International Female Gymnasts [2] Quiz

Answer: Ma Yanhong

Ma Yanhong won the World title for China on the uneven bars at the 1979 World Championships. She would win the first gold medal for China at an Olympic games when she would tie for 1st place with Julianne McNamara of the U.S. (1st individual event gold for the US women) on the uneven bars. Each scored a perfect 10.

Answer: False

There was one athlete that made the event finals in 1996 who had not competed at a World Championships event prior to the Olympic Games. This was Olga Teslenko of Ukraine, who made her senior international debut at the Olympic games. She competed in the balance beam event finals and placed a respectable 5th.

Answer: Tatiana Lysenko

Tatiana Lysenko failed to win a single individual gold medal at the 1991 World Championships, but did win a gold medal in the team competition. She rebounded in 1992, winning gold medals in the team & balance beam events, as well a bronze medal on the vault. Lavinia Milosovici won 4 medals in 1992: 2 Gold(Vault & Floor Exercise), 1 Silver(Team), and 1 Bronze(All-Around). Tatiana Gutsu also won 4 medals at the Olympic Games: 2 Gold(Team & All-Around), 1 Silver(Uneven Bars) & 1 Bronze(Floor Exercise).

Henrietta Onodi won 2 Olympic medals, a gold on vault(tied with Milosovici) and a silver on floor exercise.

Answer: 2

Daniela Silivas won her first individual World Championship gold medal on the balance beam in 1985. She would win another gold medal on balance beam in 1989. In 1987, she would tie with Germany's Dorte Thummler on uneven bars and with Russian Yelena Shushunova on floor exercise for the gold medal.

In 1989, Daniela Silivas won gold on the uneven bars(tied with Fan Di of China) and another gold on floor exercise(tied with Svetlana Boginskaya).

Answer: Mo Huilan

After leading China to one of its best finishes ever at a World Championships in 1995, China had high hopes for Mo Huilan in 1996. In 1995, she led the Chinese women to a 2nd place finish in the team competition, finished 6th in the All-Around(even after falling on her balance beam dismount), 4th on vault, 2nd on the uneven bars, 1st on balance beam, and 4th on floor exercise.

She would only win one individual medal at the Olympics in 1996, a silver on the vault. She made several mistakes throughout the competition and failed to even qualify for the uneven bars & balance beam finals. During the All-Around, she was in 1st place going into the final rotation, but fell to fifth place after stepping out of bounds on floor exercise.

She also made several mistakes during the event finals of floor exercise and finished in 6th place.

Answer: The American Cup

Nadia scored the 1st perfect 10 ever at an international competition at the American Cup held at Madison Square Garden in New York. She scored this after completing a flawless floor exercise routine, combining difficult tumbling skills with exceptional choreography that charmed the American audience.

The crowd was confused by the score at first. No gynmast had ever scored a 10 before and board within the arena appeared to display 1.00. It was only after they announced the score over the loud speaker that the crowd had realized that they had just witnessed one of the biggest pieces of gymnastics history.

Answer: Maria Gorokhovskaya

In 1952, Maria Gorokhovskaya won 7 medals in the gymnastics competition. She won 2 gold medals(team & All-Around) and 5 silver(vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise & the now-eliminated portable apparatus team competition). The 7 medals that she won is also the most number of medals that a female athlete from any country in any aport has won at an Olympic games thus far.

Answer: Aurelia Dobre & Maria Olaru

Nadia Comaneci did not win an All-Around medal at the World Championships. In 1978, she finished just out of the medals in 4th place behind a strong Soviet contingent that swept the medals. She did win a gold medal on the balance beam and a silver medal on the vault.

She did not compete in the All-Around in 1979. She withdrew from the competition after the Romanian team won its first team gold medal. A cut in her wrist sustained during the compulsory competition became infected and she developed blood poisoning.

Her withdrawal came after she gave a courageous performance on the balance beam, scoring a 9.95 with a routine done virtually with one hand. Daniela Silivas was considered by most to be the most talented gymnast of her era. However, her teammate Aurelia Dobre would become the first Romanian to win the World All-Around title in 1987. Silivas would win the bronze medal.

Her Soviet rival, Yelena Shushunova, would win the silver medal. At the World Championships in 1989, she competed despite having suffered a major knee injury earlier in the year.

She fell from the balance beam during the All-Around and finished a very dismal 12th Place. She was able to come back strong during the event finals, and won gold medals on the uneven bars, balance beam, & floor exercise. 10 years would pass before the next Romanian would stand atop the podium. At the 1999 World Championships, Maria Olaru was the surprise gold medal winner in the All-Around, finishing ahead of Viktoria Karpenko(Ukraine) and Elena Zamolodchikova(Russia).

Answer: Svetlana Khorkina

Vera Caslavska competed for Czechoslovakia(TCH). She won 10 World Championship medals: 4 Gold(1 Team in 1966, 1 All-Around in 1966, 1 Vault in 1966 & 1 Floor Exercise in 1962), 5 Silver(2 Team, 1 All-Around, 1 Balance Beam & 1 Floor exercise between 1958-1966) & 1 Bronze on Floor Exercise in 1962. Larissa Latynina competed for the Soviet Union(USSR). During her career, she won a total of 14 World Championship medals: 9 Gold(3 Team, 2 All-Around, & 1 on each event final between 1954-1966), 4 Silver(1 Team, 1 Vault, Balance Beam & 1 Floor Exercise between 1954-1966) & 1 Bronze on the Uneven Bars in 1962. Gina Gogean of Romania won 15 World Championship medals: 9 Gold Medals(3 Team, 2 Vault, 1 Balance Beam & 3 Floor Exercise between 1993-1997), 2 Silver(All-Around and Floor Exercise in 1993) & 4 Bronze(Balance Beam in 1993, Floor Exercise in 1994 and Vault in 1995 & 1997). Svetlana Khorkina made her international debut at the World Championships in 1994. During her career she won a whopping total of 20 World Championship medals: 9 Gold(3 All-Around, 1 Vault & 5 Uneven Bars between 1995-2003), 8 Silver(3 Team, 1 All-Around & 1 on each event final between 1994-2001) & 3 Bronze(1 Team in 1994 and 2 Floor Exercise in 1999 & 2001).

Answer: Natalia Bobrova

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation sent two of their youngest and inexperienced gymnasts to the World Championships in 1993. Oksana Fabrichnova finished 5th in the all-around competition, while her teammate Natalia Bobrova finished a very disappointing 19th. Oksana Fabrichnova qualified for the balance beam event finals, where she placed 6th. Natalia Bobrova was able to capture the bronze medal on the floor exercise, due in large part to the fact that she was the only gymnast in the finals with a 10.0 start value. Roza Galiyeva competed at the World Championships in 1993 under her native Uzbekistan.

She would later be granted Russian citizenship in 1995. Elena Grosheva first competed at the World Championships in 1994, where the Russian team won the bronze medal.