Елена Замолодчикова: Путь к олимпийскому золоту

Russian artistic gymnast

Zamolodchikova was born on 19 September 1982 in Moscow. Her father, Mikhail Alexandrovich, was a member of the Soviet Army and was one of the first Chernobyl liquidators, and her mother, Irina Nikolaevna, was a teacher. She began gymnastics at the age of six. She briefly quit gymnastics after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, but this diagnosis was refuted by another doctor, and she returned to training.

Zamolodchikova began age eligible for senior competition in 1998. She won a silver medal with the Russian team at the 1998 European Championships. At the 1998 World Youth Games in Moscow, she won the all around title. In 1999, Zamolodchikova participated in her first World Championships. She won the gold on the vault, silver with the Russian team, and bronze in the all around. Following the World Championships, she competed at the Glasgow Grand Prix and won the gold medal on the vault. She won another gold medal on vault at the Stuttgart Grand Prix.

Zamolodchikova began the Olympic season at the Montreux World Cup where she won the gold medal on the vault. Despite her father's recent death, she chose to still compete at the European Championships.

Zamolodchikova was selected as a member of the Russian gymnastics team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney alongside Svetlana Khorkina, Yekaterina Lobaznyuk, Elena Produnova, Anastasiya Kolesnikova, and Anna Chepeleva. The team finished in first place during the qualification round. In the team final, several major mistakes, including Zamolodchikova's fall off the balance beam, cost them the gold medal, and they won silver behind Romania. After two apparatuses in the all around final, Zamolodchikova was in first place with her stronger exercises still to go. However, she lost her chance of an all around medal after a fall during her floor exercise rotation. On a night when many gymnasts made uncharacteristic errors, she eventually finished sixth. Zamolodchikova did not initially qualify for the vault final due to the two per country rule. However, on the day of the final, Khorkina gave up her spot to Zamolodchikova. Khorkina stated that she felt Zamolodchikova would have a better chance at winning the gold medal, and Zamolodchikova did ultimately win the gold medal with an average score of 9.712. In the floor exercise final, she beat Khorkina by 0.038 points to win her second Olympic gold medal. Then at the Stuttgart World Cup, she won gold on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, and she tied with Jana Komrsková for silver on uneven bars.

Zamolodchikova won the all around title at the 2001 American Cup. Then at the Paris World Cup, she won gold on vault and floor exerciser and silver on balance beam behind Sun Xiaojiao. She won another vault gold medal at the Cottbus World Cup in addition to a silver on uneven bars behind teammate Svetlana Khorkina. She was a member of the Russian team that won gold at the European Team Championships. At the 2001 Goodwill Games, she won the all around bronze medal behind Sabina Cojocar and Svetlana Khorkina. In the event finals, she won gold on both vault and floor exercise. She injured her foot during the qualification round of the World Championships, but she still received the silver medal the Russian team won. Despite the injury, she competed at the Stuttgart World Cup and won the gold medal on vault.

Zamolodchikova won a gold medal on vault and a bronze medal on uneven bars at the Glasgow World Cup. Then at the Paris World Cup, she won silver on uneven bars and bronze on vault. She was a member of the Russian team that won gold at the European Championships, and she finished fourth in the vault final. She won the gold medal on vault at the World Championships. At the 2002 World Cup Final, she tied for the gold medal on vault with Oksana Chusovitina, and she won silver on balance beam behind Sun Xiaojiao.

Zamolodchikova withdrew from the American Cup after falling and injuring her leg on the uneven bars. She returned to competition at the Paris World Cup and won a bronze medal on the vault. She then won gold on vault at the Glasgow World Cup and a silver on balance beam, and she won another gold on vault at the Stuttgart World Cup. At the World Championships, the Russian team only finished sixth, but Zamolodchikova won the silver medal on vault.

Zamolodchikova won a bronze medal with the Russian team at the European Championships. Individually, she won a bronze medal in the all around and tied with teammate Anna Pavlova for the silver medal on vault. She was then selected to represent Russia at the 2004 Summer Olympics alongside Pavlova, Ludmila Ezhova, Svetlana Khorkina, Maria Kryuchkova, and Natalia Ziganshina. The team won the bronze medal, and Zamolodchikova finished fourth in the vault final. After the Olympic Games, she won a gold medal on the vault at the Glasgow World Cup. She then won a silver medal on vault at the Stuttgart World Cup behind Pavlova. Then at the World Cup Final, she finished fourth on vault and eighth on floor exercise.

At the 2005 European Championships, Zamolodchikova qualified for the vault and floor exercise finals where she finished fifth and eighth, respectively. She was a part of the Russian team that won the bronze medal at the 2005 Summer Universiade. At the 2006 World Championships, she helped the Russian team to a bronze medal in the team event, their first at the World level since 2001, and qualified for the vault finals where she was fourth. After the World Championships, she won a bronze medal on the vault in the Stuttgart World Cup and two silver medals on the vault and floor exercise in the Glasgow World Cup. She finished her year with a bronze on the vault at the World Cup Finals in São Paulo, Brazil. In the event finals, she fell on her second vault and finished again in eighth. Zamolodchikova continued training in 2008 in hopes of making the Russian Olympic team for the third time, but a back injury prevented her from making the team. After the Olympics, she competed at the 2008 World Cup Final and finished sixth on the vault and fourth on the floor exercise. Zamolodchikova made her last competitive appearance at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade where she helped the Russian team win the silver medal. She graduated from Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health with a coaching degree. She gave birth to her first child on 21 April 2021.

Zamolodchikova has two eponymous skills in the Code of Points. Apparatus Name Description DifficultyVault Zamolodchikova Tsukahara stretched with 2/1 turn (720°) off 5.2Balance beam Zamolodchikova Round off in front of beam flic flac with 1/1 turn (360°) to hip circle backward E