Larisa Latynina
Larisa Latynina as a child
Larisa Latynina as a child
Larisa Latynina in youth
Fizkultury St., 1, Kyiv, Ukraine, 02000
Larisa Latynina graduated from the National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport in 1959.
1956
Larisa Latynina performing
1956
300 Dudley St, West Melbourne, Victoria, 3003, Australia
Summer Olympics. Larisa Latynina in action, in the horse vault, during Women's competition at the West Melbourne Stadium (now Festival Hall), Australia. Photo by Richard Meek/Sports Illustrated.
1960
Larissa Latynina on balance beam at one of the Olympic Games. Photo by Von der Becke/ullstein bild.
1961
Moscow, Russian Federation
Larisa Latynina on her way to victory at the gymnastics championships of the USSR in Moscow. Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto.
1961
University Park, PA 16802, United States
Larisa Latynina during an exhibition at Recreation Building on Pennsylvania State University campus. Photo by John G. Zimmerman/Sports Illustrated.
1964
Tokyo, Japan
(From left to right) Larysa Latynina, fencer Galina Gorokhova, swimmers Halyna Prozumenshchykova and Svetlana Babanina attend a press conference at the Athletes' Village ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the floor of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the floor of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the uneven bars of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the horse vault of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the horse vault of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1966
Larisa Latynina. Photo by Schirner/ullstein bild.
Larisa Latynina competing in the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina competing on the high beam in the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina competing on the high beam in the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina (5th left) standing with her teammates at the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina. Photo by ullstein bild.
700 S High St, West Chester, PA 19383, United States
Larisa Latymina (left) participating in a Soviet Union - United States meet at West Chester State Teachers' College (present-day West Chester University). Photo by George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Melbourne
Larisa Latynina (center) who took first place in the women's combined exercises event shakes hands with second-place winner Anges Keleti (left) of Hungary and with Sofi Mouratova of Russia, who finished third.
London, United Kingdom
Larissa Latynina (left) and Polina Astakhova when they flew into London Airport (Heathrow) with eight other Soviet gymnasts to appear in four exhibition performances in London. Photo by PA Images.
Larisa Latynina with Vladimir Smirnov, coach of the Soviet Union national gymnastics team. Photo by Dmitry Donskoy/RIA News.
1966
Strobelallee 45, 44139 Dortmund, Germany
Larisa Latynina (center) with one of her trainees, Natalia Kuchinskaya of the Soviet national gymnastics team, at the 16th Gymnastics World Championships, at Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, Germany. Photo by Schirner Sportfoto-Archiv/picture alliance.
1974
1 Driver Ave, Moore Park NSW 2021, Australia
Larisa Latynina as a coach with Lidiya Gorbik of the Soviet national team at Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia. Photo by Golding/Fairfax Media.
Russian gymnast Natalia Kutchinskaya practices under the watchful eye of Larisa Latynina. Photo by PA Images.
1964
Tokyo, Japan
Larisa Latynina, the gold medalist, her compatriot Polina Astakhova and Ducza Aniko Janusi of Hungary celebrate on the podium during the award ceremony at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Silver Medalist Larisa Latynina (left), gold medalist Vera Caslavska (center) of Czechoslovakia, and bronze medalist Polina Astakhova (right) of the Soviet Union on the podium at the award ceremony of the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Bronze medalist Larysa Latynina (1st right), gold medalist Polina Astakhova (2nd right) of the Soviet Union, and silver medalist Katalin Makray-Schmitt (4th right) of Hungary on the podium during the Uneven Bars medal ceremony of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
2014
Bangkok, Thailand
Larisa Latynina accepts her Outstanding Performance Award during the 1st ANOC Gala awards at Bangkok Association of National Olympic Committees, Thailand. Photo by Thananuwat Srirasant.
Larisa Latynina is a three-time recipient of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland (Russian Federation).
Larisa Latynina was awarded the Order of Honor (Russian Federation) in 1999.
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Order of Lenin (Soviet Union) in 1957.
Larisa Latynina received the Order of Friendship of Peoples (Soviet Union) in 1980.
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Order of the Badge of Honor (Soviet Union) three times.
Larisa Latynina was a recipient of the Veteran of Labor Medal (Soviet Union).
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow" in 1997.
Larisa Latynina was presented with the Order of Princess Olga (III class) in 2002.
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Silver Olympic Order in 1991.
1956
Larisa Latynina performing
1956
300 Dudley St, West Melbourne, Victoria, 3003, Australia
Summer Olympics. Larisa Latynina in action, in the horse vault, during Women's competition at the West Melbourne Stadium (now Festival Hall), Australia. Photo by Richard Meek/Sports Illustrated.
