Yelena Davydova

Yelena Victorovna Davydova (Russian:?????? ??????????? ?????????) (born August 7, 1961 in Voronezh, 400 miles south of Moscow), is a Russian (former Soviet) gymnast, winner of the Olympic all-around title in Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Full-Fledged Olympian

At the 1980 Moscow News Tournament Davydova amazed the experts again by performing a full-on, full off vault.This vault had only ever been done before by Olga Korbut. In the 1980 Code Of Points it was one of only a few vaults having a 10 start value. Yelena won a gold and 3 silver at the Moscow News Tournament. At the 1980 USSR Championships Yelena won gold on vault and 3rd AA.

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The Soviet Olympic gymnastics team was to be chosen after the USSR Cup competition in June in Kiev. Davydova won it comfortably and scored a 10 on floor. She finished 0.5 ahead of her nearest rival, Shaposhnikova.

Related Topics:
USSR Cup - Kiev

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Just before the Olympics, the Romanian Head Coach Bela Karolyi, named Davydova as Nadia Comaneci's main rival for the Olympic title. BBC radio reported on podium training at the Olympics,discussing the established stars but added that on the basis of what they had seen they advised viewers to watch out for Yelena Davydova, and that if she performed as well as in training, then she would take gold for her daring routines.

Related Topics:
Nadia Comaneci - BBC radio

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Missing from the 1980 Olympics was the 1978 World Champion, Elena Mukhina, who had been paralysed after an accident while training. She was unable to speak for 6 months and remains in a wheelchair to this day. Davydova has always kept in contact with her and Mukhina describes her as "a real friend".

Related Topics:
1980 Olympics - Elena Mukhina

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In the team competition - whose scores counted towards both AA medals and event finals - Davydova was hampered by performing 4th for her team before Kim and Shaposhnikova - Comaneci and Gnauck performed 6th for their respective teams. The scores tend to rise with each routine - known as the staircase effect - giving the gymnasts performing last for their team a head start when it came to scoring.

Related Topics:
Kim - Shaposhnikova - Comaneci - Gnauck

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Only 3 members out of 6 from any team could go through to the All-Around final and only 2 to an event final. Davydova qualified for two event finals - beam and vault - but it is believed would have qualified for bars and floor event finals also, had she competed last for her team instead of 4th on the list.

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Nadia Comaneci scored a 10 on beam in compulsories, her first perfect score on beam in a major competition since 1977. Yelena performed very solidly, scoring 39.4, but finished the first day in 7th place behind 3 of her own teammates and equal with another. The leaders were Comaneci and Shaposhnikova, both scoring 39.85. At this stage of the competition in Montreal 76 Nadia had scored 39.35.

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In the optional exercises Davydova came into her own,outscoring all her teammates and meriting a 10 on floor. Barbara Slater, who had been a British gymnast in Montreal and was a TV commentator in 1980, described Davydova's floor exercise as the "performance of the Olympics". Nik Stuart, 9 times British AA champion and the first British national coach, stated that "Her floor exercise is the most complex ever designed for a female gymnast, full of difficulty and fluidity". US gymnast Karen Le Mond stated that Davydova's FX had "harder tumbling passes than the best 10 has ever had". Glenn Sundby, editor of International Gymnast magazine, commented that "Davydova would have won anywhere on this earth with that floor routine".

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During this part of the competition Nadia Comaneci fell from bars attempting a Hecht 1/2,a move she had also fallen from at the 1979 World Cup.The judges gave her a 9.5,which means she would have scored a 10 without the fall. Comaneci scored 39.2.

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