I do not believe it was a coincidence that this story ended in tragedy, but the tragic ending was a direct byproduct of the unconventional backgrounds Mikhail Klimenko and Elena Mukhina shared. Despite purported advice from Klimenko that she should only perform it into the foam pit, she was training on the platform. Under Klimenko, Mukhinas injury history had been so atrocious that her paralysis was the inevitable result of what happens when a gymnast is taught over and over again that reckless behavior is the only way forward. It didnt help that a tense political rival existed between Romania and the USSR. Elena Mukhina Profiles | Facebook It was enough to declare Mikhail Klimenko a coach with repeat success and from that point forward, he could never be dismissed as an untalented coach who had simply gotten lucky with Mukhina. Information began to emerge slowly. She also expressed a . Autonomous Nonprofit Organization TV-Novosti, 20052023. Elena Mukhina - YouTube Elena Mukhina Olympic Champion by Alberto Capra | Goodreads Dos semanas antes de los Olmpicos en Rusia qued tetrapljica . Lastly, Mikhail Klimenko pivoted to WAG only after his coaching career in MAG had failed to materialize. Her progress was modest and largely ignored. Hace apenas unos das, el 22 de diciembre, falleci Yelena Mjina (tambin transcrito como Elena Mukhina), campeona del mundo en 1978. But Morgan hit back, tweeting: "Athletesare now deemed more courageous, inspiring & heroic if they lose or quit then if they win or tough it out, which is ridiculous. Afghan officials would not confirm reports that seven wrestlers had defected last week to Pakistan rather than come to Moscow. Mukhina is confined to a wheelchair that she knows she may never be without. Simone Biles, Kerri Strug, and 'the Twisties' - Truth or Fiction? Thousands of people are in the stands. Mukhinas career ended in tragedy, an injury on the eve of the 1980 Olympics left her paralyzed from the neck down just one month after celebrating her 20th birthday. Up until 1975, Mukhina flew under the radar and Soviet coaches largely ignored her and her abilities. With the Olympics just weeks away, the Soviet team were in Minsk, putting in intense training. Further Reading:After Her Injury a Soviet Coverup Hurt Elena Mukhina Even MoreHow Fan Mail Bothered Elena MukhinaElena Mukhinas Trip to AmericaShortly After Her Paralysis Elena Mukhina Wrote a LetterWould Elena Mukhina Have Made the Olympic Team if Not For Her Paralyzing Injury? Siempre me ha fascinado su historia: perdi a sus padres cuando era muy pequea y se fue a vivir con su abuela y, muy pronto, empez a dedicarle su vida a la gimnasia. She soon realized that the Thomas salto was an extremely dangerous move because it depended on being able to get enough height and speed to make all the flips and mid-air twists and still land in-bounds with enough room to do the forward roll. She dies decades later at 45. For a wide variety of reasons, he had become overly invested in a single gymnast. Sorry for rambling, next video should be happier!! The team would have won without her. Beijing calls US worlds primary nuclear threat, Top US prosecutor makes surprise Ukraine visit. Gymnastics is a cruel sport at times albeit a gorgeous one that your whole heart will love.I will start off by saying that I didn't even know which song to use because there are hardly ANY that honor her. She died at 46 in 2006 en.wikipedia.org 33K 1.3K 1.3K comments We know that gymnasts can suffer injuries if they take a fall during a routine or land funny during a flip. She was popular for being a Gymnast. Mukhina herself eventually succumbed to complications from her condition on December 22, 2006. And it certainly didnt help that before Nadia, the title for the most famous gymnast in the world was a Soviet athlete and they wanted that title back. During an interview with Ogonyok magazine, Mukhina blamed the doctors at TsITO (Central Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics), who were tending to the Soviet Nation Team for attempting to push her back into training too soon. Mukhina, a 20-year-old Soviet gymnast, was encouraged to train on a broken leg in the lead up to the 1980 Olympics. Klimenko had delivered a broken gymnast to the Soviet team, and it was he who deserves the blame for breaking her. But that didn't stop her from handwriting a letter 18 months later. Video: El ejercicio que quiso imitar Elena Mukhina y la dej Im sure you all have seen the gymnast suffer broken ankles, leg, and such live on television or in past footage. Required fields are marked *. But I dont think we really take a moment to think about just how severe and life-altering the injuries can end up being. