Anna Kozlova (russian: Анна Козлова; born 30 December 1972) is a former synchronized swimmer who competed in three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. After competing in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

and winning four European Championships representing the Soviet Union and its successor organizations, she defected to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1993. After missing the 1996 Atlanta Games due to a five-year wait to receive U.S. citizenship, she competed for her new country in

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, where her best placing was fourth. She went on to win gold medals in the

Pan-American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

in 2003, before returning to her third and final Olympics in

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, where she won two bronze medals.

Early life

Kozlova was born in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, RFSFR,

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

on December 30, 1972, the daughter of a mathematics professor and a swimming instructor.

Early international career

Kozlova's first international competition was at the 1989 World Cup in

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, where although she failed to win a medal, she would later credit her impression of the American team at that competition as influencing her 1993 decision to defect to the United States.Note that while Almond's article refers to this event as a World Championships, the

World Aquatics Championships The FINA World Championships or World Aquatics Championships are the World Championships for aquatics sports: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. They are run by FINA, and all swimming events ar ...

were not contested in 1989; the two closest being in

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and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, neither of which fit with the rest of Almond's article, including the age he indicates Kozlova was at the time. Kozlova found success in two international competitions in 1991. At the World Cup in

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, she won a bronze medal with the Soviet team, and at

1991 European Aquatics Championships The 1991 European Aquatics Championships was a water sport competition hosted in Athens, Greece from 18–25 August. Medal table Swimming Men's events Women's events Open water swimming * Held in Terracina, Italy Italy ( it, I ...

, she paired with Olga Sedakova to win the gold medal in the duet routine competition. The Soviet team also captured the team gold medal. Following the

breakup of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, twelve of the former Soviet Republics chose to compete together at the

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as the Unified Team. Kozlova was chosen to compete in both competitions contested, solo and duet, the duet again with Sedakova. Kozlova's performance in the solo competition was unremarkable, as she failed to advance past the first day of competition. However, the duet with Sedakova was much better, as the team finished in fourth place, one shy of the medals. Remarkably, Kozlova and Sedakova had to finish the duet competition without a coach, as their coach abandoned them part-way through the three-day competition. In January 1993, Kozlova and Sedakova traveled to the

to train on a temporary visa, where they lived with the family of

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gold medalists and sisters; Becky Dyroen-Lancer and Suzannah Bianco. Returning to Russia, she competed at the 1993 European Aquatics Championships in

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that August. Leaving the Unified Team concept behind,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

competed as an independent nation. Kozlova partnered with Sedakova for the final time at the Sheffield competition, but they repeated their success from 1991, and captured the duet gold medal. The Russian team also won the gold medal, their first of eight consecutive they would eventually win.

In the United States

Shortly after the European Championships in 1993, Kozlova flew to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to attend Suzannah Bianco's wedding. Kozlova received her green card in 1994, which allowed her to work in the United States, after receiving a gift to pay for an immigration lawyer from a man in a diner who overheard her talking to Carver. As a result of this decision, Kozlova was unable to participate in international competition until she received her U.S. citizenship, which she finally did on 7 October 1999. Although Kozlova could not participate in international competition before she received her U.S. citizenship, she did remain active with a

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club team, the Santa Clara Aquamaids, where she won national titles in solo, duet, and team competitions multiple times. Because of the timing of her citizenship application, Kozlova's first major competition as an American was the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, and at age 27, she competed at the Olympics under the U.S. flag. In the duet competition, Kozlova partnered with

Tuesday Middaugh Tuesday Middaugh (born August 27, 1973) is a former synchronized swimmer from the United States. She competed in both the women's duet and women's team competitions at the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Gam ...

to take fourth place out of 24 pairs competing. As part of the United States team, she placed fifth in the team competition. This was the first Olympics the United States did not win a medal in synchronized swimming. At the 2002 World Cup in Zurich, Kozlova won her first international medal as an American, winning bronze in the team competition. For the

2003 World Aquatics Championships The 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 12–27, 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. The championships featured competition in all 5 of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Synchronised swimming, Water Polo, and Open Water Swimming. C ...

Kozlova participated in three events. With new partner

Alison Bartosik Alison Bartosik (born April 20, 1983) is an American competitor in synchronized swimming. She won two Olympic bronze medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, one in duet with Anna Kozlova, and one in the team A team is a group of individual ...

, she placed fourth in the duet competition. It was in Barcelona that Kozlova won her first world championship medals with a silver medal in the free combination team event, and a bronze medal in the team technical competition. For the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

Kozlova won two gold medals; with Bartosik she won the duet competition, and they both were part of the U.S. team that won the team competition. The crescendo of Kozlova's career was at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. For the duet competition, Kozlova again partnered with Bartosik. The partnership finished in third place in each of the three routines, which resulted in them finishing third overall, earning them a bronze medal. Two nights later, Kozlova won another bronze medal, in the team competition.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozlova, Anna 1972 births Living people Soviet synchronized swimmers Russian synchronized swimmers Russian emigrants to the United States American synchronized swimmers American sportswomen Olympic synchronized swimmers of the Unified Team Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in synchronized swimming Synchronized swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Synchronized swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Synchronized swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in synchronized swimming Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Synchronized swimmers at the 2003 Pan American Games World Aquatics Championships medalists in synchronised swimming Synchronized swimmers at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships Swimmers from Saint Petersburg Sportspeople from Santa Clara, California Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century American women