Background
Piskun was born in Minsk, Belarus, in 1978. Her father works in a tire factory, and her mother is a bookkeeper.
Piskun was born in Minsk, Belarus, in 1978. Her father works in a tire factory, and her mother is a bookkeeper.
She has a younger brother, Viktor. She is 5 feet 0 inches (152 m) tall and weighs 86 pounds (39 kg). Elena lives in the United States and coaches at NorthWind Gymnastics in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Piskun started gymnastics at the age of six and was coached by Valery Kolodinsky during her career.
The gym in her hometown of Bobruisk was small, so she traveled to Minsk to train before major competitions. In April 1994, she competed at the Individual World Championships in Brisbane, Australia, and finished fifth on vault with a score of 9.725 and fifth on floor exercise with a score of 9.675.
At the World Championship Team Finals in Dortmund, Germany, in November, Piskun helped the Belarus team to a sixth-place finish. At the 1995 World Championships in Sabae, Japan, she was 10th in the all-around with a score of 38.53.
Piskun finished third on balance beam and eighth on floor exercise at the 1996 European Championships.
At that year"s Summer Olympics, Piskun helped Belarus finish sixth in the team competition, and she was also 12th in the individual all-around with a score of 38.649. At the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, she finished 30th in the all-around with a score of 35.474.