Larisa Leonidovna Petrik (russian: Лариса Леонидовна Петрик; born 28 August 1949) is a former

Soviet 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 nationa ...

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoul ...

and Olympic champion. Petrik competed at the 1966 World Championships where she shared in the team silver medal (gold went to the Czechoslovaks) and earned an individual bronze medal on the beam. She also competed at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of M ...

, where she received a gold medal in floor exercise (shared with

Věra Čáslavská en, the love of Tokyo ja, 「オリンピックの名花」 en, darling of the Olympic Games , country = Czechoslovakia , formercountry = , birth_date = , birth_place = Prague, Czechoslovakia ( occupied by Germany 1939– ...

), a gold medal in team combined exercises, and a bronze medal in balance beam. Her gold medal on floor was very controversial because originally, Čáslavská won outright. After the competition was concluded, Petrik's prelims scores were changed to let her tie with Čáslavská, an action which caused Čáslavská to publicly defy the Soviets who had recently invaded her home country. After marrying the Olympic gymnast Viktor Klimenko she changed her last name to Klimenko (russian: Клименко). She has two sons: Vladimir and Viktor; Vladimir is a gymnast and Viktor is a ballet dancer.

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* 1949 births Living people Gymnasts at the 1968 Summer Olympics Russian female artistic gymnasts Soviet female artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade medalists in gymnastics Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade {{USSR-Olympic-medalist-stub