While Biles received widespread praise for admitting her mental health issues and opening up a conversation in a sport that is strewn with a history of life-altering or life-ending injuries, others were quick to dismiss Biles' explanation. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Her throw of 70.08 meters eclipsed by 12 centimeters the world record set by East German Ruth Fuchs at Split, Ugoslavia, this spring. She was instantly rendered a quadriplegic.\r\rElena Mukhina died of apparent complications from quadriplegia on December 22, 2006 RIA Novosti, Mukhina was happy among teammates when not carrying out her demanding training regime. Klimenko had so much success invoking psychological tactics with Mukhina because Mukhina herself bought into this mindset. He returned immediately when informed of the accident. 261 viewsNov 13, 2020. It remained an allowed skill for men until 2013. Likewise, there was desperation from Klimenko to get Mukhina back on her feet and into training to ensure she made the team. For all we know the Mukhinas response to a different comment could have been used instead. Mukhina was injured on July 3rd, it would take nearly a week for news of the accident to spread to the Western press. Elena MUKHINA (*born: 1960, June 06 - +died: 2006, . One of the common themes in Soviet sports media is coaches frequently boasted about their ability to invoke psychology as a training tool. After her injury, Mukhina was grateful to her former teammates who kept in touch with her, especially Yelena Davydova, whom she called A real friend. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 5 19761976 . I think I mentioned before that I wanted to be a gymnast growing up but didnt have the discipline because you know when youre ten years old your priority is having fun and pretty much nothing else. These events overshadow what were two other hallmarks of Mukhinas career. Sputnik, Mukhina was paralyzed by the accident. She took home the gold, beating Olympic Champions Nadia Comaneci, and top-ranked Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim. Im sure you all have seen the gymnast suffer broken ankles, leg, and such live on television or in past footage. To see this all laid out and directly explained to Mukhina in a recorded conversation is a very significant piece footage to have. Elena Mukhina was born on the 1st of June, 1960. Even though Mukhina herself would later state her injury was not the byproduct of a lone individual, but the flawed Soviet system as a whole. They ended up getting more than they bargained for, and the price for that was paid by Elena Mukhina. As the top Soviet gymnast following the 1976 Olympics, this burden weighed the heavier on Mukhina than any other gymnast. of her own health not just to avoid a blown hamstring or broken bone but to avoid a potentially life-threatening injury and haters have no ground to criticize her for that. And it's tragic. A great history and analysis a tragic result with a winning at all costs attitude, only disaster results always look at the US program under Karolyi.. the success masked the tragic and sinful culture there will always be the next champion but certain things can never be erased.. and should not be forgotten ! It is hard to say if the memory of Elena Mukhina stifled Mikhail Klimenkos career, but it did appear to be more of a limitation for him than other coaches who had associations with infamous injuries such as Al Fong. I was so tired then, both physically and psychologically.". The very same Soviet officials who blamed Mikhail Klimenko for his horrible treatment of Elena Mukhina as being a factor which lead to her injury, were the same Soviet officials who knew about his behavior for years prior. If not in time for 1980, then certainly those who were on a track for 1984. But the more time passed, the more Klimenkos career seemed to regress, at least in international competition. Can you let (these thoughts) happen? Mikhail Klimenko maintained a viable coaching career in the aftermath of Mukhinas injury. These gymnasts were identified at a young age not just for their athletic attributes, but their mental attributes as well. I know many won't watch it mainly due to the length of it, but I HAD to just explain basically everything because the. Ella debe estar en el saln de la fama RIP Women's Gymnastics Good People Amazing People Female Gymnast Picture Video ELENA MUKHINA 1978 WORLD'S ALL-AROUND-ALL 4 ROUTINES! In the quiet corner of a Moscow cemetery, a black slab of marble stands surrounded by the December snow. Mukhina spent 18 months to go from having never done high level routines to being capable of holding her own against your average Olympian. She dies decades later at 45. Bravo pour votre travail remarquable sur Elena Moukhina ! She was relegated to alternate status on the strong Soviet team for the Olympics, but still hoped to regain her place on the team and captivate the home fans. In the lead-up to the Olympics, Elena had broken her leg but despite this, her coach insisted that she continue . Life isn't always butterflies and rainbows, so, its time to explore the dark side of things. The Biggest Tragedy in Gymnastics History (Story of Elena Mukhina) Best Gymnastics 32.4K subscribers Subscribe 17K 1.6M views 2 years ago Leave a LIKE if you enjoyed the Story of "Elena. Klimenko, however, had other ideas, reportedly removing her from hospital and directly back to training, taking off the orthopedic brace from around her neck. They suggested this was something that Biles should have done for her team - pushed through the pain. Some of those wishing to remember Mukhina will pay homage this week at her resting place on the 15th anniversary of her passing. But the nightmare and the pain wasn't over. But it also made their relationships mutually self-destructive. I almost screamed with joy, she said. I am frequently asked as to whether Klimenko is to blame for Mukhinas injury. Remember, you don't have to agree with my opinions but I am still free to express them. Action Images, Mukhina had emerged as a world-beating force but faced increasing pressure. All at the 1976 Olympics, where she also scored the perfect ten. Elena Mukhina Is A Member Of . Before I go I want to leave you with some wise words from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver, Antonio Brown;Every day is a half day if you just f****** leave.Happy 2022 everyone! Mukhina took a keen interest in children and young gymnasts both before and after her injury. The coaching relationship between Mukhina and Klimenko was marked by a power imbalance. Eglit, however, gradually came to understand that the gaunt-looking child in his charge possessed a talent which warranted more professional attention. This is another reoccurring theme throughout the Mukhina tapes. In the documentary, "Triumph of the Spirit . View all posts by Nikki Young, Your email address will not be published. For the Soviet team, coached by former champion Latynina, Comaneci's dominance was a galling experience against a supposedly lesser sporting nation in the empires sphere of influence. The exchange is roughly 3.5 minutes in length and is broken up into four clips throughout the half hour documentary. Klimenko may have been one of the most extreme examples of a Soviet coach utilizing psychology, but he was far from the only one. Director of the Soviet womens gymnastics, Larisa Latynina, was blamed for the embarrassing defeat. She had gone, but her legacy was far from forgotten. Klimenko was deeply affected by the events and emigrated to Italy with his family, continuing his work as a gymnastics trainer. ", Asked her hobbies at a press conference, Mukhina said, "I read books . As a memorial to one of the greatest Soviet-era gymnasts ever, the biggest sports newspaper in Russia, Sovietskij SPORT, dedicated the cover of their Christmas 2006 issue to her. Once again the Soviets were lambasting Mukhina by putting the burden back on her. Gymnastics is a cruel sport at times albeit a gorgeous one that your whole heart will love.I will start off by saying that I didn't even know which song to use because there are hardly ANY that honor her. The Thomas salto is now banned for both men and women. The win effectively made her the top ranked gymnast of the world. RIA Novosti, EU must shift to wartime economy industry commissioner, Biden praises Scholz for diversifying away from Russian energy, EU offers Russian banks alternatives to SWIFT media. We offer you the possibility to receive RT's news highlights every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by email. Miles, 23, recognized that look because she had felt it, too . When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. According to the reports Mukhina was practicing the difficult maneuvers in disregard of orders from her coach and virtual foster father, Victor Klimenko, who had left Minsk for Moscow. It was Comaneci who took the all-around title as part of three golds. Coming to the Olympics and being head star isn't an easy feat, so we're just trying to take it one day at a time and we'll see.". I like Ernest Hemingway most of all. - YouTube Strasbourg Gymnastics Champion History Fitness Historia Physical Exercise Her injury was a featured topic in an A&E documentary More Than a Game; and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastic's Greatest Stars. She also expressed a . Her battle was now an entirely different one: to find some quality of life to accompany her immobility. Sorry for rambling, next video should be happier!! 0 views, 55 likes, 11 loves, 12 comments, 120 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina - 1960-2006: Video of the documentary "More Than a Game", 1991, shows that the testimony. Mukhina herself eventually succumbed to complications from her condition on December 22, 2006. These are real clips of a real person who in the end, really did get hurt, and the damage couldnt be undone. Gymnastics prodigy who tragically broke her neck while practicing a dangerous move, just two weeks before the Olympics, and shortly after her 20th birthday. . TM. Comaneci famously earned the first-ever perfect 10 score for her performance on the uneven bars. This article isnt an attempt at rehabilitating Mikhail Klimenko or trying to paint him in a more sympathetic light. :D ..ProbablyCover done by Robbie: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbAQfmhT7LtjQ6janPaxvBgCredit: The information was taken from Wiki, multiple interviews/documentaries and a few sites.~~~FINALLY, AS USUAL ~~~ I do not own any of the audio or video nor do I claim to own it. Before their partnership, both had witnessed unsuccessful careers, but found instant success as soon as they joined forces. For Mukhina, a disturbing pattern had already emerged of an athlete being forced to push through injury in a clamor to the pinnacle of her sport. You will see YouTube gymnasts such as Whitney Bjerken, and other famous gymnasts such as Simone Biles, Katelyn Ohashi, Gabby Douglas, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson and many more! However, until now, it has almost been unheard of for any high-level gymnast to withdraw from competition for health reasons. He died at the age of 46. "I felt like an animal being whipped along an endless corridor. She took home bronze for the floor exercise, and silver as part of the team all-around. Klimeko asked this knowing full well what Mukhinas answer would be, but he asked anyway to remind Mukhina that leaving him was an unrealistic option. The clips themselves are harrowing as they show a mostly downtrodden Mukhina and provide insights about the coaching environment she was subjected to. Elena was a former Soviet gymnast who won the All-around title at the 1978 World Championships at Strasbourg, France and was a four times European champion 1977 (Prague) and 1979 (Copenhagen). Moreover, her family lovingly calls her Katia. On July 3, 1980, two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, Mukhina was practicing the pass containing the Thomas salto when she under-rotated the salto, crash-landed on her chin, and her spine snapped. These tactics not only existed during the Cold War, but took on new importance in the aftermath of the Cold War when it became less socially acceptable to resort to physical abuse as a way to motivate a gymnast. I hope you enjoy my page! Youre part of the problem," one person wrote. Once again against Mukhinas wishes, the doctors removed her cast prematurely. The other was twice her age who had professional training that could be used as a tool for manipulation. Elena Mukhina had been an orphan since she was six years old. The tiny, 20-year-old gymnast, whose erratic performances were blamed by coaches on her poetic and romantic nature, reportedly landed on her neck while practicing difficult acrobatic routines by herself. Id estimate that most gymnasts would have needed about 5-8 years to go from where Mukhina was in 1974 to her emergence as a possible contender for the 1976 Soviet Olympic team. It remains one of the greatest individual showings gymnastics have ever seen. Going through her routines in the gym, she was forced into an even greater workload to cut the excess weight she had gained during her incapacitation. Mukhina defined that classic proverb because she was just that good. For Mikhail Klimenko, Elena Mukhina was his best shot at becoming an Olympic coach and in 1979 there didnt appear to be anyone else with similar potential in his training group. Eleven years ago, former gymnastics star Elena Mukhina, whose life and sports career were ruined by a tragic training accident, passed away in Moscow at the age of 46. Stella Zakharova compared him to infamous Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and called Klimenko a tyrant. Maria Filatova referred to Klimenko as a beast and when given the option to be coached by him said, I wouldnt go to Klimenko even at gunpoint. Both were members of the 1980 Soviet Olympic team and had trained alongside Mukhina. RIP - YouTube 0:00 / 2:37 Gymnastics Angel. Orphaned at the age of five and brought up by her grandmother, Mukhina joined a sports club and took up gymnastics. With under a year left until the 1980 Summer Olympics, the pressure mounted on the Soviet team coaches and doctors to get the previous all-around champion back on her feet. We can actually see the specific moments where it is possible for misrepresentation to be inserted into the documentary. Mukhina said she did not blame him, instead pointing to a system that drove athletes such as her relentlessly to the brink. In many ways, the tragedy foreshadowed the sadness which would pursue Mukhina for the rest of her days. En 1981, el Comit Olmpico Internacional le otorg la Orden Olmpica de Plata , la segunda mayor . The camera constantly makes cuts and pans, often under questionable circumstances. Mukhina was rushed into surgery that afternoon, but the damage had already been done to her reputation; one of the National Team coaches, she said in the Ogonyok interview, showed up at her bed the day after surgery and outright stated that she \"wasn't conscientious\" and that she could still \"train in a cast.\" Once more against her wishes, the doctors removed her cast prematurely, and Mukhina returned to training for the Olympics while beginning a strenuous workout program at CSKA Moscow to lose the weight she had gained while laid up from surgery.\r\rWith lingering weakness in her leg and mounting exhaustion from the grueling weight loss workouts, Mukhina had great difficulty coming back up to speed on what was to be the new end element of one of her floor exercise tumbling passes, the Thomas salto, Despite Mukhina's warnings that the element was constantly causing minor injuries and was dangerous enough to potentially cause major injuries, she was pushed to keep the element in her floor routine, and she continued to practice it even knowing it was a dangerous element. Rivals in the arena, Comaneci and Mukhina were united in the debilitating pressures they had faced to reach the top. JUSTICIA!!! The epitome of daring, strength and . Share with us. Sending love to you @Simone_Biles -Team UNITED States of America . What they will find at her grave is that image of a girl looking out intently yet elegantly, set amid a darker backdrop. We know that gymnasts can suffer injuries if they take a fall during a routine or land funny during a flip. At 1:13 Klimenko talks about how being a gymnastics coach is hard work. The injury left Elena Mukhina paraplegic and promptly ended her career. It didnt seem like Mukhina was very cooperative with the film crew which is why they went with such unusual pans, cuts, and pivots. The movement was later modified in the 1980s when it was performed towards the low bar; that is, the gymnast's flip takes place above the low bar. She became famous for her unique working capacity and rejection, as well as her tragic fate. The fans had been trained to believe in athletes heroism athletes with fractures return to the soccer field and those with concussions return to the ice rink, she said. Todava no entiendo por que no han hecho una pelcula de esta extraordinaria atleta. The moment she fell to the floor, Mukhina described her first thought as, "Thank God, I won't be going to the Olympics.". Soon after Mukhina's paralytic injury, Klimenko emigrated to Italy, where he lived with his children until his death from cancer on November 14, 2007, his 65th birthday. At the age of five years Elena lost both of her parents. It was enough to declare Mikhail Klimenko a coach with repeat success and from that point forward, he could never be dismissed as an untalented coach who had simply gotten lucky with Mukhina. . The Romanian endured her own brutal training routine, and later revealed she had even attempted suicide prior to the 1978 World Championships. Mukhinas first serious steps were taken under the tutelage of Alexander Eglit. Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. Besides the previously mentioned obstacles such as conditioning and learning new skills, gymnastics is a reputation based sport, first you work for your name and then your name works for you.. Not to envy others, but to learn to enjoy what is available to me. This week, four-time Olympic champion and golden girl of Team USA Simone Biles pulled out of the 2021 Olympics. 701 viewsOct 27, 2020 One was a 17 year old with limited life experience. Beijing calls US worlds primary nuclear threat, Top US prosecutor makes surprise Ukraine visit. "She is too easily touched," a team coach said at the time. Some reports said doctors feared she was paralyzed, while others said she has use of her arms and legs and is able to speak. and her World Championship performance is captured in the ABC Sports video Gymnastics' Greatest Stars. Mikhail Klimenko deserves significant blame for Mukhinas injury, but there is one particular detail that is frequently overlooked. I also hope 2022 is a lot better than the past two years have been. . Jun 7, 2020 - A catastrophic injury cost Mukhina the use of her limbs. It would ultimately result in her premature death at the age of 46. Where I disagree with Soviet officials is their claim that it was all Klimenkos fault. The TsITO doctors X-rayed the leg and discovered that the fracture had not healed properly and would not be able to sustain the pounding of gymnastics in its present condition. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Biles would pull out under the glare of the spotlight; Mukhina ultimately paid the price for not being able to do the same.
elena mukhina injury video