Elena Zamolodchikova facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Elena Zamolodchikova
Zamolodchikova in 1998
Personal information
Full name	Elena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova
Alternative name(s)	Yelena Zamolodchikova
Nickname(s)	Zamo
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1982-09-19) 19 September 1982 (age 42) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Hometown	Moscow, Russia
Height	154 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team	1996-2009 (RUS)
Club	Dynamo Moscow
Former coach(es)	Nadesha Maslennikova
Retired	2009
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 1 1 World Championships 2 3 2 World Cup Final 2 2 1 European Championships 2 4 3 European Team Championships 1 0 0 Universiade 0 1 3 Representing  Russia Olympic Games Gold 2000 Sydney Vault Gold 2000 Sydney Floor exercise Silver 2000 Sydney Team Bronze 2004 Athens Team World Championships Gold 1999 Tianjin Vault Gold 2002 Debrecen Vault Silver 1999 Tianjin Team Silver 2001 Ghent Team Silver 2003 Anaheim Vault Bronze 1999 Tianjin All-around Bronze 2006 Aarhus Team World Cup Final Gold 2000 Glasgow Vault Gold 2002 Stuttgart Vault Silver 2000 Glasgow Floor exercise Silver 2002 Stuttgart Balance beam Bronze 2006 São Paulo Vault Goodwill Games Gold 2001 Brisbane Vault Gold 2001 Brisbane Floor exercise Bronze 2001 Brisbane All-around European Championships Gold 2000 Paris Team Gold 2002 Patras Team Silver 1998 Saint Petersburg Team Silver 2000 Paris All-around Silver 2000 Paris Vault Silver 2004 Amsterdam Vault Bronze 2000 Paris Balance beam Bronze 2004 Amsterdam Team Bronze 2004 Amsterdam All-around European Team Championships Gold 2001 Riesa Team Summer Universiade Silver 2009 Belgrade Team Bronze 2005 Izmir Team Bronze 2007 Bangkok Team Bronze 2007 Bangkok Floor exercise

Elena Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova (Russian: Елена Михайловна Замолодчикова; born 19 September 1982) is a Russian former artistic gymnast and four-time Olympic medallist. She is the 2000 Olympic champion on vault and floor exercise, and she is a two-time World champion on vault (1999, 2002). She also competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics where she won a bronze medal with the Russian team. She is a two-time World Cup Final vault champion (2000, 2002) and a two-time European champion with the Russian team (2000, 2002). In 2015, she was inducted in the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Early life

Zamolodchikova was born on 19 September 1982 in Moscow. Her father, Mikhail Alexandrovich, was a member of the Soviet Army and was one of the first Chernobyl liquidators, and her mother, Irina Nikolaevna, was a teacher. She began gymnastics at the age of six. She wanted to start gymnastics after watching a competition on television. She briefly quit gymnastics after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, but this diagnosis was refuted by another doctor, and she returned to training.

Gymnastics career

Zamolodchikova joined the Russian junior national team in 1996 and competed at the 1996 Junior European Championships. There, the Russian team won the gold medal, and Zamolodchikova won the silver medal on vault.

1998–1999

Zamolodchikova began age-eligible for senior competition in 1998. She won a silver medal with the Russian team at the 1998 European Championships. Individually, she finished fourth on vault. At the 1998 World Youth Games in Moscow, she won the all-around title.

In 1999, Zamolodchikova participated in her first World Championships. She won the gold on the vault, silver with the Russian team, and bronze in the all-around. Following the World Championships, she competed at the Glasgow Grand Prix and won the gold medal on the vault. She won another gold medal on vault at the Stuttgart Grand Prix.

2000

Zamolodchikova began the Olympic season at the Montreux World Cup where she won the gold medal on the vault. Despite her father's recent death, she chose to still compete at the European Championships. There, she led her team to the gold medal and earned individual silvers in the all-around and vault finals and a bronze on the balance beam.

2000 Summer Olympics

Zamolodchikova was selected as a member of the Russian gymnastics team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney alongside Svetlana Khorkina, Yekaterina Lobaznyuk, Elena Produnova, Anastasiya Kolesnikova, and Anna Chepeleva. The team finished in first place during the qualification round. In the team final, several major mistakes, including Zamolodchikova's fall off the balance beam, cost them the gold medal, and they won silver behind Romania. After two apparatuses in the all-around final, Zamolodchikova was in first place with her stronger exercises still to go. However, she lost her chance of an all-around medal after a fall during her floor exercise rotation. On a night when many gymnasts made uncharacteristic errors, she eventually finished sixth.

Zamolodchikova did not initially qualify for the vault final due to the two-per-country rule. However, on the day of the final, Khorkina gave up her spot to Zamolodchikova. Khorkina stated that she felt Zamolodchikova would have a better chance at winning the gold medal, and Zamolodchikova did ultimately win the gold medal with an average score of 9.712. In the floor exercise final, she beat Khorkina by 0.038 points to win her second Olympic gold medal.

After the Olympic Games, Zamolodchikova competed at the World Cup final and won gold on the vault and silver on the floor exercise. Then at the Stuttgart World Cup, she won gold on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and she tied with Jana Komrsková for silver on uneven bars.

