Oksana Valentinovna Skaldina (; ) is a retired Ukrainian 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 ...

and current coach. She is the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist and 1991 all-around world champion.

Biography

Skaldina was born on 24 May 1972 in

Zaporizhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a population of ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

, to an engineer and a kindergarten inspector. Skaldina started training in gymnastics at the age of 5 with Lyudmila Kovalik. When she moved to

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, she began training at the Deryugins School with Albina and

Irina Deriugina Irina Ivanivna Deriugina (; born 11 January 1958) is a Ukrainian former individual rhythmic gymnast athlete who competed for the Soviet Union, and is now a Ukrainian coach in rhythmic gymnastics. She is the only Soviet rhythmic gymnast to win tw ...

. Skaldina's breakthrough came at the 1988 European Cup, where she placed fifth in the all-around and won the ball title. She shared in the Soviet silver-medal finish behind Bulgaria at the 1989 World Championships, and also claimed the all-around bronze and three golds (rope, hoop, ribbon). In 1990, she placed first at the Intervision Cup,

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

, USSR National Championships and World Cup, third at the European Championships, and became the 1991 World All-around champion. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Skaldina and her teammate

Olexandra Tymoshenko Alexandra Alexandrovna Timoshenko, or Olexandra Olexandrivna Tymoshenko, (; born 18 February 1972) is a former Ukrainian individual rhythmic gymnast who competed for the Soviet Union. She is the 1992 Olympics champion, 1988 Olympics bronze medalis ...

, both coached by the Deryuginas, competed for Ukraine at the 1992 European Championships in Stuttgart. Skaldina placed fifth in the all-around and won three apparatus gold medals. At the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, the ex-USSR countries qualified as one Unified Team based on their results as the Soviet team the previous year. Although Russia's Oxana Kostina had a better competitive season, Skaldina was named to the Olympic team along with compatriot Timoshenko. (As individual athletes not competing in team sports in Barcelona, they both competed under the Ukrainian flag.) In Barcelona, Timoshenko won the gold medal while Skaldina settled for bronze behind Spain's

Carolina Pascual Carolina Pascual Gracia (born 17 June 1976 in Orihuela, Alicante) is a former Spanish Individual Rhythmic gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's rhythmic individual all-around, 1992 Olympics s ...

. In tears, she refused to acknowledge Pascual and shake her hand during the medal ceremony, resulting in boos from the Spanish audience. She retired after the competition.

Personal life

She was married to three-time Olympian

Dmitry Svatkovsky Dmitriy Valerievich Svatkovskiy (; born 27 November 1971) is a Russian modern pentathlete, Olympic champion and politician. Olympics Svatkovskiy competed for Russia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he won an individual gold medal.

, an Olympic gold and silver medalist in

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, Laser pistol (sport), laser pistol shooting, and ...

. They met at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and four years later had a daughter,

Daria Svatkovskaya Daria Dmitrievna Svatkovskaya (; born 4 December 1996 in Moscow) is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2012 Russian National All-around silver medalist. She retired in August 2014, due to a serious back injury. Career ...

. Daria was a member of Russia's rhythmic gymnastics national team until a back injury forced her into in retirement in 2014. After retiring from competition, Skaldina moved to Svatkovsky's hometown of Moscow and began coaching. She currently coaches at

Sports School A sports school () is a type of educational institution for children that originated in the Soviet Union. Sports schools were the basis of the powerful system of physical culture (fitness) and sports education in the USSR and the Eastern Bloc, pa ...

No. 74 and is a member of Russia's national team coaching staff. She is an Honoured Master of Sport for the Soviet Union and an Honoured Coach of Russia.

Notable trainees

* Lyasan Utiasheva * Ksenia Dzhalaganiya * Alexandra Skubova *

Polina Berezina Polina Berezina Ksenofontova (born 5 December 1997) is a Russian-born Spanish individual Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast. She has competed at seven Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships and won a bronze medal with the Spanish team in 2 ...

Detailed Olympic results

References

External links

*
Oksana Skaldina
at r-gymnastics.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skaldina, Oksana 1972 births Living people Soviet rhythmic gymnasts Ukrainian rhythmic gymnasts Deriugins Gymnasts Russian gymnastics coaches Olympic gymnasts for the Unified Team Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics Gymnasts from Zaporizhzhia Olympic medalists in gymnastics Ukrainian emigrants to Russia Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Olympic bronze medalists for the Unified Team Goodwill Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games