Irina Vladimirovna Karavayeva (born 18 May 1975 in

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

) is a Russian

trampoline gymnast Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more co ...

, competing at an international level since 1990.

Career

Originally beginning her sports career as a tumbler, Karavayeva soon switched to trampolining and excelled. She competed in the 2000 and 2004

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 vari ...

, becoming the first female olympic champion in this discipline She is a three-time European Champion, 3 time World Champion and 2000 Olympic Champion. She belongs to the Krasnodar club and is coached by Vitaly Dubko. She is well known within the sport of gymnastics as being a dedicated and driven athlete. This was especially made apparent during the 1999 World Championships in Sun City, where she won her third world title, in spite of severe back pain, that put her in a clinic for the following two months. During the

2001 Trampoline World Championships The 22nd Trampoline World Championships were held in Odense, Denmark from 26 July to 28 July 2001. Results Men Trampoline Individual Trampoline Team Trampoline Synchro Double Mini Trampoline Double Mini Trampoline Team Tumbl ...

, held in July, in the city of

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

, the gold medal was awarded Karavayeva incorrectly following a serious judging mistake. Karavayeva, at the World Games in August 2001, made the following statement; "I very much regret the mistake of the judges at the World Championships in Denmark. I consider that it is necessary to correct this mistake and I decided to give the Gold Medal to my friend Ana Dogonadze from Germany in the spirit of friendship and fair-play." FIG ( Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique) rules state that once a medal has been awarded, official results cannot be changed. However, FIG President and

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Member, Mr

Bruno Grandi Bruno Grandi (9 May 1934 – 13 September 2019) was an Italian sportsman who served as president of the FIG (Federation Internationale de Gymnastique) from 1996 to 2016 and was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2000 to 2004. He ...

, made an exception to this ruling and allowed the error to be corrected. This led to Karavayeva being awarded the silver medal. Following this incident, she received the International Fair Play award from the hand of

President,

Jacques Rogge Jacques Jean Marie Rogge, Count Rogge (, ; 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator and physician who served as the eighth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 2013, Rogge bec ...

. Karavayeva took the World Record for the most difficult trampolining routine completed in a competition by a woman. The difficulty was 15.60. This record was broken on October 8, 2011, by

Emma Smith Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the official wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as ...

(GBR), at the Trampoline and Tumbling World Cup, held in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

References

External links

* 1975 births Russian female trampolinists Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Russia Olympic gold medalists for Russia Living people Sportspeople from Krasnodar Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Games silver medalists World Games bronze medalists Competitors at the 2001 World Games Competitors at the 2005 World Games Medalists at the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships 20th-century Russian women 21st-century Russian women {{Russia-trampolining-bio-stub