Elena (or Yelena) Mikhaylovna "Lena" Piskun ( be, Алена Піскун; russian: Елена Михайловна "Лена" Пискун ; born 2 February 1978)
sports-reference.com. Retrieved May 27, 2013. is a Belarusian former

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

who won two

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

gold medals in the 1990s and competed at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Personal life

Piskun was born in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus, in 1978. Her father worked in a tire factory, and her mother was a bookkeeper. She has a younger brother, Viktor.Gutman, Dan (1998).
Gymnastics
'. Penguin. She is tall. She currently lives in the United States.

Career

Piskun started gymnastics at the age of six and was coached by Valery Kolodinsky during her career. The gym in her hometown of Bobruisk was small, so she traveled to Minsk to train before major competitions. At the 1993 World Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England, Piskun won the gold medal on

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

. In April 1994, she competed at the Individual World Championships in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia, and finished fifth on vault with a score of 9.725 and fifth on

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...

with a score of 9.675. At the World Championship Team Finals in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, Germany, in November, Piskun helped the Belarus team to a sixth-place finish. At the 1995 World Championships in

Sabae is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 69,338 in 24,167 households and the population density of 820 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Sabae is located in central Fuku ...

, Japan, she was 10th in the all-around with a score of 38.53. Piskun finished third on

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...

and eighth on floor exercise at the 1996 European Championships. In April, she competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

, and won a gold medal on

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

with a score of 9.787. At that year's

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 ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Piskun helped Belarus finish sixth in the team competition, and she was also 12th in the individual all-around with a score of 38.649. At the 1997 World Championships in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, Switzerland, she finished 30th in the all-around with a score of 35.474."33rd World Championships Artistic Gymnastics"
usagym.org. Retrieved May 27, 2013. Piskun owns and coaches at Infinity Gymnastics in

Alpharetta, Georgia Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and is a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 US Census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818 The population in 2010 was 57,551. History In the 1830s, the Ch ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piskun, Elena 1978 births Living people Belarusian female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Belarus World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts from Minsk 20th-century Belarusian women