1960
Larissa Latynina on balance beam at one of the Olympic Games. Photo by Von der Becke/ullstein bild.
1960
Rome, Italy
Larisa Latynina at the Olympic Games in Rome where she won 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal. Photo by Bob Thomas Sports Photography.
1961
Moscow, Russian Federation
Larisa Latynina on her way to victory at the gymnastics championships of the USSR in Moscow. Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto.
1961
University Park, PA 16802, United States
Larisa Latynina during an exhibition at Recreation Building on Pennsylvania State University campus. Photo by John G. Zimmerman/Sports Illustrated.
1964
Tokyo, Japan
Larisa Latynina, the gold medalist, her compatriot Polina Astakhova and Ducza Aniko Janusi of Hungary celebrate on the podium during the award ceremony at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Silver Medalist Larisa Latynina (left), gold medalist Vera Caslavska (center) of Czechoslovakia, and bronze medalist Polina Astakhova (right) of the Soviet Union on the podium at the award ceremony of the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Bronze medalist Larysa Latynina (1st right), gold medalist Polina Astakhova (2nd right) of the Soviet Union, and silver medalist Katalin Makray-Schmitt (4th right) of Hungary on the podium during the Uneven Bars medal ceremony of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
Tokyo, Japan
(From left to right) Larysa Latynina, fencer Galina Gorokhova, swimmers Halyna Prozumenshchykova and Svetlana Babanina attend a press conference at the Athletes' Village ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the floor of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the floor of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the uneven bars of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the horse vault of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1964
1 Chome-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0051, Japan
Larysa Latynina competes in the horse vault of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
1966
Strobelallee 45, 44139 Dortmund, Germany
Larisa Latynina (center) with one of her trainees, Natalia Kuchinskaya of the Soviet national gymnastics team, at the 16th Gymnastics World Championships, at Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, Germany. Photo by Schirner Sportfoto-Archiv/picture alliance.
1966
Larisa Latynina. Photo by Schirner/ullstein bild.
1974
1 Driver Ave, Moore Park NSW 2021, Australia
Larisa Latynina as a coach with Lidiya Gorbik of the Soviet national team at Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia. Photo by Golding/Fairfax Media.
2012
Peninsula Square, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 0DX, United Kingdom
Larisa Latynina waving to the crowd during the Summer Olympics Women's Team All-Around Final at North Greenwich Arena, London, United Kingdom. Photo by Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated.
2014
Bangkok, Thailand
Larisa Latynina accepts her Outstanding Performance Award during the 1st ANOC Gala awards at Bangkok Association of National Olympic Committees, Thailand. Photo by Thananuwat Srirasant.
2018
Madrid, Spain
Larisa Latynina attends the 'As Del Deporte' awards at Palace hotel, Madrid, Spain. Photo by Europa Press Entertainment.
2019
Teatralnaya sq., 1, Moscow, Russia, 125009
(From left to right) Retired ice hockey defenceman Vyacheslav Fetisov, sports commentator Dmitry Guberniyev, Larisa Latynina, retired basketball player Ivan Yedeshko, and retired ice hockey goaltender Vladislav Tretiak congratulate composer Aleksandra Pakhmutova on her 90th birthday at a concert at the Bolshoi Theatre. Photo by Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS.
Larisa Latynina is a three-time recipient of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland (Russian Federation).
Larisa Latynina was awarded the Order of Honor (Russian Federation) in 1999.
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Order of Lenin (Soviet Union) in 1957.
Larisa Latynina received the Order of Friendship of Peoples (Soviet Union) in 1980.
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Order of the Badge of Honor (Soviet Union) three times.
Larisa Latynina was a recipient of the Veteran of Labor Medal (Soviet Union).
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow" in 1997.
Larisa Latynina was presented with the Order of Princess Olga (III class) in 2002.
Larisa Latynina was honored with the Silver Olympic Order in 1991.
Fizkultury St., 1, Kyiv, Ukraine, 02000
Larisa Latynina graduated from the National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport in 1959.
Larisa Latynina competing in the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina competing on the high beam in the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina competing on the high beam in the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina (5th left) standing with her teammates at the Olympics. Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Larisa Latynina. Photo by ullstein bild.
700 S High St, West Chester, PA 19383, United States
Larisa Latymina (left) participating in a Soviet Union - United States meet at West Chester State Teachers' College (present-day West Chester University). Photo by George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Melbourne
Larisa Latynina (center) who took first place in the women's combined exercises event shakes hands with second-place winner Anges Keleti (left) of Hungary and with Sofi Mouratova of Russia, who finished third.
