Elena Zamolodchikova

Elena Zamolodchikova
Elena Zamolodchikova
Personal information
Country represented	Russia
Born	19 September 1982; Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Retired	2009
Representing Russia
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Cup Final
Goodwill Games
European Championships
European Team Championships
Summer Universiade

Elena Mikhailovna "Zamo" Zamolodchikova (Russian: Еле́на Миха́йловна Замоло́дчикова; born 19 September 1982) is a Russian former artistic gymnast, and four-time Olympic medallist. She was known for her risky double-twisting double-backflip on floor and was one of only a handful of women to have successfully completed one.[1] In 2015, she was inducted in the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Career

Zamolodchikova began gymnastics at the age of six. In 1999 she participated in her first major senior competition, the World Gymnastics Championships. She won the gold in vault and the bronze in the all-around.

Just days before the 2000 European Championships in Paris, her father died as a result of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl accident. Zamolodchikova led her team to the gold medal and earned individual silvers in the all-around and vault finals and a bronze on the beam.

2000 Summer Olympics

Zamolodchikova was selected as a member of the Russian gymnastics team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Although initially she did not qualify for the all-around or vault finals, she earned spots in both when Elena Produnova withdrew from the all-around due to injury and Svetlana Khorkina decided to give up her spot to Zamolodchikova due to her better chances of medalling. In the team competition, the Russian team was leading after the preliminary rounds, but four Russian gymnasts made mistakes in the finals, costing them the gold. Zamolodchikova was one of the four, slipping off the beam as she took off for a Rulfova and narrowly missing her head.

After two apparatuses in the all-around, Zamolodchikova was in first place with her stronger exercises still to go, events on which she went on to win Olympic gold. However, she lost her chance of an all-around medal after a fall on her simplest tumbling pass during her floor exercise rotation. On a night where many gymnasts made uncharacteristic errors, she eventually finished 6th. Had she scored the same in the all-around as she did for her team finals performance, her total would have been enough to win her the gold.

Zamolodchikova won gold on both the vault and floor, and became a two-time Olympic champion. During vault finals, Khorkina sat in the stands, cheering loudly for her teammate, to whom she gave her spot. Khorkina was leading in the floor finals until Zamolodchikova performed as both were vying for a second gold.

2002 to 2004

Zamolodchikova won the 2002 World vault title and a European all-around bronze medal in 2004, in addition to numerous other awards.

Zamolodchikova, also a lieutenant in the Russian Army, competed in her second Olympic games in 2004. The Russian team won a bronze medal, and Zamolodchikova just missed out on an individual vault medal, placing fourth behind Monica Roşu of Romania, Annia Hatch of the United States, and a fellow Russian, Anna Pavlova.

2005

At the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, she placed fourth in both vault and floor finals. In the floor finals, she performed four extremely difficult tumbling passes, landing each one cleanly, but did not successfully compete all of her dance combinations. Her start value was lowered as a result from 10.0 to 9.7, and she scored a 9.162, placing her behind Americans Alicia Sacramone and Nastia Liukin, and Dutch gymnast Suzanne Harmes. Zamolodchikova's low score was unpopular with the crowd, who appeared to think she should have won bronze. She scored an average of 9.318 on her two vaults, finishing behind Cheng Fei of China, Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, and Alicia Sacramone of the U.S.

2006

Although many gymnasts retired as the new code was introduced, Zamolodchikova decided to continue competing. She struggled at her first competition of 2006, the American Cup, particularly on bars where she had a fall. An injury prevented selection for the 2006 European Championships in Volos, Greece.

Zamolodchikova helped the Russian team to a bronze medal in the team event, their first at world level since 2001, and qualified to vault finals where she was fourth. In 2006, she also competed her new vault skill, a Yurchenko laid out half-on, half-off which has an A-score of 5.6P in the new code.

After the World Championships, she competed in a few World Cup competitions winning a bronze medal on vault in the DTB-Cup in Stuttgart and two silver medals on vault and on floor in the Glasgow Grand Prix. She crowned her year with a bronze on vault at the World Cup Finals in São Paulo, Brazil.

2007 to 2009

At the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, her teammate Ekaterina Kramarenko ran up and touched the vaulting table but stopped and received a 0. Zamolodchikova performed a solid vault, but the Russian team had already ended up eighth (last). In the event finals, she fell on her second vault, and finished again in eighth.

Zamolodchikova continued training in 2008 in hopes of making the Russian Olympic team for the third time, but a back injury prevented her from a better showing and she failed to do so. Instead, she competed in various World Cup events, narrowly missing a medal on floor at the 2008 World Cup Final in Madrid, where she finished fourth.

Zamolodchikova made her last competitive appearance at the 2009 University Games in Belgrade. She began her judging career at the 2009 DTB Cup in Germany.

Eponymous skills

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty
Vault	Zamolodchikova	Laid-out double-twisting Tsukahara	5.6 (2017-2020)
Balance beam	Zamolodchikova	Round-off full-twisting back handspring to hip circle mount	E

Floor music

1999 Worlds: "Baby Elephant Walk" - Henry Mancini
2000 Olympics: "Who's That Creepin'?/Daddy-O" - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy / Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades
2002 Worlds: "Crazy Benny/Breathe" - Safri Duo / Moist
2004 Olympics: "Egyptian Symphony" - Mozart
2005 Worlds: "Crazy Benny" by Safri Duo and "Breathe" by Prodigy.

