15. März 2017  
Moscow, RUS  
Artistic Gymnastics

Olympic champion Elena Naimushina passes away

Elena Naimushina *1964, Nov 19
+ 2017, March 14

Olympic gold medallist Elena NAIMUSHINA, one of the brightest Soviet stars of the early 1980's, passed away March 14, at the age of 52.
Born November 19, 1964 in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), Naimushina was part of the 1980 Olympic Soviet team (+ Elena Davydova, Maria Filatova, Nellie Kim, Natalia Shaposhnikova and Stella Zakharova), that won gold at the Moscow Games after a disappointing loss to their Romanian rivals at the 1979 Worlds in Fort Worth, Texas/USA.
1980 was her banner year: In addition to Olympic gold, she won the World Cup title on Balance Beam and medals at the USSR Championships and USSR Cup.

The dynamic Naimushina was beloved for her expressive Floor Exercise (1980)  to the Russian folk song “Kalinka,” which featured one-arm tumbling.


Elena Naimushina retired in 1981 and married the Latvian cyclist Andris. For 15 years they lived in Latvia  where she gave birth to sons Tom and Phillip and daughter Linda-Anna.
Years later, Elena returned to performing as part of the Dynamo All Stars, a sports show managed by fellow Olympic gold medallist Mikhail Voronin.