Larisa Latynina with Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin (right) and German Titov. Photo TASS/Valentin Mastyukov.
London, United Kingdom
Larissa Latynina (left) and Polina Astakhova when they flew into London Airport (Heathrow) with eight other Soviet gymnasts to appear in four exhibition performances in London. Photo by PA Images.
Russian gymnast Natalia Kutchinskaya practices under the watchful eye of Larisa Latynina. Photo by PA Images.
Larisa Latynina with Vladimir Smirnov, coach of the Soviet Union national gymnastics team. Photo by Dmitry Donskoy/RIA News.
Larisa Latynina with medals. Photo by David Sholomovich/RIA News.
Larisa Latynina in youth
Larisa Latynina as a child
Larisa Latynina as a child
Larisa Latynina in youth
Larisa Latynina in youth
Larisa Latynina with her awards
Larisa Latynina with her second husband Yuri Izrailovich Feldman
Larisa Latynina (left) with her mother Pelageya Anisimovna
Larisa Latynina with her first husband Ivan Latynin and their daughter Tanya
Larisa Latynina with her daughter Tatyana
Larisa Latynina with her second husband Yuri Izrailovich Feldman. Photo from www.sobesednik.ru.
Soviet athlete and coach Alexander Semyonovich Mishakov, one of Larisa Latynina's coaches
Лариса Латынина
Larisa Latynina, in full Larisa Semyonovna Latynina, née Diriy, was born on December 27, 1934 in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (present-day Ukraine). She is a daughter of Semyon Andreyevich Diriy and Pelageya Anisimovna Barabanyuk, cleaning lady and part-time heating system worker and keeper.
Larisa Latynina's father abandoned the family when she was 11 months, so she was brought up by her mother. Larisa's childhood occurred in hard times of poverty, the hardships and consequences of World War II. Aspiring to a better, more beautiful life, she dreamt of becoming a ballet dancer. As soon as she had an opportunity, in 1945, she began taking ballet classes. Larisa excelled in exercises with hoops and balls performed to music, incorporated in standard ballet training at the time, and by the fifth grade was steered by her teachers into gymnastics.
By the age of sixteen, Latynina triumphed at almost all the national gymnastics tournaments of the school's division. After finishing high school with honors in 1953, she became fourteenth all-around at the 13th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rome. She then moved to Kiev and entered first the local Polytechnic Institute and then shifted to the National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport. Latynina graduated in Spring 1959. Four years later, she enrolled in the graduate study program of the university.
The start of Larisa Latynina's career can be counted from her sensational debut at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games, held in Melbourne, Australia, where she won six medals, including four gold (all-around, vault, floor exercise). Besides, she contributed to her team's silver medals on bars and bronze medals in the team drill event. An incredible result for the Soviet Union, the country which was absent from the games for 40 years, it marked the beginning of the Soviet women's domination in the sport for the next four decades. At the age of 21, Latynina became the first worldwide superstar in gymnastics.
Latynina continued to grab medals at an impressive pace. She was first at every event of the European Gymnastics Championships during the two post-olympiс years, except for the vault in 1958, in which she won a silver medal. The most significant thing, arguably, was that she won one of the competitions that year while being five months pregnant.
Forced to miss the next European Championships because of the birth of her daughter, Latynina resumed triumphantly at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome where she added to her accolades another six medals, including three gold (for all-around, floor exercise, and in team competition), two silver (for the balance beam and uneven bars), and a bronze for the vault. Latynina's individual achievements correlated with the leadership of the Soviet Union in overall medal count.
Latynina didn't stop her hard training despite the unprecedented success and was placed first in two events of the 1961 European Championships and second in two other disciplines, the feat she duplicated at the Championships of the next year. She was one of only four female gymnasts in the history of the sport to win four straight World Championship titles, along with Lyudmila Turishcheva and Svetlana Khorkina of Russia, and Shannon Miller of the United States.
In her thirties, that was past the usual age for women gymnasts, Latynina was still in good competitive shape. She proved that at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, grabbing gold medals in the floor exercise and team competition, and silver medals for individual all-around and vault, and a pair of bronze for the balance beam and uneven bars. The European Championships that followed provided Latynina with four silver medals, in all-around, uneven bars, beam, and floor exercises, and a bronze medal in the vault.
Latynina retired from the sport in 1966 after being placed eleventh at the World Championships of that year. Right after retiring, the famed gymnast began a career in coaching and was assigned the head coach of the Soviet national team. Her position as the top Soviet women's gymnast was taken over by her trainee, Natasha Kuchinskaya, who shined at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Back at home, Kuchinskaya began to skip training and break the rules as Latynina stated in one of her interviews.
