Background
Anastasia is the daughter of former football player Ilya Bliznyuk who played for the Ukrainian national team and is the head coach of Football Club Zirka Kirovograd.
Anastasia is the daughter of former football player Ilya Bliznyuk who played for the Ukrainian national team and is the head coach of Football Club Zirka Kirovograd.
Bliznyuk was part of the gold medal winning Russian Group at the 2012 European Championships and at the World Cup Final in Minsk, Belarus. Foreign six months leading up to the Olympic Games, the Russian gymnasts only ate buckwheat in their diet. Bliznyuk is a resident of the city of Penza.
Bliznyuk along with rest of the remaining Russian Group Olympians completed their careers after the World Championships.
Irina Viner has stated about their dismissal and retirements: "We have made drastic changes in the composition of the group. All the girls, who a year ago at the Olympic Games were the first after the World Cup series had to say goodbye to the sport.
They did not show in Kiev what could and should have been shown. The "star disease" should not be left on the carpet.
She is the 2012 Olympics Group All-around champion, 2013 World Group All-around bronze medalist, 2012 European Group All-around champion and two time (2013, 2012) World Cup Final Group All-around champion. She won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the group all-around event together with other group members (Uliana Donskova, Ksenia Dudkina, Alina Makarenko, Anastasia Nazarenko, Karolina Sevastyanova). Bliznyuk suffered an injury at the start of the 2013 season and was not selected to compete with the Russian Group, she returned to competition in the Russian Group at the 2013 Sofia World Cup where they won the silver medal in all-around and gold in 2 ribbons/3 balls final. At the Minsk World Cup they won gold in all-around, silver in 2 ribbons/3 balls and bronze in 10 clubs. Bliznyuk and the rest Russian Group won all the gold medals at the 2013 Summer Universiade in All-around, 10 clubs and 2 ribbons/3 balls. The Russian Group won the gold medals in Group All-around, 10 clubs and 2 ribbons/3 balls at the 2013 World Cup Final in Saint St. Petersburg, Russia. Bliznyuk and her Russian teammates won the Group All-around bronze medal at the 2013 World Championships, they won gold in 2 Ribbon + 3 Balls final. And I always say that as long as you"re standing on a pedestal - you"re a winner, but as soon as you had gone down from ityou"re no one to call you in any way".
