Oksana Alexandrovna Kostina (; 15 April 1972 – 11 February 1993) was a Russian individual

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, fle ...

. She was the 1992 World All-around champion and 1992 European All-around bronze medalist.

Career

For years, Kostina remained in the shadow of two Ukrainian gymnasts,

Oksana Skaldina Oksana Valentinovna Skaldina (; ) is a retired Ukrainian individual Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast and current coach. She is the Gymnastics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's rhythmic individual all-around, 1992 Olympic bronze medalis ...

and Olexandra Tymoshenko. Though she won the all-around bronze medal at the 1992 European Championships, she was not selected for the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Kostina and her coach, Olga Buyanova, frustrated by what they felt was the Unified Team's favoritism toward Skaldina, traveled to Barcelona and Kostina trained with the British team for a short time before she was ordered home. In the absence of the two Ukrainian gymnasts, Kostina won the All-around gold medal, as well as gold medals in rope, hoop, ball and clubs at the 1992 World Championships in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. She became Russia's first World Champion as an independent country. Her goal was to compete at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

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Death

Kostina died in a car crash on 11 February 1993 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, a few weeks shy of her 21st birthday. She was engaged to

Eduard Zenovka Eduard Grigoryevich Zenovka () (born 26 April 1969) is a former Olympic Games, Olympic Modern pentathlon, modern pentathlete. Career He competed at the Modern pentathlon at the 1992 Summer Olympics, 1992 Olympics as part of the Unified Team at t ...

, a fellow athlete and Pentathlon bronze-medalist at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. A lorry that was driving in the opposite direction crashed head-on into their vehicle. Both athletes were seriously injured and needed surgery in hospital. Sixteen hours later, Kostina died from injuries sustained at the car crash. The police investigation revealed that Zenovka, who was driving the car, was heavily intoxicated at the time of the accident.Ей холодно! Зачем гимнастку Костину хоронили в свадебном платье
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Achievements

Kostina was one of the few gymnasts to win gold medals in all of the apparatus in a single World Championship, along with Darja Varfolomeev, Bianka Panova, Ekaterina Serebrianskaya and Evgenia Kanaeva.

References

External links

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Oksana Kostina
at r-gymnastics.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kostina, Oxana 1972 births 1993 deaths Sportspeople from Irkutsk Road incident deaths in Russia Russian rhythmic gymnasts Soviet rhythmic gymnasts Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Goodwill Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games