and would later receive a perfect ten, on the vault. Hers was a life blessed with triumph but befallen by tragedy; a cautionary tale of a career cut brutally short by a life-changing injury. The Elena Mukhina tapes end with Mukhina being asked to react and her response is I dont know how to react. In this final exchange we see Mukhinas reserved/quiet nature. In between the 1977 European Championships and the 1978 World Championships, the Soviets released a documentary by the name of You Are in Gymnastics. The four words engraved just to the right of the image are stark: Great gymnast, world champion. What a f moron. Mikhail Klimenko deserves significant blame for Mukhinas injury, but there is one particular detail that is frequently overlooked. Later, she joined CSKA Moscow (Central Red Army) sports club. This is the final resting place of Elena Mukhina, one of the most remarkable athletes ever to grace her sport; an artist who pushed the limits of the human body in a way few have ever done. The injury would eventually lead to her premature death at the age of 46. She earned the money being a professional Gymnast. 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. As a tribute, sports magazine Sovetsky Sport dedicated the cover of its Christmas 2006 issue to her. RIP AshleyakaFlipper 3.98K subscribers 114K views 11 years ago Montage of Elena Mukhina. So, for an athlete to know when something is increasing that risk, is significant. The Soviet Union awarded her the Order of Lenin in response to her injury, and the IOC President awarded her the Silver Medal of the Olympic Order in 1983. RIP - YouTube 0:00 / 2:37 Gymnastics Angel. On July 3, 1980, two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, Mukhina was practicing the pass containing the Thomas salto when she under-rotated the salto, crash-landed on her chin, and her spine snapped.