Lilia Podkopayeva


Lilia Oleksandrivna Podkopayeva is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast. She is the 1995 world all-around champion, and the 1996 Olympic all-around and floor exercise champion. Often thought of as a complete athlete, Podkopayeva was known for combining power, style, and balletic grace.

Gymnastics career

1993–95

In April 1993, Podkopayeva competed at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, England. She qualified for the vault final, but crashed on her first attempt and finished last with a score of 8.893.
At the 1994 World Championships in Brisbane, Australia, she placed sixth in the all-around with a score of 38.942. In event finals, she placed eighth on vault, scoring 9.424; fifth on uneven bars, scoring 9.350; and second on balance beam, scoring 9.737. In November 1994, at the World Team Championships in Dortmund, Germany, she contributed an all-around score of 38.099 toward the Ukrainian team's fifth-place finish.
The following year, Podkopayeva competed at the 1995 World Championships in Sabae, Japan. She helped Ukraine place fifth and qualify a full team to the 1996 Olympics. Podkopayeva then won the all-around final with a score of 39.248. In event finals, she placed first on vault, second on uneven bars, second on balance beam, and seventh on floor.

1996

At the beginning of the year, Podkopayeva was seriously injured when she fell from the beam in practice, fracturing two ribs. However, in May, she competed at the European Championships in Birmingham, where she helped the Ukrainian team place third and won the individual all-around with a score of 39.205. In event finals, she placed third on balance beam, first on uneven bars, and first on floor.

Atlanta Olympics

In July, Podkopayeva competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In the team final, she contributed a combined compulsory and optional score of 78.061 toward the Ukrainian team's fifth-place finish. She then won the all-around final with a score of 39.255. In event finals, she placed fifth on uneven bars, second on balance beam, and first on floor. She was the fourth gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title as the reigning world champion, and the only gymnast to win the all-around without winning a team medal. She was also the last female gymnast to win the all-around title and an event-final gold medal until Simone Biles in 2016.

1997

Podkopayeva originally intended to continue competing after the 1996 Olympics, and she was named to the Ukrainian team for the 1997 World Championships. However, injuries forced her to sit out the competition and, later, to retire.

Eponymous skills

Vault: Round-off, back-handspring with 1/2 turn on – piked salto forward with 1/2 turn off
Floor: double front salto with 1/2 twist out

Post-retirement

In 2002, Podkopayeva started the Golden Lilia International Sports Festival, an exhibition featuring artistic and rhythmic gymnasts, acrobats, and dancers. She said, "It's important to us to show outstanding people and brightest talent so that the next generation can follow the best of the best."
In December 2004, she married a Ukrainian businessman Tymofiy Nahornyi. They have two children: Vadym, adopted in Ukraine in July 2006, and Karolina, born in November 2006. The couple divorced in 2009.
In 2005, Podkopayeva became a United Nations goodwill ambassador on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine. She is also an Ambassador of the Council of Europe for Sport, Tolerance, and Fair Play.
In 2007, she won Ukraine's Dancing With the Stars with partner Sergiy Kostetskyi. The next year, she represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Dance Contest. Along with partner Kyrylo Khytrov, she placed third in the competition.
In 2014, Podkopayeva did a gala event in Mexico, using similar choreography to the floor routine she performed in Atlanta, as well as doing back handsprings and round-offs.