Larisa Latynina facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Larisa Latynina
Latynina in the Kremlin in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Larisa Semyonovna Latynina
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	(1934-12-27) 27 December 1934 (age 90) Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	161 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior international
Years on national team	1953–1966 (URS)
Gym	Round Lake national training center Burevestnik Kyiv
Retired	1966
Medal record Representing  Soviet Union Women's artistic gymnastics Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 9 5 4 World Championships 9 4 1 European Championships 7 6 1 Olympic Games Gold 1956 Melbourne Team Gold 1956 Melbourne All-Around Gold 1956 Melbourne Vault Gold 1956 Melbourne Floor exercise Gold 1960 Rome Team Gold 1960 Rome All-around Gold 1960 Rome Floor exercise Gold 1964 Tokyo Team Gold 1964 Tokyo Floor exercise Silver 1956 Melbourne Uneven bars Silver 1960 Rome Uneven bars Silver 1960 Rome Balance beam Silver 1964 Tokyo All-around Silver 1964 Tokyo Vault Bronze 1956 Melbourne Team, apparatus Bronze 1960 Rome Vault Bronze 1964 Tokyo Uneven bars Bronze 1964 Tokyo Balance beam World Championships Gold 1954 Rome Team Gold 1958 Moscow Team Gold 1958 Moscow All-around Gold 1958 Moscow Vault Gold 1958 Moscow Uneven bars Gold 1958 Moscow Balance beam Gold 1962 Prague Team Gold 1962 Prague All-around Gold 1962 Prague Floor exercise Silver 1958 Moscow Floor exercise Silver 1962 Prague Vault Silver 1962 Prague Balance beam Silver 1966 Dortmund Team Bronze 1962 Prague Uneven bars European Championships Gold 1957 Bucharest All-around Gold 1957 Bucharest Vault Gold 1957 Bucharest Uneven bars Gold 1957 Bucharest Balance beam Gold 1957 Bucharest Floor exercise Gold 1961 Leipzig All-around Gold 1961 Leipzig Floor exercise Silver 1961 Leipzig Uneven bars Silver 1961 Leipzig Balance beam Silver 1965 Sofia All-around Silver 1965 Sofia Uneven bars Silver 1965 Sofia Balance beam Silver 1965 Sofia Floor exercise Bronze 1965 Sofia Vault

Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (born December 27, 1934) is a famous former artistic gymnast from Russia. She competed for the Soviet Union and won many medals. Between 1956 and 1964, she earned 14 individual Olympic medals and four team medals.

Larisa holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals won by a female gymnast, with nine. Her total of 18 Olympic medals was a world record for 48 years. She also held the record for individual event medals for over 52 years, winning 14. Many people say she helped the Soviet Union become a very strong country in gymnastics.

Larisa's Early Life

Larisa Semyonovna Diriy was born in Kherson, which was then part of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. Her father left the family when she was very young. Her mother worked hard as a cleaner and watchman to raise her. Larisa's father passed away during the Battle of Stalingrad. Larisa grew up during a difficult time in the 1940s.

She first started learning ballet. But when her dance teacher moved away, she switched to gymnastics. Her first gymnastics coach was Mykhailo Sotnychenko. In 1950, Larisa earned her first sports award and joined the Ukrainian student gymnastics team. She finished high school in 1953 with top honors and moved to Kyiv.

In Kyiv, she continued her gymnastics training with coach Oleksandr Mishakov. Her first big success came at a youth festival in Bucharest, where she won gold medals. At 19, she competed internationally for the first time at the 1954 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. There, she helped her team win a gold medal.

Larisa's Amazing Gymnastics Career

Latynina during the vault award ceremony at the 1964 Olympics

In 1956, when she was 21, Larisa Latynina competed in her first Olympic Games in Melbourne. She won the gold medal in the all-around event, which means she was the best overall gymnast. She also won gold in the vault and floor exercise, and silver in the uneven bars. Her team also won gold. Larisa gave her first Olympic gold medal to her first coach, who kept it until he passed away. Later, his wife returned the medal to Larisa. After her success, she received a high sports honor called "Merited Master of Sports of the USSR."

In 1957, Larisa won all the gold medals at the European gymnastics championship. For all her achievements that year, she received a special award called the Order of Lenin. Around this time, she married Ivan Latynin. She also graduated from her university with honors.

World Championships and More Olympic Success

Larisa had a very successful 1958 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She won five out of six titles, even though she was four months pregnant! She won medals in every event. Because of this, she was a favorite for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

At the 1960 Rome Olympics, Larisa led the Soviet Union team to win the top four places in the all-around event. This also secured a big win for her team. She won gold again in the floor exercise. She also earned silver medals in the balance beam and uneven bars, and a bronze in the vault.

Larisa continued to win all-around titles at the 1962 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She beat Věra Čáslavská from Czechoslovakia. At the 1964 Summer Olympics, Čáslavská beat Larisa in the all-around competition. However, Larisa still added two more gold medals to her collection. She won the team event and the floor exercise for the third time in a row! She also won a silver medal and two bronze medals in other events. This brought her total Olympic medals to 18: nine gold, five silver, and four bronze. She won a medal in every event she competed in, except for the 1956 balance beam, where she finished fourth.

Larisa Latynina's nine gold medals tie her for second place on the list of most Olympic gold medalists. From 1964 until 2012, she held the record for having more Olympic medals than anyone else. She is one of only two women to have won nine gold medals. She is also the only female athlete who, at one point, held the record for most Olympic gold medals. In gymnastics, she is the only woman to have won an all-around medal in more than two Olympics. She is also the only woman to have won an individual event (floor exercise) in more than two Olympics.

Larisa's Family Life

Larisa's mother was Pelageya Anisimovna Barabamyuk, and her father was Semyon Andreevich Diriy. Larisa has been married three times. Her current husband is Yuri Izrailovich Feldman, who was a competitive cyclist. Larisa has a daughter named Tatyana Ivanovna Latynina, who is a folk dancer. Tatyana was born just five months after Larisa won a world all-around title. Seven months after Tatyana's birth, Larisa competed in the national championships. Larisa kept her pregnancy a secret, even from her coach. She also has a son.

Life After Competing

Larisa Latynina announced her retirement from gymnastics after the 1966 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. After retiring, she became a coach for the Soviet national gymnastics team. She held this important job until 1977. Under her coaching, the Soviet women's team won gold medals at the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympics. She also helped organize the gymnastics competition at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Today, Larisa holds Russian citizenship and lives in Moscow. She has received many awards and honors from the Soviet Union and Russia. In 2023, she shared her thoughts about Russian athletes competing under a neutral flag at the Olympics. She said it was "unpatriotic" because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Awards and Honors

• 1989: Olympic Order (silver), from the International Olympic Committee
• 1998: Inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame

Images for kids

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  Latynina in the Kremlin in 2010

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  Olympic rings

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  Latynina during the vault award ceremony at the 1964 Olympics

See also

In Spanish: Larisa Latýnina para niños

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists
• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists
• List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
• List of Olympic female gymnasts for the Soviet Union
• List of women who won medals in every event at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships