Maria Paseka facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Maria PasekaМария Пасека |
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Paseka at the 2015 European Championships in Montpellier, France
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Maria Valeryevna Paseka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Masha, Beefarm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Russia |
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| Born | 19 July 1995 Moscow, Russia |
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| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Level | Senior international elite | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years on national team | 2010–21 (RUS) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | MGFSO Dynamo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Olga Sikorro | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former coach(es) | Marina Gennadyevna Ulyankina, Nadezhda Galtsova, Vyacheslav Selifanov | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Music | Hasta Que Te Conocí by Juan Gabriel (2011-2012) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Maria Valeryevna Paseka (born 19 July 1995) is a famous Russian gymnast. She was part of the Russia women's national gymnastics team for over ten years. Maria is especially good at the vault, which is one of the four events in women's artistic gymnastics.
She has won many medals on the vault. These include two Olympic medals (a silver in 2016 and a bronze in 2012). She is also a two-time world champion (in 2015 and 2017) and a two-time European champion (in 2015 and 2019) on the vault. Maria also won the Universiade championship in 2015 and two Russian national titles. As part of the Russian team, she won two silver medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics.
Junior Gymnastics Career
Starting Out in 2010
In April 2010, Maria competed at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, UK. Her strong performance helped the Russian team win first place. She also won a silver medal in the vault final.
Senior Gymnastics Career
First Senior Competitions in 2011
In August 2011, Maria competed at the Russian Cup. She earned a bronze medal on vault and placed fifth on floor exercise. Her coach, Valentina Rodionenko, said that Maria had "very difficult and high-level gymnastics."
Later that year, Maria competed in events in Belgium and Russia. She continued to show her talent on vault, earning a second-place finish at the Dinamo International competition.
Big Year in 2012
Maria started 2012 strong at the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Her vault score helped the Moscow team win first place. She also won a bronze medal on vault in the individual finals.
In May, she helped the Russian team win a silver medal at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Brussels, Belgium.
Olympic Debut in London
In July 2012, Maria competed at her first 2012 Summer Olympics in London, UK. She performed a great vault, helping the Russian team win a silver medal. In the individual vault final, she won a bronze medal, which was a huge achievement!
More Medals in 2013
At the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in March 2013, Maria won a gold medal on vault. She also helped her team finish second.
In April, she competed at the 2013 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Moscow. She won a bronze medal on the uneven bars. She also made it to the vault final but had some trouble and finished seventh.
In July, Maria competed at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan. She helped the Russian team win gold. She also won a bronze medal in the vault final.
Winning Gold in 2015
Maria wasn't originally chosen for the 2015 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in France. But because of an injury to another gymnast, she was called in at the last minute. Even without much practice, she qualified for the vault final.
In the vault final, Maria won the gold medal! This was her first European vault medal, and she beat the two-time defending champion.
At the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Maria helped the Russian team finish fourth. She also qualified for the vault final. In the final, she won another gold medal, becoming the world champion on vault! She performed two difficult vaults, a Cheng and an Amanar.
Olympic Success in 2016
Rio de Janeiro Olympics
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Maria won two silver medals. One was with the Russian team, and the other was for her individual vault performance. In the team final, her Amanar vault earned the highest score for Russia.
In the vault final, she performed two clean vaults to win the silver medal. Maria was the first female gymnast since Ludmilla Tourischeva to win medals on vault in two Olympics in a row!
World Champion Again in 2017
Maria took some time off at the start of 2017 to recover from back pain. Even though she hadn't competed much, she was still chosen for the European Championships because of her amazing vault skills. She finished fourth on vault there.
In August, Maria was chosen to represent Russia at the World Championships. She performed a clean Cheng and a stunning Amanar vault. She qualified for the vault final in first place. In the final, she won the gold medal, becoming a two-time world vault champion! She was the first Russian gymnast to win two world vault titles in a row.
In December, Maria had surgery on her back to help with her injury.
Recovery and Comeback in 2018-2019
Maria spent 2018 recovering from her back surgery. By December, she was cleared to start training and competing again.
In 2019, Maria made a great comeback at the 2019 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She won first place on vault. This earned her a spot on the team for the 2019 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
She also competed in some World Cup events, winning a silver medal at the Doha World Cup. At the European Championships, Maria won another gold medal on vault, beating the 2017 European champion.
Challenges in 2020
In February 2020, Maria competed at the Melbourne World Cup. She finished eighth after some mistakes on her vaults. In March, she competed at the Baku World Cup, but the finals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Maria later shared that she injured her ankle in Baku. She decided to take a break from gymnastics to recover.
Images for kids
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Olympic Rings
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Maria Paseka and the Russian team with their Olympic silver medals after the women's team final on 9 August 2016
