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Svetlana Boginskaya

The Olympic Games, or Olympics, is an international multi-sport event taking place every four years which comprises of summer and winter games. Though the first ancient games were held in 776 B.C, the modern games started from 1896.The unity of the 5 continents is shown on the Olympic flag by five colorful intertwined rings of red, blue, green, yellow, and black, created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to represent atleast one color of the participating country’s national flag.

Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya was born on February 9, 1973 in Minsk. She is a Soviet and Belarusian gymnast. She was called the Belarusian Swan and the Goddess of Gymnastics due to her height, balletic grace, and long lines. She is especially renowned for the drama and artistry she displayed on floor exercise. Boginskaya competed in three Olympic Games representing three different teams the Soviet Union in 1988, the Commonwealth of Independent States Unified Team in 1992, and Belarus in 1996. Boginskaya is a three time Olympic Champion, winning gold medals in Vault in 1988, and Team golds in 1988 and 1992.

Boginskaya was a figure skater for several years, but began gymnastics at age eight. Two years later she moved from Minsk to train full-time at the Moscow Round Lake Gymnastics Center. By age fourteen she was a member of the Soviet national team. She won her first medal, a bronze for balance beam, during the 1987 World Championships.

In 1992, Boginskaya, then 19 years old, had a disappointing performance at 1992 European Championships, falling on her final event. She finished 5th, while her young teammate Tatiana Gutsu won the title. Nevertheless, she was still favored to win the all-around title at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Sveta retired after the 1992 Olympics, but decided to make a comeback in 1995. She said that she was inspired by Katarina Witt who had made a memorable comeback of her own at the 1994 Winter Olympics. She stunned audiences worldwide by competing with more difficult routines than ever before, and with an endlessly positive attitude.

Svetlana Boginskaya is one of very few women in gymnastics history to have competed in three Olympic games others include Svetlana Khorkina, Dominique Dawes and Oksana Chusovitina. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005.

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