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. It was perfected by American gymnast Kurt Thomas, hence the name the Thomas salto. Elena Mukhina Popularity . First, she was discovered by an athletic scout in her school, and then she later joined the CSKA Moscow . Remember Kerri Strug? She was orphaned at the age of 5 and was raised by her grandmother - Anna Ivanovna. It had been a staple of Soviet womens gymnastics since the 1960s. Everyone is looking at the platform, where a little girl with tousled bangs is soaring through the air. To see this all laid out and directly explained to Mukhina in a recorded conversation is a very significant piece footage to have. Eglit, however, gradually came to understand that the gaunt-looking child in his charge possessed a talent which warranted more professional attention. Today. Perhaps this is fate. In 1979, Mukhina claimed the uneven bars gold medal at the Soviet championships. What a f moron. Elena Mukhina and Nelli Kim win the gold medal In The Strasbourg World Championship. But it was the coaches of the Soviet national team who had been the ones who ultimately destroyed Mukhina in a way in which she could never recover. Her coach rushed her recovery from an injury and pressured her to perform a dangerous move (the Thomas salto), which caused her to break her neck, leaving her a lifelong quadriplegic. With lingering weakness in her leg and continuing exhaustion from the strenuous weight loss workouts, Mukhina had difficulty getting back up to speed on what was to be the new end move of her floor routine tumbling passes, the Thomas salto. (LogOut/ The first was beating Nadia Comaneci to win the 1978 All-Around title which marked her rise to the very top of the gymnastics world, but also her unfortunate demise. She would eventually get inducted into the CSKA Hall of Fame. The injury would eventually lead to her premature death at the age of 46. But the nightmare and the pain wasn't over. (VIDEO), Khabib says Hasbulla can become billionaire. Just admit you did badly, made mistakes, and will strive to do better next time. RIP Women's Gymnastics Good People Amazing People Female Gymnast Picture Video ELENA MUKHINA 1978 WORLD'S ALL-AROUND-ALL 4 ROUTINES! She won gold medals for the individual all-around, the balance beam, and uneven bars. Elena MUKHINA | Researcher | PhD in Energy | Skolkovo Institute of Perhaps the most significant part of the footage comes when Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci is invoked in the discussion. The following year Mukhina achieved the trademark win of her career by winning the All-Around title at the 1978 World Championships. Elena Mukhina - Bio, Personal Life, Family & Cause Of Death - CelebsAges He returned immediately when informed of the accident. 4 Elena Mukhina, Uneven Bars . Yelena Mukhina Interview - oocities.org Beating Nadia is a central part to Mukhinas storyline and the events that lead to her tragic demise. Elena Mukhina-41977 1978 1979 UPUP Her injury was a featured topic in an A&E documentary More Than a Game; and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastic's Greatest Stars. NTV, Nadia Comaneci was queen at the 1976 Olympics. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Mikhail Klimenko was in a different city when Elena Mukhina was injured. They were selected for high-level sports because talent scouts noticed they reveled in pushing their body to the limits, strived for the highest goals imaginable, and wanted the thrill of performing the most dangerous acrobatic skills in the world. Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina (Russian: ; name sometimes rendered "Yelena Muchina"; June 1, 1960 - December 22, 2006), born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, was a former Soviet gymnast who won the All-Around title at the 1978 World Championships at Strasbourg, France. In a painful twist of irony, when tragedy did strike it was not under the gaze of Klimenko. Before I go I want to leave you with some wise words from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver, Antonio Brown;Every day is a half day if you just f****** leave.Happy 2022 everyone! The documentary features a pep talk between Mukhina and her coach Mikhail Klimenko. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardise my health and well-being," she said. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Kids need strong role models not this nonsense.. Even though she won the all-around and floor exercises in 1978, with her daring bar routine, a revolutionary balance beam dismount, and a floor routine with a signature move, Mukhina was pressured by Kilmenko and other high-ranking Soviet coaches to add the mens element to her floor exercises. She was discovered by Bela Karolyi in 1973, was featured in an American television program in 1976, and had been sent to the Olympics as an observer in 1980, all before making her 1984 Olympic debut at the age of 16. As a person, he wasnt just trying to preserve his coaching career, but his social status in which his coaching career depended on. So why did Simone Biles quit? All of that rested on the performance of a single individual, Elena Mukhina. Elena Mukhina. Gymnastics - GaryneVillegasm We love, we remember. karma. Bna. She returned to train for the Olympics while starting a strenuous workout program at CSKA Moscow to lose the weight she had put on while being laid up from surgery. And it's tragic. This year marks the 15th anniversary since Mukhinas death on December 22, 2006. Yelena Mukhina died last year at 46. The Tragic Death of Gymnast Elena Mukhina - SurgeryFix After an unsuccessful fatal injury, the gymnast was forever confined to bed. At 2:11 Klimenko outright dares Mukhina to leave him and train without a coach. I also hope 2022 is a lot better than the past two years have been. Vous lui rendez hommage. Elena Mukhina is largely remembered for two things. The epitome of daring, strength and . was also an option at one point, but I finally decided on the song you hear in the video, and I'd say the lyrics and tune do the justice. This article reminded me a lot of the recent NY times piece by Maggie Astor on this topic, thanks for highlighting the importance of mental health to maintain safety in high level sport. When doctors removed her cast against her wishes and had her try walking on the leg, she said that she knew she was walking \"crookedly\" and that something was not right. RIA Novosti, Mukhina was happy among teammates when not carrying out her demanding training regime. The real world doesnt think like that.. However, until now, it has almost been unheard of for any high-level gymnast to withdraw from competition for health reasons. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Her throw of 70.08 meters eclipsed by 12 centimeters the world record set by East German Ruth Fuchs at Split, Ugoslavia, this spring. Elena Mukhina - Popular Bio There was little doubt that the Soviet Olympic womens gymnastics team would get the gold medal in the team competition, as it had in previous Olympics. The Unlikely Gymnast and the Unlikely Coach (Part II) She remained with her grandmother in a Moscow apartment, reclusive and rarely giving interviews. But we also see the type of response that exists in a culture where athletes dont feel comfortable speaking what is on their mind. Rivals in the arena, Comaneci and Mukhina were united in the debilitating pressures they had faced to reach the top. Usually when a gymnastics documentary is being selectively edited to present a more favorable narrative, the controversial moments are excluded entirely. The Moscow Games have not even begun, but this must be one of their saddest stories. The exchange is roughly 3.5 minutes in length and is broken up into four clips throughout the half hour documentary. She also took some of the responsibility for not being more forceful about not wanting to perform the move and shared that her first thought when she was laying on the floor with a broken neck was, Thank God, I wont be going to the Olympics.. How Fan Mail Bothered Elena Mukhina - An Old School Gymnastics Blog The Code of Points was later modified to ban standing on the high bar during routines. Read RT Privacy policy to find out more. The Soviet Union downplayed the severity of Mukhina's injury, withheld information as to how she obtained her injuries and even went as far as to discredit her for inflicting the injury on herself. This is probably the LONGEST video I will ever make. I wanted to point out these censorship possibilities so viewers know which part of the footage they should trust, and which parts should be questioned. In 2021, she was posthumously inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She became famous for her unique working capacity and rejection, as well as her tragic fate. All rights reserved. Elena Mukhina had been an orphan since she was six years old. While Biles received widespread praise for admitting her mental health issues and opening up a conversation in a sport that is strewn with a history of life-altering or life-ending injuries, others were quick to dismiss Biles' explanation. Other critics mocked Biles and compared her to Kerri Strug, who famously vaulted on an injured ankle for the United States at the 1996 