2001

Zamolodchikova won the all-around title at the 2001 American Cup. Then at the Paris World Cup, she won gold on vault and floor exerciser and silver on balance beam behind Sun Xiaojiao. She won another vault gold medal at the Cottbus World Cup in addition to a silver on uneven bars behind teammate Svetlana Khorkina. She was a member of the Russian team that won gold at the European Team Championships. At the 2001 Goodwill Games, she won the all-around bronze medal behind Sabina Cojocar and Svetlana Khorkina. In the event finals, she won gold on both vault and floor exercise. She injured her foot during the qualification round of the World Championships, but she still received the silver medal the Russian team won. Despite the injury, she competed at the Stuttgart World Cup and won the gold medal on vault.

2002

Zamolodchikova won a gold medal on vault and a bronze medal on uneven bars at the Glasgow World Cup. Then at the Paris World Cup, she won silver on uneven bars and bronze on vault. She was a member of the Russian team that won gold at the European Championships, and she finished fourth in the vault final. She won the gold medal on vault at the World Championships. At the 2002 World Cup Final, she tied for the gold medal on vault with Oksana Chusovitina, and she won silver on balance beam behind Sun Xiaojiao.

2003

Zamolodchikova withdrew from the American Cup after falling and injuring her leg on the uneven bars. She returned to competition at the Paris World Cup and won a bronze medal on the vault. She then won gold on vault at the Glasgow World Cup and a silver on balance beam, and she won another gold on vault at the Stuttgart World Cup. At the World Championships, the Russian team only finished sixth, but Zamolodchikova won the silver medal on vault.

2004

Zamolodchikova won a bronze medal with the Russian team at the European Championships. Individually, she won a bronze medal in the all-around and tied with teammate Anna Pavlova for the silver medal on vault. She was then selected to represent Russia at the 2004 Summer Olympics alongside Pavlova, Ludmila Ezhova, Svetlana Khorkina, Maria Kryuchkova, and Natalia Ziganshina. The team won the bronze medal, and Zamolodchikova finished fourth in the vault final.

After the Olympic Games, she won a gold medal on the vault at the Glasgow World Cup. She then won a silver medal on vault at the Stuttgart World Cup behind Pavlova. Then at the World Cup Final, she finished fourth on vault and eighth on floor exercise.

2005–2006

At the 2005 European Championships, Zamolodchikova qualified for the vault and floor exercise finals where she finished fifth and eighth, respectively. She was a part of the Russian team that won the bronze medal at the 2005 Summer Universiade. Then at the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, she placed fourth in both vault and floor finals.

Zamolodchikova finished in last place at the 2006 American Cup after falling off the uneven bars. At the 2006 World Championships, she helped the Russian team to a bronze medal in the team event, their first at the World level since 2001, and qualified for the vault finals where she was fourth. After the World Championships, she won a bronze medal on the vault in the Stuttgart World Cup and two silver medals on the vault and floor exercise in the Glasgow World Cup. She finished her year with a bronze on the vault at the World Cup Finals in São Paulo, Brazil.

2007–2009

Zamolodchikova missed the 2007 European Championships due to a leg injury. She competed at the 2007 Summer Universiade and won bronze medals with the Russian team and on the floor exercise. At the 2007 World Championships, her teammate Ekaterina Kramarenko ran up and touched the vaulting table but stopped and received a 0. Zamolodchikova performed a solid vault, but the Russian team had already ended up eighth. In the event finals, she fell on her second vault and finished again in eighth.

Zamolodchikova continued training in 2008 in hopes of making the Russian Olympic team for the third time, but a back injury prevented her from making the team. After the Olympics, she competed at the 2008 World Cup Final and finished sixth on the vault and fourth on the floor exercise.

Zamolodchikova made her last competitive appearance at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade where she helped the Russian team win the silver medal.

Post-gymnastics

After retirement, Zamolodchikova became a gymnastics coach and a certified judge. She graduated from Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health with a coaching degree. She had a heart attack in 2013. She gave birth to her first child on 21 April 2021.

Eponymous skills

Zamolodchikova has two eponymous skills in the Code of Points.

Competitive history

Zamolodchikova competing on floor exercise

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
Junior
1996
	Junior European Championships		5				8
Senior
1998
	European Championships			4
	World Youth Games
1999
	World Championships
	Glasgow Grand Prix
	Stuttgart Grand Prix
2000	Montreux World Cup
	European Championships						8
	Olympic Games		6
	World Cup Final
	Stuttgart World Cup
2001	American Cup
	Paris World Cup
	Cottbus World Cup
	European Team Championships
	Goodwill Games
	World Championships
	Stuttgart World Cup						5
2002	Glasgow World Cup					4	8
	Paris World Cup
	European Championships			4
	World Championships
	World Cup Final				4		5
2003	American Cup		DNF
	Paris World Cup
	Glasgow World Cup						4
	Stuttgart World Cup						9
	World Championships	6
2004
	European Championships					7
	Olympic Games			4
	Glasgow World Cup				4		7
	Stuttgart World Cup						4
	World Cup Final			4			8
2005
	European Championships			5			8
	Universiade
	World Championships		16	4			4
2006	American Cup		8
	World Championships			6
	Stuttgart World Cup
	Glasgow World Cup
	World Cup Final						6
2007	Universiade
	World Championships	8		8
2008
	World Cup Final			6			4
2009	Universiade

See also

In Spanish: Yelena Zamolódchikova para niños

• List of Olympic female gymnasts for Russia
• Katya Zamolodchikova, an American drag queen who bears Elena Zamolodchikova's last name as a tribute.