Svetlana Boginskaya

Sport: Artistic gymnastics

Born: 09 February 1973

Birthplace: Minsk

Honors:

Honored Master of Sport of the USSR

Career highlights:

Gold medals (team all-around, vault), Olympic Games in Seoul, 1988

Silver (floor exercise), Olympic Games in Seoul, 1988

Bronze (individual all-around), Olympic Games in Seoul, 1988

Gold (team all-around), Olympic Games in Barcelona, 1992

Silver, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, 1987

Bronze, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, 1987

Gold medals, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, 1989

Golds medals, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Indianapolis, 1991

Silver, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Indianapolis, 1991

Silver, World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Paris, 1992

Biography:

Svetlana Boginskaya was born in Minsk on 9 February 1973. In early childhood, she did figure skating, but later got into gymnastics. Her fist coach was Lyubov Miromanova.

At the age of thirteen, Svetlana was already a champion of the Soviet Union in her age group and a winner of the European Junior Gymnastics Championship in Karlsruhe, Germany where she bested her teammates Olga Strazheva and Alevtina Pryakhina. In 1987, she took her first prize at a large-scale adult competition – a bronze at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam. Next year, the 15-year-old gymnast was included in the USSR team at the Olympic Games in Seoul. At the Olympics, Svetlana Boginskaya snatched four medals: a gold in the team all-around event, a gold in the vault event, a silver in the floor exercise, and a bronze in the individual all-around event. She lost in the individual all-around only to two favorites of the competitions: her teammate Yelena Shushunova and Romania’s Daniela Silivas.

In 1989, Boginskaya took three gold medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart and another three golds at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Brussels. At the 1990 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Svetlana Boginskaya made an extraordinary achievement, placing first in all individual events of the championships. Only Vera Caslavska and Ludmilla Tourischeva could boast of such an achievement at the time.

At the 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Boginskaya lost a gold medal in the individual all-around event to Kim Zmeskal of the United States in a controversial finish. However, Svetlana won two gold medals in the team all-around and in the balance beam.

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Svetlana performed as part of the CIS Unified Team was victorious in the team all-around event. She also showed great results in individual events, ranking fifth in the individual all-around, fourth in the vault, and fifth in the balance beam.

After the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Svetlana Boginskaya retired from sport, but made a comeback in 1995 as part of Team Belarus. In 1996, the 23-year-old athlete (a veteran for a gymnast) placed second in the individual all-around at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham.

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the third Olympics in her career, Svetlana Boginskaya did not get any medals. She qualified for the finals only in the vault event, where she placed fifth. She also ranked sixth in the team all-around event as part of the Belarusian team.

In 2005, Svetlana Boginskaya was inducted in the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

She is one of eight female athletes in artistic gymnastics who performed at three Olympic Games and one of two gymnasts (the other one being Oksana Chusovitina) to represent three different teams.

Nowadays, Svetlana Boginskaya lives and runs a business in Houston, the USA. She owns an online gymnastics apparel store and a company that organizes summer camps for gymnasts. Svetlana Boginskaya and her husband William have two children and own a restaurant chain in Houston.