Olympics, winning a gold medal. In one of her few interviews about the tragedy, she criticized the Soviet gymnastics program for deceiving the public about the severity of her injury, and for the systems insatiable appetite for gold medals and championships. Main:Elena Mukhina | Gymnastics Wiki | Fandom However, unlike the popular narrative - Strug performed that vault under pressure from her coach, injuring her ankle further. Comaneci herself would tip Mukhina for Olympic glory. Your email address will not be published. You took care of yourself. These events overshadow what were two other hallmarks of Mukhinas career. At 2:28 the camera pans away from Mukhina and towards the wall. One of Europes top right-wing extremists: Who is the neo-Nazi behind this weeks Ukrainian attack in Russias Bryansk Region? It most likely was an attempt to hide/minimize Mukhinas negative demeanor. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. But the more time passed, the more Klimenkos career seemed to regress, at least in international competition. Elena Mukhina Gymnastics Championships Sad Stories Olympics Montage Tribute Ripped Gymnastics Angel. On July 3, 1980, Elena attempted the salto just two weeks before the Olympics. . https://www.youtube.com/c/RAEscape/videos, Your email address will not be published. Mukhina took a keen interest in children and young gymnasts both before and after her injury. Director of the Soviet womens gymnastics, Larisa Latynina, was blamed for the embarrassing defeat. Before their partnership, both had witnessed unsuccessful careers, but found instant success as soon as they joined forces. For those who dont know who Elena Mukhina is, she is the most heartbreaking story to have come out of the Soviet gymnastics program. Stella Zakharova compared him to infamous Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and called Klimenko a tyrant. Maria Filatova referred to Klimenko as a beast and when given the option to be coached by him said, I wouldnt go to Klimenko even at gunpoint. Both were members of the 1980 Soviet Olympic team and had trained alongside Mukhina. I think I mentioned before that I wanted to be a gymnast growing up but didnt have the discipline because you know when youre ten years old your priority is having fun and pretty much nothing else. It is such a sad story so not recommended for the weak of hearts. I understood that sooner or later this would really happen. [] In the context of larger geopolitical events, Soviet leadership wanted results and were willing to push the limits. Fever. Mukhina spent 18 months to go from having never done high level routines to being capable of holding her own against your average Olympian. Mukhina went as far as to say she felt sorry for Klimenko and classified him as a victim of the system.. Now I finally have! As a memorial to one of the greatest Soviet-era gymnasts ever, the biggest sports newspaper in Russia, Sovietskij SPORT, dedicated the cover of their Christmas 2006 issue to her. Tatyana Biryulina, 24, a Tashkent student who had not expected to qualify for the Soviet team, set a world record in the javelin in the final trials at Podoysk, about 50 miles from Moscow. Elena Mukhina. She's the owner and head coach at Gemini Gymnastics, a gymnastics club in Oshawa, Ontario. Ekaterina Gordeeva - Updated Feb 2023 - Biography Mask Take our survey for a chance to win a $100 voucher. The fact is that gymnastics is an extremely dangerous sport, and one that involves a great risk of injury - even when a gymnast is in peak health. Elena Mukhina (Gymnast) - Overview, Biography - Celeb Networth Post I am frequently asked as to whether Klimenko is to blame for Mukhinas injury. This is the final resting place of Elena Mukhina, one of the most remarkable athletes ever to grace her sport; an artist who pushed the limits of the human body in a way few have ever done. Mukhina Badly Hurt In Gym Fall Washington Post, I have always wanted to take my favorite subjects; true crime, sports, and anything macabre and take time to write about them. Elena Mukhina - Interesting stories about famous people, biographies Klimenko knew to do this because his educational background was in psychology. USA Gymnastics released a statement confirming she had withdrawn with a "medical issue". She had gone, but her legacy was far from forgotten. Her stupid coach should have listened to her. I realized that I needed to radically change my attitude to life, Mukhina said. Whether lingering guilt and depression were contributing factors to his death is an answer we will never know. They suggested this was something that Biles should have done for her team - pushed through