Lina Anatolyevna Cheryazova (; 1 November 1968 – 23 March 2019) was an Uzbek freestyle skier who competed in aerials. She won a bronze medal at the 1990 European Championship and a gold medal at the 1993 World Championships before winning the gold medal at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

with a score of 166.84. So far she is the only athlete to have won a Winter Olympic medal while representing Uzbekistan. Her achievements earned her the title of ''Honored Athlete'' of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Cheryazova initially trained in gymnastics and trampolining, and took up freestyle skiing in 1987. She debuted at the World Cup in December 1989, and became the overall winner in the 1992–93 (winning six out of eight races) and 1993–94 seasons (winning six out of 11 races). In the summer of 1994, Cheryazova fractured her skull while training, and spent more than a month in a coma. She resumed competing in the autumn of 1995, but never regained her previous form. She retired after another injury sustained after the 1998 Olympics. In 1999 she moved to

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, where she lived with her adopted daughter Alina. Cheryazova died on 23 March 2019, following a lengthy illness. She was 50.

References

1968 births 2019 deaths Uzbekistani female freestyle skiers Olympic freestyle skiers for Uzbekistan Freestyle skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Uzbekistan Skiers from Tashkent Olympic medalists in freestyle skiing Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics {{Uzbekistan-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub