Elvira Fuadovna Saadi (born January 2, 1952) is a retired gymnast from the former

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 ...

who is now an elite gymnastics coach in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. As a member of the Soviet Union's women's gymnastics team, Saadi shared in the team gold medals at the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

and 1976 Olympics. She placed 8th in the all-around at the 1972 Olympics and 7th all-around at the 1976 Olympics. Saadi won the all-around, balance beam and floor exercise at the 1973 USSR national championships. That year, she tied for first on vault at the 1973

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

, where she also placed 3rd in the all-around. At the 1974 World Championships, she earned a share of the USSR team gold, placed fourth in the all-around and captured the bronze medal on floor exercise. Following the 1976 Olympics, Saadi accepted a coaching position at the Moscow Dynamo Club, where she was the coach of Soviet gymnast Tatiana Groshkova, who placed third all-around in the 1989 U.S.S.R. gymnastics championships and placed first all-around at the 1990 Trophee Massilia. Saadi was born in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

U.S.S.R. 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 ...

. She relocated to

in 1991 to become a coach at the Canadian gym Cambridge Kips, where she trained Canadian Olympians

Yvonne Tousek Yvonne Tousek-Renne (born February 23, 1980 in Kitchener, Ontario) is a retired artistic gymnast who competed for her native Canada in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Elite career Tousek-Renne qualif ...

and Crystal Gilmore. In June 2011, Saadi announced plans to open her own club, Dynamo Gymnastics. The new club has begun operations on the premises of Revolution Gymnastics in Waterloo, where several top young gymnasts who left Cambridge Kips with Saadi trained. Dynamo Gymnastics opened in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada in 2011. Saadi opened the new club together with the parents of one of the up-and-coming gymnasts,

Victoria Moors Victoria Ashley Moors OLY (born November 5, 1996) is a retired Canadian artistic gymnast who represented her country at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the older sister of 2020 Olympic gymnast Brooklyn Moors. Junior career 2010 In Dece ...

, who left Cambridge Kips with Saadi. Along with Victoria Moors was Madeline Gardiner. Both Gardiner and Moors went on to qualify for the Canadian London 2012 Olympic team. Moors competed as part of Team Canada and helped to earn Canada 5th place overall in the team final, the best ranking of any Canadian Women's Artistic Gymnastics team to date at the Olympics. Gardiner was an alternate on the team but did not compete. Moors was also the youngest Canadian Olympian competing at the age of 15. Victoria went on to briefly hold the record for a Canadian Women's Artistic Gymnast at the

2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Antwerp, Belgium, from 30 September to 6 October 2013 at Antwerp's Sports Palace. Kōhei Uchimura won the men's all-around gold medal and finished the competition with four total med ...

in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2013, placing 10th for Canada. The previous best ranking for a Canadian was 14th. (That 10th-place ranking has since been beaten at the

2017 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the forty-seventh edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 2–8, 2017, at the Montreal Olympic Stadium, Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec ...

by Halifax's

Ellie Black Elsabeth Ann "Ellie" Black (born September 8, 1995) is a Canadian artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is a three-time Olympian, having represented her country at the Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012, Gymnastics at the 2016 S ...

(Moors' teammate at the London Olympics). Victoria also has two eponymous skills, one a dismount from the uneven bars and the other a laid-out double-twisting double somersault on floor which is the hardest ranking floor skill to date. Victoria retired at the age of 18 in the spring of 2015. Victoria's sister

Brooklyn Moors Brooklyn Chloe Moors (born February 23, 2001) is a Canadian artistic gymnast who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games. She has also represented Canada at the 2017, 2018, and 2019 World Championships. At the 2017 World Championships she became t ...

, also coached by Saadi, is a member of the Canadian national team and represented Canada at the

and the

2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the 48th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 25 – November 3, 2018, at the Aspire Academy Dome in Doha, Qatar. It was the first tim ...

. Dynamo with the leadership of Saadi continues to coach elite level athletes and has received numerous awards for their accomplishments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saadi, Elvira 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Tashkent Soviet female artistic gymnasts Uzbekistani female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1972 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of the Soviet Union Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade medalists in gymnastics Universiade bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in gymnastics Uzbekistani emigrants to Canada Medalists at the 1973 Summer Universiade