the pain. This week, four-time Olympic champion and golden girl of Team USA Simone Biles pulled out of the 2021 Olympics. Jun 7, 2020 - A catastrophic injury cost Mukhina the use of her limbs. Post continues below. Poignant footage from the documentary Unfree fall shows an all-together lighter, more playful Mukhina when she was removed from the gaze of her master. Nadia is a crucial part of Elena Mukhinas story. Now she will watch the games from her hospital bed, her future uncertain but her gymnastics career surely ended. At 3:00 Mukhina and Klimenko have a conversation regarding personal goals. Klimenko had broken Mukhina mentally, and he had also broken her physically. Elena Mukhina passed away on December 22, 2006, at the age of forty-six from complications caused by quadriplegia. Most Popular #24272. As recently as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Mukhinas was a name which appearedas Americas Simone Biles battled her own mental and physical demons. This website uses cookies. With less than a year until the 1980 Summer Olympics to be held in Moscow, the pressure was on the Soviet team coaches and doctors to get the previous All Around champion Mukhina back on her feet and ready for the games. Initial rumors were that she had fallen while making her approach to the vault, then Soviet newspaper reported she had fallen during a dismount from the balance beam and had a blackout, but got back up to finish her routine without knowing how badly she had been hurt. She was going to say yes to anything and wasnt willing to question the limits. She was raised by her grandmother, Anna Ivanovna. The clips can be found in the above YouTube video. But none of this is a work of fiction. 701 viewsOct 27, 2020 Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. For a series of clips that featured so much eeriness in regards to the rhetoric and the words being spoken, so is the cinematography. Even though Mukhina herself would later state her injury was not the byproduct of a lone individual, but the flawed Soviet system as a whole. Elena Mukhina is a great gymnast, world champion. She was able to mix her innovative moves with the classic Soviet-style of gymnastics, inspired by ballet movements and expressive lines. I know many won't watch it mainly due to the length of it, but I HAD to just explain basically everything because the point of this video, for me at least, is that maybe a coach will see it and the tragey won't repeat, normal people will see it and remember her name. So, for an athlete to know when something is increasing that risk, is significant. She was also inducted into the CSKA Hall of Fame. Why?, "Even though athletes get to travel and see so much, they are terribly deprived spiritually. Elena Mukhina passed away in 2006, 11 months later Mikhail Klimenko passed away at the age of 65. Elena Mukhina - Trivia, Family, Bio | Famous Birthdays Her injury was a featured topic in the 1991 A&E do*entary More Than a Game; and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastics' Greatest Stars. And I realized that, compared to the ability to think, the inability to move is such nonsense. Elena Mukhina: The Thomas Salto Tragedy The Dark Side Of Life The Small Sports Blog. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. "I was stupid. On Twitter, Morgan further trashed the mental health reasoning behind her departure. Elena Mukhina : biography June 1, 1960 - December 22, 2006 With lingering weakness in her leg and mounting exhaustion from the grueling weight loss workouts, Mukhina had great difficulty coming back up to speed on what was to be the new end element of one of her floor exercise tumbling passes, the Thomas salto. Gymnasts With the Most 4th Place Finishes at the Olympics, Gymnasts With the Most 4th Place Finishes, After Her Injury a Soviet Coverup Hurt Elena Mukhina Even More, Shortly After Her Paralysis Elena Mukhina Wrote a Letter. Biles would later say she had suffered from the twisties, a form of gymnastics yips that leaves its sufferers feeling lost in the air. At the time she had just celebrated her 20th birthday. My coach came the next day and said that I wasn't conscientious and that I could train in a cast.". Gradually, though, Klimenko would become convinced that this was a gem who could be polished gently or otherwise into a champion. The duo fit each other like a hand entering a glove and had success that would have been impossible under any other circumstance. The Soviets weren't only denying that Mukhina had suffered a catastrophic injury, but were downplaying it to such an extent they were heavily implying it wasn't even bad enough to qualify as a career ending