Tatiana Felixivna Lysenko (; born June 23, 1975) is a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Ukrainian former

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

, who had her senior competitive career from 1990 to 1994. Lysenko was a member of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

team during the early 1990s, a period when its pool of talent was deep (the USSR never lost the women's team competition in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

). She is the 1992

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Sports that will appear in the 2028 Summer Olympics ar ...

on balance beam.

Gymnastics career

Lysenko was born in

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

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. ...

, and has a

Ukrainian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the modern territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Important Jewish religious and cultural move ...

background. She took up gymnastics at the age of seven, and made her senior debut in 1990, winning the all-around competition at the World Cup. In 1990, Lysenko participated at the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, Unit ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and won a gold medal in team competition Next year she was selected for the

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, where she won the team competition. She qualified to the all-around competition, ahead of her talented teammates

Oksana Chusovitina Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina (; born 19 June 1975) is an Uzbekistani gymnastics, artistic gymnast who previously represented the Soviet Union and Germany. Chusovitina's career as an elite gymnast has spanned more than three decades. She wo ...

Rozalia Galiyeva Rozaliya Ilfatovna Galiyeva (; born 28 April 1977), also known as Roza Galieva, is a retired artistic gymnast who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1996 Summer Olympics. Personal life Galiyeva was born on 28 April 1977 in ...

and Natalia Kalinina, but fell from beam and did not win any individual medal. Lysenko's most notable achievements came 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 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. She represented the Unified Team (ex-Soviets) along with Svetlana Boguinskaya, Tatiana Gutsu,

Elena Grudneva Yelena Aleksandrovna Grudneva (; born 21 February 1974) is a retired Russian gymnast. She competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in all artistic gymnastics events and won a gold medal with the Unified Team. Individually her best result was ninth p ...

, Rozalia Galiyeva and Oksana Chusovitina. They won the team title by a comfortable margin. Lysenko finished 7th all-around, but she won the bronze medal in the vault after performing the most difficult vault in the entire competition, a double-twisting Yurchenko (9.912). Lysenko then won the gold in the beam event (9.975). Unlike many of her Soviet teammates, Lysenko opted to continue after the breakup of the USSR, and represented her native

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

at the 1993 World Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. She won bronze in the all-around, which would have been gold had she not stepped out of the floor. Lysenko was one of only two ex-Soviets on the podium along with Oksana Chusovitina (representing

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

). In 1993, Lysenko, representing Ukraine, competed at the

1993 Summer Universiade The 1993 Summer Universiade, also known as XVII Summer Universiade or World University Games Buffalo '93, took place in Buffalo, New York, as the main site. For the first time in history the event was hosted by two countries, as some events wer ...

in Buffalo and won gold medals in all-around, team and balance beam. Lysenko continued to compete internationally in 1994. She placed 18th in the all-around at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in Brisbane. In the event finals, she placed fourth on vault. She retired after the World Championships.

Later life

After retiring from competitions Lysenko moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and now lives in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. She graduated from the

University of San Francisco School of Law The University of San Francisco School of Law (USF Law) is the law school of the private University of San Francisco. Established in 1912, it received American Bar Association accreditation in 1935 and joined the Association of American La ...

and was admitted the California State Bar in 2005. In 2002, she was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

, and in 2016 into the

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IG ...

. She is married and has a daughter.Tatiana Lysenko

Competitive history

References

External links

*
List of competitive results at Gymn Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lysenko, Tatiana 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Kherson Soviet female artistic gymnasts Ukrainian female artistic gymnasts Olympic gold medalists for the Unified Team Olympic bronze medalists for the Unified Team Olympic medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Jewish Ukrainian sportspeople Soviet Jews Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees 21st-century lawyers Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics 21st-century Ukrainian women lawyers

Gymnastics career

Later life

Competitive history

See also

References

External links