Background
Lysenko was born in Kherson, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Lysenko was born in Kherson, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
She has Ukrainian Jewish background. She made her senior debut in 1990, winning the all-around competition in the World Cup. She represented the Unified Team (ex-Soviets) along with Svetlana Boguinskaya, Tatiana Gutsu, Elena Grudneva, Rozalia Galiyeva and Oksana Chusovitina.
By the end of the competition, she was holding two Olympic titles.
Unlike many of her Soviet teammates, Lysenko opted to continue after the breakup of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, and represented her native Ukraine at the 1993 World Championships in Birmingham. Lysenko was one of only two ex-Soviets on the podium along with Oksana Chusovitina (representing Uzbekistan), a reflection of how the political upheaval affected the sport.
Lysenko continued to compete internationally in 1994. She placed 18th in the all-round (due to a mistake on her beam dismount) at the World Championships in Brisbane.
In the event finals, she placed 4th on vault.
After her competitive career was over, Lysenko moved to the United States and now lives in California. She graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law and was admitted the California State Bar in 2005. In 2002 Lysenko was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall Of Fame.
Competitor for Ukraine
Competitor for Commonwealth of Independent States
Competitor for Ukraine
Competitor for Soviet Union.
Lysenko was a member of the Soviet Union team during the early 1990s, a period when its pool of talent was deep (the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics never lost the women"s team competition in the Olympic Games).