Ukraine, Gospodi Blagoslovi. God bless the Ukraine!

Ukraine, located in Eastern Europe, is one of the strongest producers of world-class gymnasts since early on in the Soviet days. From picture-perfect World and Olympic Champions Oksana Omelianchik, Olesia Dudnik, Olga Strazheva, Tatiana Gutsu, Tatiana Lysenko, and Liliya Podkopayeva, Ukraine has not failed to achieve superb results at the international level. Characteristic of excellent form and toe points and great choreography, the Ukrainian female gymnasts are most delightful to watch on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. With its Olympic Base in Koncha-Zaspa, Ukraine, the Ukrainian programs hopes to produce more World and Olympic champions.

Although the former greats have since retired, there are a group of young girls ready to take their place. Among them, Alina Kozich, Alyona Kvasha, Natalia Sirobaba, Irina Yarodskaya, Mirabella Akhunu, Tatiana Yarosh, and Inna Teslenko are the most promising. As mentioned in our previous January issue of IG3, these 7 gymnasts are the biggest hopefuls for the 2003 World Championship Ukrainian team.

Alyona Kvasha is the leader of this team of young gymnasts and probably the most accomplished thus far. In 2001, Alyona was a member of the Ukrainian World team that finished a disappointing 6th place. She, herself, had some problems in the all-around, faltering on the uneven bars. She competed in the recent World Championships, making it into the vault finals. As the competition was very strong, Alyona failed to medal and finished 8th with a 9.087. However, the feat of qualifying into a final at a World Championships is a great one. At the 2002 European Championships, she finished 3rd in the all-around and won floor with a solid score of 9.5 ahead of Russia's Natalia Ziganshina and the Netherland's Verona van de Leur. She considers the power events of vault and floor exercise to be her favorite, and her power is definitely apparent in both events. On vault she does a handspring layout full and a Tsukahara 1 1/2 and on floor she does a piked full in, a double front, a 2 1/2 twist-punch front, and a double pike all in the same routine. This 18 year old will lead the Ukrainian team in the next couple of years towards the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

  Alina Kozich only became an elite gymnast in 2001, but she is already showing the signs of yet another great Ukrainian gymnast. She began last year with a win at the Stella Zhakarova meet, then went on to place 4th in the all-around at the Junior European Championships and become the champion on her favorite and best event, the uneven bars with a spectacular score of 9.437, beating Maria Mastrogiannopoulou of Greece and her countrymate, Inna Teslenko. However, Alina is not just a one-event gymnast. She has proved herself capable on all four events. She vaults a Yurchenko 1 1/2 and a Tsukahara. On bars she throws big tricks such as a Jaegar, a Pak Salto, a Tkatchev, and an interesting dismount of a double tuck with 1 1/2 twists. Yes, this means she lands blindly! It's very nice to see such a rare skill being done. In fact, Alina has the opportunity to have this skill named for her at the upcoming World Championships if she competes and lands it correctly. On beam she is not as spectacular in terms of skills, but she prides herself on her form and consistency. She does, however, throw an aerial, a few jump fulls, and dismounts with a double back. Her floor exercise consists of mostly twisting, a front layout double twist to a front layout full twist, a triple twist, and a 2 1/2 twist, although she does a handspring double front as her second pass! Alina encompasses the trademark Ukrainian style of good form and good dance throughout her floor routine. Not old enough to compete at last year's World Championships in Debrecen, she is preparing herself for Anaheim.

  Natalia Sirobaba has had a tough few years dating back all the way to 2000. Although she is somtimes remembered as the young and inexperienced member of the 1998 European Championships team, this gymnast has progressed within the last few years into a great gymnast in her own rights. Although inconsistency and injuries have been prevalent, Natalia did qualify to the World Championships in 2001. Recently, at the 2002 Ukrainian Cup, she pulled at her stuff and finished a nice 2nd place in the all-around and 3rd place on balance beam. She also competed at the recent World Championships in Debrecen, but did not fare too well there. She had a poor bar routine in the qualifying round and decent vaults, but her low start values on the piked barani and Phelps left her out of the finals for that event. Although she did not achieve what she had hoped, she left the Championships with a good experience at individual pressure. What Natalia needs to work on most is keeping focus during her routines, but she definitely has the skills and potential to be a great one. She does rather typical skills on most of the events, with the exception of vault where she needs to up her difficulty, but they are usually enough to produce a high score.

