Career
Astakhova became interested in artistic gymnastics at age 13, after she had watched the gymnastics championships in Donetsk, a city, where their family moved a short time before. She trained in the local gymnastics sports club Shakhtyor under Vladimir Alieksandrovitch Smirnov. Astakhova earned a nickname The Russian Birch in Western countries for her exceptional grace, and at the 1960 Olympics she was even called Madonna by the Italian journalists.
Between 1956 and 1966 Astakhova was on top of many international and national competitions especially on the uneven bars apparatus event.
In 1954 Astakhova competed in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Championships for the first time and in a year she made the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics National team at the 1956 Summer Olympics. She was the youngest team member and contributed to the team"s gold.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympics in Rome she led in the all-around, but lost a whole point for a fall on beam, which was the seventh routine of eight contested. After retiring from competitions, since 1972 Astakhova worked as a national coach in Ukraine.
In 2002 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Astakhova spent the last years of her life in Kiev before her death at age 68 from pneumonia.