injury. I didn't want to use a stupid song in the background, it HAD to be meaningful. It was, however, from these inauspicious beginnings that a prodigious talent was born. Required fields are marked *. There are other tough moments in the footage. Because of the devastating injury, Elena Mukhina could not be added to the 1980 Soviet Union Olympic team roster. Mukhina was reported to have fallen on first on bars (July 9th), then on the beam, (July 14th) and it wasn't until July 16th that the AP correctly reported she had been injured on floor. It was all laid out for public viewing 40 years prior. Mukhina achieved breakout success at the 1977 European Championships. After voicing her concern that she would break her neck attempting the move, the coach dismissed her. On July 3, 1980, Mukhina was practicing the part of her routine containing the Thomas salto. 1 week ago First Name Elena #5. Strug never competed again. There will also be men's gymnastics videos in which we will showcase floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar montages! Along with an outpouring of support for the 24-year-old's decision, there was one question on everyone's lips: While there was speculation as towhether Biles had obtained a physical injury, the athlete later shared that her decision was one that was based on mental health. Of what happens when you push someone to compete through injury. As Mukhina would later recall, her hand shot up without hesitation. Jun 7, 2020 - A catastrophic injury cost Mukhina the use of her limbs. I hope you enjoy my page! Reinforcing the idea on Mukhina that she is a burden to him. Elena Mukhina. . The TsITO doctors X-rayed her leg and realized that the fracture had not healed properly. ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) _ Dmitri Bilozerchev and Elena Mukhina both suffered disasterous falls after becoming world gymnastics champions. The story of Elena Mukhina, the gymnast who became a quadriplegic at Korbut flip - Wikipedia Id estimate that most gymnasts would have needed about 5-8 years to go from where Mukhina was in 1974 to her emergence as a possible contender for the 1976 Soviet Olympic team. Elena Mukhina - Interesting stories about famous people, biographies El ttulo que le pondra a esa pelicula sera: In a sport where reputation, experience, and youth were three critical assets, Mukhina was beating gymnasts who were younger than her, had twice as much experience including being veteran Olympians, and were once well known child prodigies. MS ALL DE SUS LMITES porque eso fue lo que Klimenco con Mukhina. I dont exactly sympathize with Klimenko, but I do see him as a tragic villain. Shortly After Her Paralysis Elena Mukhina Wrote a Letter Hers was a life blessed with triumph but befallen by tragedy; a cautionary tale of a career cut brutally short by a life-changing injury. Klimenko was back in Moscow for a short trip, desperate to persuade sporting officials that his charge was fit enough to be included in the team, despite lingering doubts. At age 20, former Soviet Union gymnastics champion Elena Mukhina crash-lands while practicing a signature tumbling pass and is paralyzed. Psychology has positive values when deployed on children, especially in the realm of education. What a joke, he wrote. Together, they accomplished more than they could ever dream and reached levels they once considered to be impossible. It had to be rectified, and Mukhina emerged as one of the answers. Once again the Soviets were lambasting Mukhina by putting the burden back on her. In trying to complete the salto, the gymnast landed on her chin and effectively snapped her spine. Elena Mukhina, the sensitive Soviet gymnast who won the women's all-around world championship in 1978 and dreamed of regaining her lost form at the Moscow Olympics, crushed several vertebrae in. She was quickly recognized as an athlete to watch for at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. At the time Nadia Comaneci was Romanias top gymnast. RIP - YouTube 0:00 / 2:37 Gymnastics Angel. But again and again it came to the hall. The other was twice her age who had professional training that could be used as a tool for manipulation. As a human being, he was trying to escape the shadow of his brother and establish a name of his own. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. coach Mikhail KLIMENKO dead at 65 - Gymnastics Coaching.com None of this is to say I completely absolve Klimenko of blame, as I do consider his coaching tactics to be a significant factor leading to Mukhinas paralysis and even agree with Soviet officials on that particular point. Your email address will not be published.