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.

Young Competition Life

In 1973 Yelena Davydova won her first International Tournament. In 1974 she became a member of the USSR junior squad.At the 1975 USSR junior Championships Davydova finished 3rd AA and won golds on vault and bars. Following her success here she became a member of the senior squad. In March 1976 Davydova achieved 2nd place All-Around at the USSR championships. She also won the gold on bars and a silver on floor. At the inaugural American Cup, Davydova astonished the gymnastics world by performing a side somersault on the beam, the first woman to do so. However, she only received 3rd place AA, due to her poor health in the match. The competition was won by Nadia Comaneci, whose gymnastics Yelena Davydova greatly admired. At the USSR cup Davydova tied for 6th place AA - and won bronze on vault, only 0.025 behind Olga Korbut - but only the top 5 and one gymnast in 9th place were chosen for the Soviet Olympic team. Larissa Semyonova Latynina, who had won 18 Olympic medals -- a record for either gender in any sport, was the senior coach for the team, and was determined to uphold the classical gymnastics tradition against the new athletic school of gymnastics as represented by Comaneci, Davydova and others.

Related Topics:
1973 - 1974 - USSR - 1975 - Vault - Bars - Floor - Beam - Nadia Comaneci - Olga Korbut - Soviet Olympic team - Larissa Semyonova Latynina

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In August Davydova won the Antibes tournament in France by 0.6 points. In addition, she won gold on the vault, and silvers on the events beam, bars, and floor. She finished 2nd AA in event finals at the Riga International with golds on beam, bars, and the vault, with a bronze on floor. In October, she was made a member of the USSR gymnastics display team, which visited the UK. She subsequently performed her beam routine on the "Blue Peter" show, an educational/entertainment show for children and teenagers and, was featured in that years "Blue Peter" annual.

Related Topics:
France - Riga - UK

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In December of '76, Davydova finished 3rd AA at the Chunichi Cup in Japan, and won a gold on vault and a bronze on floor at the Tokyo Cup. She was the only woman in the competition to perform a front somersault vault. Despite the presence of Olympians such as Comaneci, Ungureanu, Kim, and Grozdova in the Cup, Davydova was described as the "most exciting performer and certainly the most happy bubbly personality". One Japanese sports commentator wrote the prediction that "It was young Yelena Davydova who deserved special attention for her super difficult exercises. She is a new infant prodigy for the Soviet Union, no less talented than Kim, Turischeva, or Filatova". In 1977 Davydova again won the gold medal on bars at the USSR championships, scoring a full 10.

Related Topics:
Japan - Tokyo - Ungureanu - Grozdova - Turischeva - Filatova - 1977

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In September 1977 Yelena Davydova appeared on the front cover of a new magazine with an emphasis on young gymnasts, entitled Gymnastics World. She was one of the four "Mighty Mites" featured in that issue.

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She suffered a serious injury when a bone detached from her knee during training. Davydova was told that her injury could be repaired by surgery, but she would never be a gymnast again. But Yelena persevered.

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In 1978 Gennady Korshunov and his wife were invited to coach gymnastics in Leningrad, the birthcity of Gennady. Yelena Davydova and her family moved along with the Korshunov family. She achieved a silver AA at the Spartakiade of Russian Federation Sports Schools meet, and bronze AA at the USSR Cup, being the top scorer on both beam and bars. Shortly after, Davydova won the AA title at the prestigious Chunichi Cup in Japan defeating Maxi Gnauck. Her win by 0.55 points remains the joint 3rd highest margin of victory in the competition's 34 year history. She also won gold on the bars and vault at the Tokyo Cup. As a result, she was chosen to be a member of the USSR team at the World Championships at Strasbourg in France. However, on the day of competition she was named as an alternate, and unable to compete.

Related Topics:
1978 - Leningrad - Russian Federation - Chunichi Cup - Japan - Maxi Gnauck - Tokyo Cup - Strasbourg - France

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Brian Bakalar, owner and head coach at Gymnastics Revolution in Bethel, Connecticut, USA wrote on his website in 2005 that "In the late 1970's Elena Davydova first performed a skill that has become the basis for today's optional uneven bar routines - the Giant". Indeed, Davydova advanced the difficulty of gymnastics through the introduction of her moves, and is one of a select few to have introduced a new move and/or trend on each piece of apparatus. Davydova was the first female gymnast to perform a Giant and a Tkatchev on bars; a front tuck and side-somi on the beam, a round-off flic-flac, which led to many of the different dismounts we have today; a 1 1/2 twist, punch front combination and an Arabian 1 3/4 somersault on floor (since banned for female gymnasts by the FIG for health and safety reasons); on vault she invented the full twist-on, tucked front somersault off. This is worth 9.7 points, 25 years later today. Many gymnasts in 1980 performed the layout Tsukahara vault, now worth 9.1 under the current Code of Points.

Related Topics:
Bethel - Connecticut - USA - FIG - 1980

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At the 1979 Coca-Cola International in England Davydova won a gold on floor and would have shared gold on bars, but her coach blocked the line of vision of one of the judges, and she suffered the mandatory 0.3 deduction. She finished 2nd AA at the Simo Sappien memorial tournament in Finland. Yelena Davydova was unable to attend the 1979 World Championships in Fort Worth, USA, however, because of a case of flu. At the World University Games in Mexico she won team gold, 3rd AA, and a silver medal on floor and bronze on vault in event finals.

Related Topics:
1979 - England - Finland - Fort Worth - USA - Mexico

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In 1979 Olga Korbut named Davydova, Stella Zakharova, and Nataliya Shaposhnikova as the three most promising young gymnasts.

Related Topics:
Olga Korbut - Stella Zakharova - Nataliya Shaposhnikova

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