20 Facts About Elena Mukhina

Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France.

Elena Mukhina's career was on the rise, and she was widely touted as the next great gymnastics star until 1979, when she broke a leg and missed several competitions.

Elena Mukhina was born 1 June 1960, in Moscow, Russian SFSR.

Elena Mukhina later joined the CSKA Moscow sports club.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Elena Mukhina was inducted into the CSKA Hall of Fame.

Up until 1975, Elena Mukhina was an unremarkable gymnast, and Soviet coaches largely ignored her.

Elena Mukhina tied for the gold medal in the floor exercise event final, as well as winning the silver in balance beam and uneven bars.

Elena Mukhina made history in this competition by unveiling her signature moves: a full-twisting layout Korbut flip on bars; a tucked double back salto dismount on beam ; and a full-twisting double back somersault on floor dubbed the "Muchina".

Yet, in spite of these innovations, Elena Mukhina maintained the classic Soviet style, inspired by ballet movements and expressive lines.

Elena Mukhina quickly established herself as an athlete to watch for at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Elena Mukhina soon realized the Thomas salto was extremely dangerous because it depended on being able to get enough height and speed to make all the flips and mid-air twists and still land in-bounds with enough room to do the forward roll, and it took near-perfect timing to avoid either under-rotation or over-rotation.

In 1979, while training for the 1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Elena Mukhina suffered a broken leg, which kept her out of the World Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, a competition in which the Soviet team suffered its first defeat at the hands of their arch-rivals from Romania, with only Nellie Kim and Stella Zakharova able to medal in apparatus and All-Around disciplines.

On 3 July 1980, while training at the Minsk Palace of Sport two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, Elena Mukhina was practising the pass containing the Thomas salto when she under-rotated the salto and crash-landed on her chin, snapping her spine and leaving her quadriplegic.

Elena Mukhina became a recluse following the accident and rarely discussed it publicly.

Elena Mukhina was a guest columnist for Moscow News in the late 1980s.

Elena Mukhina took a keen interest in children and young gymnasts both before and after her injury.

Elena Mukhina expressed a deep religious faith, and was fond of horses and animated cartoons.

Elena Mukhina was cared for by her grandmother and, following her death, by Elena Mukhina Gurina, the former gymnast.

Elena Mukhina died of apparent complications from quadriplegia on 22 December 2006.

Elena Mukhina has two eponymous skills listed in the Code of Points.