Stella Zakharova (born 12 July 1963 in

Odessa, Ukraine Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern sho ...

) is a retired

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

who competed internationally for the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

between 1977 and 1982. She was an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist in team competitions, and won individual all-around titles at other events. Zakharova won her first all-around championship at the 1976 All-Union School Spartakiade. That same year she placed second overall in the Junior

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Championships. She was a consistently strong competitor through 1977-78, winning several vaulting and floor exercise event titles. A powerful tumbler, Zakharova was the first woman to incorporate three double-back somersaults into her floor routine. Zakhrova's most successful year was 1979, during which she won individual all-around championships at the American Cup,

Moscow News ''The Moscow News'', which began publication in 1930, was Russia's oldest English-language newspaper. Many of its feature articles used to be translated from the Russian language ''Moskovskiye Novosti.'' History Soviet Union In 1930 ''The Mo ...

, and World Cup events. At the World Championships held in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

she was a member of the Soviet women's team which finished second to the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

n squad led by an injured

Nadia Comăneci Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10. ...

. It was the first time the Soviets had failed to beat their Romanian rivals in a major team competition. In 1980 Zakharova continued to enjoy success, winning the gold medal with her Soviet teammates at the

Olympic games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

and capturing a second all-around title at the World Cup. That proved to be her high-water mark, as her performances began to decline from 1981 onward. After retirement, Stella Zakharova married

Dynamo Kiev Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offic ...

football player Viktor Khlus. The couple have a son and a daughter. Zakharova's home country

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

hosts an annual Stella Zakharova Cup competition in

artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

, named in her honor. Footage of Stella Zakharova training with the Soviet national team was captured in a 1978 Soviet Gymnastics training documentary; Zakharova appears about one minute into the cli

Included in the film are teammates

Elena Mukhina Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina (russian: Елена Вячеславовна Мухина; first name sometimes rendered "Yelena", last name sometimes rendered "Muchina"; 1 June 196022 December 2006) was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around t ...

Natalia Shaposhnikova Natalia Vitalyevna Shaposhnikova (russian: Наталья Витальевна Шапошникова; born 24 June 1961, in Rostov-on-Don), married name Natalia Sout, is a former Soviet artistic gymnast, two-time Olympic champion, and Honoured Ma ...

and

Maria Filatova Maria Evgenievna Filatova (russian: Мария Евгеньевна Филатова) (born July 19, 1961) is a retired Soviet gymnast who competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. Career Filatova began competing for the USSR junior team in 1974 ...

External links

List of Competitive Results at Gymn Forum

Stella Zakharova's Web Site
(Russian language)
Stella Zakharova CUP Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zakharova, Stella 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Odesa Ukrainian female artistic gymnasts Soviet female artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade medalists in gymnastics Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade silver medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Gymnasts at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade