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
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 (Russian: Лариса Семёновна Латынина, born December 27, 1934) is a famous Russian former artistic gymnast. She won many medals for the Soviet Union between 1956 and 1964. Larisa holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals won by a female gymnast, with nine! She also held the record for the most Olympic medals overall (18) for 48 years. She helped the Soviet Union become a very strong country in gymnastics.

Early Life and Training

Larisa Semyonovna Diriy was born in Kherson, which was part of the Ukrainian SSR back then. Her father passed away when she was young. Her mother worked very hard to raise her. Larisa lived through a difficult time during the 1940s.

She first learned ballet, but then started gymnastics when her ballet teacher moved away. Her first gymnastics coach was Mykhailo Sotnychenko. In 1950, Larisa earned her first sports degree. She joined the Ukrainian student team for gymnastics competitions.

After finishing high school in 1953, she moved to Kyiv. She continued her gymnastics training there. Her first big success was winning gold medals at a youth festival in Bucharest. At 19, she competed in her first international event, the 1954 World Championships in Rome. There, she helped her team win a gold medal.

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 is a competition combining all the different gymnastics events. She also won gold in the vault and floor exercise. Her team also won gold! She 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.

Larisa won all the gold medals at the 1957 European Championships. This was a huge achievement!

In 1958, she had an amazing performance at the World Championships. She won five out of six possible titles, even though she was four months pregnant! She was a favorite for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. There, she led the Soviet Union team to win gold. She also won gold in the all-around and floor exercise. She earned silver medals in the balance beam and uneven bars, and a bronze in the vault.

Larisa continued her winning streak at the 1962 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She won the all-around title again, beating Věra Čáslavská from Czechoslovakia. At the 1964 Summer Olympics, she won two more gold medals. She helped her team win gold and won the floor exercise for the third time in a row! She also earned a silver medal and two bronze medals in other events. This brought her total Olympic medals to eighteen: nine gold, five silver, and four bronze. She won a medal in every event she competed in, except for one in 1956 where she placed fourth.

Larisa Latynina's nine Olympic gold medals tie her for second place among all Olympic gold medalists. She held the record for the most Olympic medals (18) for many years. She is also the only female athlete who has held the record for the most Olympic gold medals at some point. She is also the only woman in gymnastics to win an all-around medal in more than two Olympics. She is also the only woman to win an individual event (floor exercise) in more than two Olympics.

Life After Gymnastics

Larisa Latynina retired from competing after the 1966 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She then became a coach for the Soviet national gymnastics team. She coached the team 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.

Larisa Latynina lives in Moscow and has received many awards from Russia and the Soviet Union. In 2023, she shared her thoughts about Russian athletes competing under a neutral flag at the Olympics.

Awards and Special Honors

• 1989: Received the Olympic Order (silver) from the International Olympic Committee.
• 1998: Was welcomed into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Competitive History Highlights

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
1954	USSR Championships		16	4
	World Championships		14				5
1955	USSR Championships
	USSR Cup		4
	Warsaw International
1956	Liberation Day International
	USSR Championships		4
	USSR Cup
	Olympic Games					4
1957	USSR Championships			4		5
	USSR Cup		5
	European Championships
	Moscow Summer Sports Games
1958	USSR Championships				5
	World Championships
1959	GDR-USSR Dual Meet
	USSR Championships		4			5
1960	USSR Championships					5
	USSR Cup
	Olympic Games
1961	USA-USSR Dual Meet
	USSR-USA Dual Meet
	European Championships			4
	USSR Championships
	USSR Cup
1962	USSR Championships					6
	USSR Cup
	World Championships
1963	USSR Championships					5
1964	SWE-USSR Dual Meet		4
	USSR Championships					4
	USSR Cup
	Olympic Games
1965	USSR Championships		7
	European Championships
1966	USSR Championships
	USSR Cup		5
	USSR World Trials		6
	World Championships		11

See also

In Spanish: Larisa Latýnina para niños

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists
• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists