Tatiana Lysenko facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tatiana Lysenko
Lysenko (right) at the 1992 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Tatiana Felixivna Lysenko
Country represented	Ukraine
Former countries represented	CIS ( Unified Team)  Soviet Union
Born	(1975-06-23) June 23, 1975 (age 49) Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Residence	California, United States
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Club	Dynamo Kherson
Head coach(es)	Oleg Ostapenko
Retired	1994
Medal record Representing  CIS ( Unified Team) Olympic Games Gold 1992 Barcelona Team Gold 1992 Barcelona Balance Beam Bronze 1992 Barcelona Vault World Championships Bronze 1992 Paris Floor exercise Representing  Soviet Union World Championships Gold 1991 Indianapolis Team World Cup Final Gold 1990 Brussels All-around Gold 1990 Brussels Uneven bars Bronze 1990 Brussels Floor exercise Goodwill Games Gold 1990 Seattle Team Representing  Ukraine World Championships Bronze 1993 Birmingham All-around European Championships Silver 1992 Nantes Uneven bars Summer Universiade Gold 1993 Buffalo All-around Gold 1993 Buffalo Team Gold 1993 Buffalo Balance beam

Tatiana Felixivna Lysenko (Ukrainian: Тетяна Фелiксiвна Лисенко; born June 23, 1975) is a Soviet and Ukrainian former gymnast, who had her senior competitive career from 1990 to 1994. Lysenko was a member of the Soviet Union team during the early 1990s, a period when its pool of talent was deep (the USSR never lost the women's team competition in the Olympic Games). She is the 1992 Olympic champion on balance beam.

Gymnastics career

Lysenko was born in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, and has a Ukrainian-Jewish background. She took up gymnastics at the age of seven, and made her senior debut in 1990, winning the all-around competition at the World Cup. In 1990, Lysenko participated at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle and won a gold medal in team competition

Next year she was selected for the world championships in Indianapolis, where she won the team competition. She qualified to the all-around competition, ahead of her talented teammates Oksana Chusovitina, Rozalia Galiyeva and Natalia Kalinina, but fell from beam and did not win any individual medal.

Lysenko's most notable achievements came at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. She represented the Unified Team (ex-Soviets) along with Svetlana Boguinskaya, Tatiana Gutsu, Elena Grudneva, Rozalia Galiyeva and Oksana Chusovitina. They won the team title by a comfortable margin. Lysenko finished 7th all-around, but she won the bronze medal in the vault after performing the most difficult vault in the entire competition, a double-twisting Yurchenko (9.912). Lysenko then won the gold in the beam event (9.975).

Unlike many of her Soviet teammates, Lysenko opted to continue after the breakup of the USSR, and represented her native Ukraine at the 1993 World Championships in Birmingham. She won bronze in the all-around, which would have been gold had she not stepped out of the floor. Lysenko was one of only two ex-Soviets on the podium along with Oksana Chusovitina (representing Uzbekistan).

In 1993, Lysenko, representing Ukraine, competed at the 1993 Summer Universiade in Buffalo and won gold medals in all-around, team and balance beam.

Lysenko continued to compete internationally in 1994. She placed 18th in the all-around at the World Championships in Brisbane. In the event finals, she placed fourth on vault. She retired after the World Championships.

Later life

After retiring from competitions Lysenko moved to the United States and now lives in California. She graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law and was admitted the California State Bar in 2005. In 2002, she was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2016 into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She is married and has a daughter.

Competitive history

• Competitor for Ukraine

• Competitor for CIS

• Competitor for Soviet Union

See also

In Spanish: Tatiana Lysenko (gimnasta) para niños

• List of select Jewish gymnasts