Ludmilla Tourischeva

Ludmilla Tourischeva
— Gymnast —
230px 1972 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	(1952-10-07) October 7, 1952 Grozny, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Hometown	Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Elite
Head coach(es)	Vladislav Rastorotsky
Medal record Representing Soviet Union Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City Team 1972 Munich Team 1972 Munich All-Around 1976 Montreal Team 1972 Munich Floor Exercise 1976 Montreal Vault 1976 Montreal Floor Exercise 1972 Munich Vault 1976 Montreal All-Around World Championships 1970 Ljubljana Team 1970 Ljubljana All-Around 1970 Ljubljana Floor Exercise 1974 Varna All-Around 1974 Varna Team 1974 Varna Floor Exercise 1974 Varna Balance Beam 1970 Ljubljana Uneven Bars 1974 Varna Vault 1970 Ljubljana Vault 1974 Varna Uneven Bars World Cup Final 1975 London All-Around 1975 London Vault 1975 London Uneven Bars 1975 London Balance Beam 1975 London Floor Exercise European Championships 1971 Minsk All-Around 1971 Minsk Vault 1971 Minsk Floor Exercise 1973 London All-Around 1973 London Vault 1973 London Uneven Bars 1973 London Balance Beam 1973 London Floor Exercise 1971 Minsk Uneven Bars 1971 Minsk Balance Beam 1969 Landskrona All-Around 1969 Landskrona Uneven Bars 1969 Landskrona Floor Exercise 1975 Skien Floor Exercise

Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva (Russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Тури́щева (alternative spellings: Ludmilla Turischeva; Ludmilla Tourischcheva; Ljudmila Ivanovna Turichtchieva;), born October 7, 1952) is a former Russian gymnast and a nine-time Olympic medalist for the Soviet Union.

Career

Tourischeva began gymnastics in 1965 and began competing for the Soviet team as early as in 1967, at age 13. Coached by Vladislav Rastorotsky (who later trained Natalia Shaposhnikova and Natalia Yurchenko), she represented the Soviet Union at the 1968 Summer Olympics just after her 16th birthday, sharing the gold medal with the USSR team and placing 24th in the all-around.

Two years later Tourischeva became the leader of the Soviet team. From 1970 to 1974 she dominated almost every major international competition, winning the World Championships all-around gold in 1970 and 1974, the European Championships in 1971 and 1973 and the World Cup in 1975. She was considered to embody the classic Soviet style: grace, elegance, impeccable form and strong technique.

At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Tourischeva was a medal favorite, but found herself overshadowed by the sudden popularity of her younger compatriot Olga Korbut. After Korbut faltered on the uneven bars, however, Tourischeva won the all-around gold medal. She was less successful in the event finals, qualifying for all four, and winning a silver and a bronze. Tourischeva was one of the first female gymnasts to use two separate pieces of music for her floor exercise routines at an international competition. For the team competition there was March from the film Circus by Isaak Dunaevsky, while for the all around – the music to the film Die Frau meiner Träume by Franz Grothe.

At the 1975 European Championships, Tourischeva lost the all-around competition, placing third to 13-year-old Nadia Comăneci, who also won the vault, bars, and beam apparatus finals. Tourischeva's teammate, Nellie Kim, placed second and won the floor exercise competition. Nevertheless, Tourischeva rebounded later that year to sweep the World Cup.

After struggling with a back injury, Tourischeva competed in her third Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976, winning her third team gold with the Soviet squad. In the all-around she finished third behind Romania's Comăneci and her teammate Kim. Although Tourischeva lost to Kim on both vault and floor exercise in the event finals, she overcame Comăneci on them and won silver medals, bringing her total Olympic medal count to four gold, three silver and two bronze.

Tourischeva was known for her calm, serene demeanor while in competition. In 1980, British journalist David Hunn wrote of Tourischeva, "(she) never had the cheek of some of her rivals, but for serenity she was supreme." This type of demeanor was famously illustrated during the 1975 World Cup at Wembley Stadium in London, when a broken hook holding support cables of the uneven bars caused the apparatus to fall apart and crash to the ground just as Tourischeva landed her dismount. Saluting the judges, she calmly walked off the podium without even turning around to look at the remains of the apparatus. She went on to win the all-around and every single event final gold. Years later, she said of the incident that at that moment she remembered only one thing – she must complete her routine and "stick it". Her trainer Vladislav Rastorotsky said about her: "Ljudmila would fight to death in any situation".

Tourischeva was also known for her gracious manner. At the 1976 Olympics, she walked around the podium to personally congratulate champion Nadia Comăneci and shake her hand before accepting her own medal.

In 1977, she married the sprinter Valeriy Borzov, a two-time Olympic champion in 1972. She was elected to the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in 1981. Tourischeva has remained involved in gymnastics as a coach, an international judge and an official with the Ukrainian gymnastics federation. One of her protégés was Lilia Podkopayeva, the 1996 Olympic all-around gold medalist.

Tourischeva has received many honors for her contributions to gymnastics, including the Women In Sport trophy by the International Olympic Committee. In 1998 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Ludmilla Tourischeva is one of only two women (Yelena Shushunova being the other) who have won the grand slam of all-around titles: Olympics, World Championships, World Cup, and European Championships.

Tourischeva is also one of only two women to win four gold medals at a single World Championships (she won four at the 1974 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships), the other being American Simone Biles who won four at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Eponymous skills

Vault: Tsukahara tucked (4.0)

Achievements (non-Olympic)

Year	Event	AA	Team	VT	UB	BB	FX
1967	USSR Cup	1st
1968	USSR Cup	3rd
1969	European Championships	3rd			3rd		3rd
	USSR Championships	3rd		2nd		2nd	2nd
	USSR Cup	1st
1970	World Championships	1st	1st	3rd	2nd		1st
	USSR Championships				1st		1st
	USSR Cup	3rd
1971	European Championships	1st		1st	2nd	2nd	1st
	USSR Championships			2nd	3rd		2nd
	USSR Cup	1st
1972	USSR Championships	1st		1st	1st
	USSR Cup	2nd
1973	European Championships	1st		1st	1st	1st	1st
	USSR Championships			1st	1st
	USSR Cup	1st
1974	World Championships	1st	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	1st
	USSR Championships	1st
	USSR Cup	1st
1975	World Cup	1st		1st	1st	1st	1st
	European Championships						3rd
	USSR Championships	3rd		1st
1976	USSR Cup	2nd

See also

• List of multiple Olympic medalists
• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists
• List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
• List of Olympic female gymnasts for the Soviet Union

External links

• Ludmilla Tourischeva at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Article from "Soviet Life"
• Full list of competitive results