Natalia Alexandrovna Kuchinskaya (russian: Наталья Александровна Кучинская; alternative transliteration Natal'ja Alieksandrovna Kutchinskaja), also known as Natasha Kuchinskaya (Russian: Наташа Кучинская) (born 8 March 1949) is a retired Soviet Olympic gymnast. She won four medals 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 ...

Gymnastics career

Kuchinskaya was born on 8 March 1949 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 ...

and was selected for a gymnastics class while still in kindergarten. She originally aspired to become a

ballet dancer A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

, but was convinced to study gymnastics by her parents, who were both involved with the sport. She trained with Vladimir Reyson and later national team coach

Larisa Latynina Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (russian: link=yes, Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and ...

, who was said to consider Kuchinskaya one of her favorite gymnasts. By 1965, at age 16, Kuchinskaya was the USSR national champion. At the 1966 World Championships, after winning her second Nationals title, the USSR Cup and the World Trials, she established herself as one of the stars of the Soviet team, winning gold medals in three of the four event finals (

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

), a bronze 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 ...

, and silvers in the all-around and team events. Kuchinskaya continued her winning streak in 1967, when she won the pre-Olympic test event in Mexico City and swept the USSR Nationals, walking away with the all-around title and every single event final gold medal. At the 1968 Olympics, Kuchinskaya was arguably the most popular member of the Soviet team. She placed third in the all-around, behind

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– ...

and her teammate

Zinaida Voronina Zinaida Voronina, born Zinaida Borisovna Druzhinina (also Druginina), (russian: Зинаида Борисовна Дружинина Воронина; 10 December 1947 – 17 March 2001) was a Soviet gymnast who competed at the European, Worl ...

; she also shared in the team gold medal and won the

title and a bronze on the floor exercise. She was serenaded with a folk song, "Natalie," during her stay in Mexico City. The Olympics was Kuchinskaya's final competition. At the time, her sudden departure from gymnastics was attributed to a thyroid illness; in an interview in the late 90s Kuchinskaya also revealed that she had lost her motivation for the sport.

Later life

Following her retirement, Kuchinskaya coached in the USSR, Japan and the United States. She has been married since 1980 to optician Alexander Kotliar and currently lives and coaches in the USA, running her own gymnastics club in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. In 1999 she appeared on the "Soviet Sport War" episode of the PBS documentary ''The Red Files'' discussing her experiences in gymnastics. In 2006, she was inducted into the

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IGHO ...

Achievements

Gallery

References

External links

Natalia Kuchinskaya
at the

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuchinskaya, Natalia 1949 births Living people Gymnasts at the 1968 Summer Olympics Soviet female artistic gymnasts Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic gymnasts of the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in gymnastics World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics