Natalia Yurchenko

Natalia Yurchenko
— Gymnast —
Full name	Russian: Наталья Владимировна Юрченко
Country represented	Soviet Union
Former countries represented	Russia
Born	(1965-01-26) January 26, 1965 Norilsk, Soviet Union
Hometown	Russia
Height	155 cm (5 ft 1 in) (5'1")
Discipline	Artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior Elite Gymnast
Eponymous skills	Yurchenko, Yurchenko loop
Medal record Representing Soviet Union World Championships 1983 Budapest Team 1983 Budapest All-Around 1985 Montreal Team World Cup Final 1982 Zagreb All-Around 1982 Zagreb Vault 1982 Zagreb Balance Beam 1982 Zagreb Uneven Bars Friendship Games 1984 Olomouc Team 1984 Olomouc Vault 1984 Olomouc Uneven Bars

Natalia Vladamirovna Yurchenko (Russian: Наталья Владимировна Юрченко) (born January 26, 1965 in Norilsk, Russian SFSR) is a retired Soviet artistic gymnast, who was the women's all-around gold medalist at the 1983 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Renowned for her innovative and daring gymnastics, she is best known as the originator of the Yurchenko vault family, which is a round-off back handspring entry onto the vault, and then performing a series of twists and flips off.

Career

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR, she was coached by Vladislav Rastorotsky at the Dinamo sports society in Rostov on Don. Her first international competition was the 1978 Junior Friendship Tournament, where she placed 5th all-around and won gold medals in the team competition and on bars. In the same year she debuted in the senior Riga International meet, earning the bronze on the floor.

The great series of successes began four years later, when she won the all-around title at the USSR Championships, USSR Cup, at the prestigious Moscow News tournament and the World Cup. Perhaps even more successful was the year 1983. She won almost complete gold medal complects (except the floor exercise) at the University Games and the USSR Championships. She also became the all-around World Champion, achieving two perfect 10s in the process.

At the Friendship Games in Olomouc, Yurchenko battled with Olga Mostepanova and managed to win the gold medal on the vault and in the team competition. In 1985 she once again won almost all events at the University Games (except vault and the balance beam) and contributed to the team's gold medal at the World Championships.

Eponymous skills

Apart from being one of the strongest gymnasts of the 1980s, she originated such popular gymnastics elements as Yurchenko vault and Yurchenko loop. The Yurchenko family is now a group of vaults based on the entry she used in her original Yurchenko vault (a round-off onto the table, followed by a back tuck, which is currently worth 3.80 points in the 2013-2016 Code of Points).

Retirement

She retired from gymnastics in 1986, but made a surprise appearance at the World Professional Championships (Fairfax, VA) in 1991. In 1999 Yurchenko emigrated to the USA and coached there since that time. She coached at LVSA, a gymnastics club in Pennsylvania, for almost 9 years, at Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania and at Lakeshore Academy of Artistic Gymnastics in Chicago Illinois.

In June 2015, Natalia opened her own gymnastics academy in Chicago's South Loop. C.I.T.Y. Club Gymnastics Academy is the premier Chicago-based elite athletic training facility whose mission is to improve the lives of children and adults of all abilities from recreational to Olympic caliber through the sport of gymnastics.

Natalia currently lives in Chicago with her husband Igor Sklyarov. See Natalia's Official Site for photos and news.

Achievements

Year	Event	AA	Team	VT	UB	BB	FX
1982	World Cup	1st		1st	2nd	1st
	USSR Cup	1st			1st
	USSR Championships	1st		1st	1st		1st
1983	World Championships	1st	1st
	USSR Championships	1st		1st	1st	1st	2nd
1984	Friendship Games		1st	1st	2nd
1985	World Championships		1st
	USSR Championships	3rd

External links and sources

• Natalia Yurchenko Official Site
• C.I.T.Y. Club Gymnastics Academy Official Site
• Natalia Yurchenko at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• List of competitive results at Gymn Forum
• Whatever happened to Natalia Yurchenko?
• Video of Natalia Yurchenko performing Yurchenko vault - 1985 Summer Universiade in Kobe, all-around

This article contains information from the website http://www.gymnast.ru/, incorporated into the Wikipedia with permission from its author E.V.Avsenev.