Greatest Gymnasts of all time

Gymnastics has seen it’s fair share of legends over the years, and these amazing athlete shine through even more so every four years at the summer olympics.

A world championship in gymnastics never really makes television headlines or breaks box office records, but when it comes to the Olympics, this sport reigns supreme.  Gymnastics has been an olympic sport since the first modern Summer Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens.  One of the most skilful sports of all, gymnastics has been the most-watched Olympic sport since 1996.

The sport globally has a much bigger female participation, the girls get more coverage so therefore it’s natural that most of the legends over the years are women gymnasts. Let’s have a look at some of those awesome athletes

Biles has won 32 Olympic and World Championship medals to date. Seven of these are from the Olympics –  four gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals.  And she’s still competing so let’s see what the future holds for this legend.

Gymnasts are normally small and small for a reason, Khorkina was an exception as she was tall for the sport, this hindered her completing many common gymnastic tricks but helped her excel in other areas such as the bars.  The Russians’s unique style on the uneven bars helped her dominate the event for nearly a decade. She won her last World title on the event in 2003.

In total the “Queen of the bars”  won seven Olympic medals, including back-to-back titles on the uneven bars. She won World and European medals on all four events and in the all-around. Her 20 World Championship medals is equaled only by Simone Biles.

Larisa Latynina

Russian gymnast Latynina is a two-time Olympic all-around champion (1956, 1960) and second on the list of most medals won in history (until Michael Phelps broke the record). She has nine golds, five silvers, and four bronzes.In this ear the Soviets dominated gymnastics, but in the Olympic years of 1956, 1960 and 1964 Latynina dominated them all.   She is today the second most decorated Olympian of any sport with 18 medals to her name.

Nastia Liukin

As the daughter of two Olympic champions, Liukin was destined for greatness.  Starting from a young age and rising quickly through the ranks in America, Liukin became the first female gymnast to win gold in an open-ended scoring system in Beijing 2008, proving that artistry and technique could be combined for successful execution.

Liukin became the third U.S. woman to win the Olympic all-around gold medal. She went on to win medals in three of the four individual apparatus finals.

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Olga Korbut

Korbut made her Olympic debut at the Munich 1972 Games, where the 17-year-old Soviet captivated the world with her amazing acrobatics and her raw displays of emotion.  Her revolutionary moves on the beam won her the gold medal in the balance beam and she also picked up gold at the floor exercise finals.

Korburt’s influence on the sport was so great,  she  became the inaugural inductee to the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1988.

Nadia Comaneci

On of the biggest stars at the Olympic Games in Montreal 1976, Comanceci is best known for being the first woman to score a perfect 10.0 in Olympic competition.  At only 14 years old, she earning her first 10.0 on the uneven bars, she went on to score six more before the Games were over!

The Romanian gymnast became a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events.

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