Irina Yarodskaya is seen as one of the most elegant gymnasts on the team, always presenting herself with excellent toe point and form. In addition, her lines on both the uneven bars and balance beam are breathtaking. However, Irina has had some injuries within the last few years which has limited her ability to demonstrate her full potential in international and national competitions. She competed in the team portion of the 2001 World Championships but had some falls in that competition, leaving her unable to compete in the all-around and event finals. She did win the all-around and uneven bars at the Ukrainian Cup last year, which marks her status as one of the best Ukrainians competing today. At the European Championships she was again suffering from her ankle problems and only competed uneven bars and balance beam, helping her team to a 4th place finish. Although she made the uneven bars finals, a disastrous error left her out of the medals. The 2002 World Championships proved slightly more successful for Irina, as she won the bronze on balance beam with nice presentation and good skills. Additionally, she qualified into the uneven bars final but made errors there. One special thing about Irina is that she performs a unique skill on the balance beam, . However, on vault and floor she lacks difficulty, perhaps due to her inability to practice these events during her ankle injuries.

  Mirabella Akhunu is known as the crowd-pleaser of this group of gymnasts. Coming from an African father and a Ukrainian mother, she is not the typical, stereotypical Ukrainian gymnasts we have always been, but she is a powerful vaulter and tumbler and performs really well on the events. The 2002 European Championships were probably the biggest and most successful competition Mirabella has ever been in. She wowed the crowd and the judges in her floor routine and captured the gold medal, ahead of Floarea Leonida and Monica Rosu, both of Romania. She did decent in the all-around, finishing 10th. She was also successful at the International Youth Games, winning a bronze on vault and a silver on floor exercise. Although not particularly one of the strongest all-around gymnasts, Mirabella is a bright star on vault where she competes a handspring front layout and floor exercise where she tumbles a full in, double front, 2 1/2 twist, and triple twist. Typical of a Ukrainian gymnast, Mirabella shows pretty good form, with great flexibility and extension on the balance beam especially, and superb expression on the floor exercise!

At 18 years old, Tatiana Yarosh is one of the oldest and most experienced members of the team. She began her successful career in 1998 where she won 3 gold medals at the Junior European Championships. She followed this up with a floor final at the 1999 World Championships. Tatiana also competed at the 2001 and 2002 World Championships where she did not have the best meets. However, her big win came at the 2001 Chuinichi Cup where she captured the all-around gold. That was followed by a gold on floor exercise and a bronze in the all-around at the Voronin Cup. Some of her biggest success has come on the floor exercise where she dances beautifully, displays excellent form, and tumbles an arabian double front, whip through to 2 1/2 twist, triple twist, and double pike. Tatiana, although an accomplished and great gymnast, has had difficulty in the past on consistency in her routines. Hopefully 2003 will prove to be a better year for her.

Inna Teslenko is not the sister of great Ukrainian superstar Olga Teslenko, however she is a distant relative. As the youngest gymnast of this team, Inna is also one of the most inexperienced. Her favorite event of the uneven bars is also her best event. She has won many honors on this event, including the 2001 Dynamo Club Championships, 2001 National Championships, and 2002 Gymnix International. Additionally, she won bronze at the 2002 Stella Zakharova Cup and Junior European Championships and the silver medal at the International Youth Games the same year. Also a good gymnast on the balance beam, Inna strays away from the power events, vault and floor exercise, where she does not fare as well. Inna has never been to a World Championships or major senior international event, but 2003 could prove to be her year. Although not a solid all-around gymnast yet, she could do nicely as an individual event gymnast in the upcoming year.

With these gymnasts, Ukraine has a chance to build itself back up to world-class status, following an unsuccessful season as a team. The team finished 4th in both the Junior Women's and Senior Women's team finals at the 2002 European Championships and placed 6th place at the 2001 World Championships. 2003 could be the year to turn all of this around and once again stand on the podium, not only individually but also as a team. What is known of this team is that it has potential, great stars, nice skills, excellent form, and superb choreography. With these qualities, they could go anywhere.

Photos © Don Johnson and Associated Press