Svetlana Boginskaya Biography

Svetlana Boginskaya is a former Soviet/Unified Team/Belarusian gymnast who was famously known as the ‘Goddess of Gymnastics’. She is a three-time Olympic Champion, winning an individual gold in Vault in 1988, and Team gold medals in 1988 and 1992. Born in Minsk, she took up gymnastics at the age of six and was eventually selected for the Soviet national gymnastics team as a teenager. She won a bronze and a silver medal at her first international tournament, the 1987 World Championships. The following year, at the 1988 Olympics, she won four medals, which included two golds, one silver and one bronze medal. In 1989, she continued her winning streak in the European Championships as well as World Championships. In 1990, she became only the third woman to sweep the European Championships, winning the gold medal in all five individual events. In 1992, she was selected to the Unified Team's 1992 Olympic team, where she won her third Olympic gold in the team event. Although she retired from gymnastics after the 1992 Olympics, she made a comeback and competed at the 1996 Olympics, where she led the Belarus team to the sixth place, before retiring from gymnastics for good. Also known as the ‘Belarusian Swan’ because of her height and balletic grace, she had a long and illustrious career filled with outstanding achievements