The young star was replaced in her success by her talented compatriot, Olga Korbut, a crowd favorite at the 1972 Munich Summer Games and an overnight media sensation. She did triumph on the European and World level but soon Latynina herself expressed some criticism of her ward. In her opinion, Korbut's popularity was fully deserved, but she always demanded too much attention to her personality that wasn't suitable for a leader. After facing the discontent of the sport committee with Korbut's defeat at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Latynina resigned from her post.
From 1977, Larisa Latynina coached several elite Moscow teams. She took an active part in the preparation of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as well. She was an assistant director at the Charity Foundation "Physical Education and Health" from 1990 to 1992 and served as deputy chief executive of the Russian-German company Gefest from 1997 for two years. In recent years, Latynina has been one of the public leaders of the Union of Athletes of Russia and has actively participated in the work of the Russian Association of Olympic Champions. She has been regularly invited as the expert in the jury of various dance competitions. Latynina has also authored five books, including Equilibrium, Gymnastics through the Years, and others, one of which, Sunny Youth, is in Ukrainian.
The crowd-pleasing gymnastic performances of Larisa Latynina launched the long period of Russian predominance in that sport, and the athlete herself went down in its history as the pioneer in a range of talented female gymnasts who gained world attention outside the Soviet Communist bloc.
In addition to the record for the most gold medals in gymnastics ever, Latynina is also the only female gymnast who has won medals in all-around and in floor exercise in two different Olympic Games, and one of the three women who have won every individual discipline at the World Championships and Olympics. Besides, she is the only woman to have earned team gold, all-around gold and an event final gold at the same Olympics two times.
Latynina has been presented with many awards during and after her distinguished career, including such prestigious Soviet civilian awards as the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, the Order of Lenin, or the Order of the Badge of Honor. In 1998, she was elected to the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Larisa Latynina joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1963.
Latynina Latynina became one of the first Soviet gymnasts to achieve celebrity status on an international level at the 1956 Olympics. In the period of the Cold War and an era when authoritarian state socialism dominated and tightly regimented the lives of the Soviet citizens, the triumph was used by the Soviet Union as a showcase for the merits of their respective ideologies. Having automatically become an epitome of the ideal Soviet athlete, Latynina was presented with many prestigious civilian awards like the Order of Lenin and the Soviet Badge of Honor and was granted with other special privileges, including a better apartment and a chance to purchase hard-to-obtain consumer products.
Being an athlete of humble origin whose potential was noted from a tender age and cultivated with the help of generous state funding for sports, Latynina sincerely got involved in the propaganda campaign in return. She denied praise for her individual achievement by speaking of the pride she felt for her country as its Olympic representative. Although, later in her life, the legend of the sport expressed mixed feelings about her participation in the Cold War sports showdowns confessing that she was disillusioned about the way political propaganda had corrupted her career.
Quotations:
"I was a very big patriot. My gymnastics was not only mine - it belonged to my Soviet motherland and all the people."
"I believed in our system. I believed and believed and believed. Now, sadly, I don't anymore. I realize it was all cheap propaganda. We athletes used to call out to our people: go forward. Now, all my work and all my beliefs have left me with nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"I'm quite happy there is a man in the world who can overcome my record, finally."
"Forty-eight years is almost enough time to hold a record."
Physical Characteristics: Larisa Latynina is 1.61 meters tall. Grace, style, flawless technique, and fluid movement, especially in the floor exercise, were the landmark of Latynina.
Larisa Latynina was married twice. In 1955, she married Ivan Ilyich Latynin, a ship engineer, with whom she had two children, a daughter Tatyana and a son Andrey (died tragically). Latynina met her second husband-to-be, Yuri Izrailovich Feldman, in 1985.
(born 1906 – died 1943)
Semyon Andreyevich was a machine gun operator in the Second World War. He was killed at the Battle of Stalingrad.
(born 1902 – died 1975)
Pelageya Anisimovna was an illiterate woman. She made a living serving as a cleaning lady and part-time heating system keeper and worker at night.
(born December 1958)
Tatyana Ivanovna Latynina is a folk dancer who performed in the State Academic Choreographic Ensemble "Berezka" for fifteen years.
Yuri Izrailovich is a doctor of technical sciences, a member of the Russian Academy of Electrotechnical Sciences and a former competitive cyclist.
(born October 14, 1912 – died January 17, 1993)
Alexander Mishakov was a Soviet athlete and coach. He was named the Honored Master of Sports of the USSR in 1954 and the Honored Coach of the USSR in 1956.
