15 Facts About Amina Zaripova

Amina Vasilovna Zaripova is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast who now works as an elite coach; she is the head coach of the Chinese individual rhythmic gymnastics program.

Amina Zaripova is the 1994 World all-around silver medalist, 1993 World all-around bronze medalist and a two-time European all-around bronze medalist.

Amina Zaripova finished fourth at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Amina Zaripova is married to Alexei Kortnev, lead singer of Neschastny Sluchai, with whom she has two sons, Arseniy and Afanasiy, and two daughters, Aksiniya and Agafiya.

Amina Zaripova won three titles at the 1994 Goodwill Games in the all-around and with hoop and ball, as well as a silver medal and a bronze medal.

At that year's World Championships, Amina Zaripova placed second in the all-around.

Amina Zaripova came in third with clubs and second with ribbon.

Amina Zaripova was the lead gymnast going into the final apparatus of the all-around, but a mistake in her final routine cost her the gold medal, which went to the reigning World champion, Maria Petrova.

Amina Zaripova finished 4th in the all-around at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, narrowly losing to both Ukrainian Olena Vitrychenko and her teammate Yanina Batyrchina, who controversially held on for silver after she made a mistake in her final routine.

Amina Zaripova finished less than a tenth of a point behind both the silver and bronze medalists.

Amina Zaripova briefly returned to competition in 1997 as part of the Russian team that won the bronze at the 1998 European Championships.

Amina Zaripova was invited by the Greek Gymnastics Federation to coach their team.

Amina Zaripova helped prepare the team for the 1999 World Championships, but she ended up returning to Russia shortly afterwards.

Amina Zaripova gave up coaching for a time after the birth of her fourth child to spend more time with her children.

Amina Zaripova accepted the offer and became the head of the national individual team, on the stipulation that she could take her athletes to compete abroad, as Chinese gymnasts rarely performed either within China or at international competitions.