Medals

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
1998	European Championships	2nd		4th
1999	World Championships	2nd	3rd	1st
2000	European Championships	1st	2nd	2nd		3rd	8th
	Olympic Games	2nd	6th	1st			1st
	World Cup Final			1st			2nd
2001	World Championships	2nd
2002	European Championships	1st		4th
	World Championships			1st
	World Cup Final			1st	4th	2nd	5th
2003	World Championships	6th		2nd
2004	European Championships	3rd	3rd	2nd		7th
	Olympic Games	3rd		4th
	World Cup Final			4th			8th
2005	European Championships			5th			8th
2005	World Championships		16th	4th			4th
2006	World Championships	3rd		6th
2006	World Cup Final			3rd			6th
2007	World Championships	8th		8th
2008	World Cup Final			6th			4th
2009	Universiade	3rd

Detailed competitive scores

Year	Competition description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
2008	World Cup Final	Madrid	Vault	6	13.475
2008	World Cup Final	Madrid	Floor exercise	4	14.075
2007	World Championships	Stuttgart	Team	8	164.525	4	238.000
			Vault	8	13.875	6	14.487
			Floor exercise			20	14.425
2006	World Cup Final	São Paulo	Vault	3	14.875
	World Cup Final	São Paulo	Floor exercise	6	14.525
	World Championships	Aarhus	Team	3	177.325	4	234.800
			All-around			24	57.700
			Vault	6	14.962	5	14.925
			Uneven bars			43	14.175
			Balance beam			75	13.775
			Floor exercise			16	14.675
2005	World Championships	Melbourne	All-around	16	34.662	6	36.662
			Vault	4	9.318	4	9.331
			Uneven bars			21	9.075
			Balance beam			17	8.800
			Floor exercise	4	9.162	6	9.412
	European Championships	Debrecen	Vault	5	9.131	3	9.194
	European Championships	Debrecen	Floor exercise	8	8.475	9	8.837
2004	World Cup Final	Birmingham	Vault	4	9.412
	World Cup Final	Birmingham	Floor exercise	8	8.087
	Olympic Games	Athens	Team	3	113.235	4	149.420
			All-around			20	36.874
			Vault	4	9.412	3	9.462
			Uneven bars			51	9.150
			Balance beam			31	9.062
			Floor exercise			35	9.200
	European Championships	Amsterdam	Team	3	110.423
			All-around	3	37.149	4	36.862
			Vault	2	9.381	2	9.524
			Uneven bars			23	8.925
			Balance beam	7	8.775	6	9.225
			Floor exercise			10	9.175
2003	World Championships	Anaheim	Team	6	108.985	5	145.572
			All-around			20	36.037
			Vault	2	9.443	2	9.437
			Uneven bars			70	8.775
			Balance beam			44	8.737
			Floor exercise			32	9.000
2002	World Cup Final	Stuttgart	Vault	1	9.412
			Uneven bars	4	9.125
			Balance beam	2	9.162
			Floor exercise	5	8.800
	World Championships	Debrecen	Vault	1	9.443
			Vault (Semi-final)			6	9.218
			Vault (Qualification)			5	9.206
			Floor exercise (Semi-final)			12	9.050
			Floor exercise (Qualification)			9	9.137
	European Championships	Patras	Team	1	111.833
	European Championships	Patras	Vault	4	9.043	2	9.487
2001	World Championships	Ghent	Team	2	109.023	4	144.134
			All-around			48	33.812
			Vault			40	9.000
			Uneven bars			17	9.012
			Balance beam			101	7.600
			Floor exercise			98	8.200
2000	World Cup Final	Glasgow	Vault	1	9.581
	World Cup Final	Glasgow	Floor exercise	2	9.675
	Olympic Games	Sydney	Team	2	154.403	1	154.874
			All-around	6	38.268	7	38.336
			Vault	1	9.731	9	9.612
			Uneven bars			11	9.687
			Balance beam			38	9.375
			Floor exercise	1	9.850	7	9.662
	European Championships	Paris	Team	1	115.760
			All-around	2	38.624	3	38.624
			Vault	2	9.668	1	9.662
			Uneven bars			9	9.650
			Balance beam	3	9.762	5	9.662
			Floor exercise	8	9.437	10	9.650
1999	World Championships	Tianjin	Team	2	153.209	2	153.576
			All-around	3	38.687	8	38.236
			Vault	1	9.718	2	9.699
			Uneven bars			10	9.612
			Balance beam			39	9.300
			Floor exercise			15	9.625
1998	European Championships	Saint Petersburg	Team	2	112.720
			Vault	4	9.424	2	9.693
			Floor exercise			41	8.687

References and notes

As of November 2010, others included Victoria Moors, Cheng Fei, Daniela Silivaş, Vanessa Ferrari, Shawn Johnson, Samantha Peszek, Jordyn Wieber, Mykayla Skinner, Svetlana Boguinskaya, Tatiana Groshkova, and Aleftina Priakhina).

External links

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[1] As of November 2010, others included Victoria Moors, Cheng Fei, Daniela Silivaş, Vanessa Ferrari, Shawn Johnson, Samantha Peszek, Jordyn Wieber, Mykayla Skinner, Svetlana Boguinskaya, Tatiana Groshkova, and Aleftina Priakhina).