Natalia Shaposhnikova

Natalia Shaposhnikova
Full name Natalia Vitalyevna Shaposhnikova
Country represented  Soviet Union
Born (1961-06-24) June 24, 1961
Rostov-on-Don
Residence New Jersey, United States
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Eponymous skills Shaposhnikova (uneven bars)
Medal record
Representing  Soviet Union
Olympic Games
1980 MoscowTeam
1980 MoscowVault
1980 MoscowBalance Beam
1980 MoscowFloor Exercise
World Championships
1978 StrasbourgTeam
1979 Ft. WorthTeam
1978 StrasbourgAll-Around
World Cup Final
1977 OviedoVault
1978 Sao PauloVault
1978 Sao PauloBalance Beam
1978 Sao PauloFloor Exercise
1977 OviedoAll-Around
1978 Sao PauloAll-Around
European Championships
1979 CopenhagenBalance Beam
1979 CopenhagenFloor Exercise
1979 CopenhagenAll-Around
1979 CopenhagenVault

Natalia Vitalyevna Shaposhnikova (Russian: Наталья Витальевна Шапошникова; born June 24, 1961, in Rostov-on-Don), married name Natalia Sout, is a former Soviet artistic gymnast, two-time Olympic champion, and Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. She was known for her risky, original skills and expressive choreography, especially on balance beam and floor exercise.

Competitive career

Shaposhnikova trained at Dynamo in Rostov-on-Don under Honoured Trainer of the USSR Vladislav Rastorotsky, who also trained her compatriots Ludmilla Tourischeva and Natalia Yurchenko. She was one of the world's strongest gymnasts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially on vault. She was known for her difficulty and originality, especially her one-armed handstands on beam. At the 1979 European Championships, she performed one of the first triple twists on floor, and her opening tumbling pass on floor at the 1980 Olympic Games was a roundoff 1.5-twisting layout immediately into a roundoff back handspring double pike.

At the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, she contributed to the Soviet team's gold medal and won an individual gold medal on vault. She also took home bronze medals on floor and beam, and missed a medal in the all-around by just 0.05.

Shaposhnikova came close to winning gold on beam at the 1978 World Championships, entering the final with a slight lead over Nadia Comăneci of Romania. However, Peter Shilston wrote in an April 1980 profile in British Gymnast magazine: "There was a fiercely partisan section of the audience determined that Comăneci should win to make up for her previous disappointing performances. When Natasha came up, needing a score of 9.8 to take the gold, she faced a very hostile reception which clearly got on her nerves. She made a series of mistakes, all jeeringly received, and slumped from first place to eighth." Shilston called the loss "probably the saddest experience of Natasha's life".

Eponymous skill

Shaposhnikova invented a complex transition skill on the uneven bars—a clear hip circle on the low bar with flight backward to the high bar—and it is named after her in the Code of Points. The skill, sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Shaposh", is still widely performed today; it is credited as a D element in the 2013–16 Code of Points.

Since the 1990s, other gymnasts have developed variations of the Shaposhnikova, including Americans Amy Chow (who performed the skill with a stalder entry instead of a clear hip) and Kristen Maloney (toe-on entry); Russians Viktoria Komova (inbar stalder entry) and Svetlana Khorkina (Shaposhnikova with a half turn during the transition between the bars); Laura van Leeuwen of the Netherlands (toe-on entry plus a half turn); and Elisabeth Seitz of Germany (toe-on entry with a full turn during the transition).[1]

Coaching career

Shaposhnikova and her husband, Pavel Sout, a gold medalist in men's gymnastics at the 1981 World Championships, currently coach at Gymnastika in Woodland Park, New Jersey.

Achievements (non-Olympic)

Year Event AA Team VT UB BB FX
1976USSR Championships3rd2nd
1977World Cup3rd1st
USSR Cup1st
USSR Championships3rd1st2nd2nd
1978World Championships3rd1st
World Cup3rd1st2nd2nd
1979World Championships2nd
European Championships3rd3rd1st2nd
USSR Cup1st
USSR Championships1st3rd1st2nd
1980USSR Cup2nd

References

  1. ↑ "The Four-Year Fan Guide: Bars". The Gymternet. 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2017-04-25.

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

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