Born
December 27,
1934 in the
Ukrainian town of Kherson, Larissa Latynina was the top
gymnast of the late
1950s and was a major influence in the sport's change from a
ballet and dance focus to a
tumbling and athletic focus. She won six medals in the
1956 Olympics in Melbourne, including four gold. Latynina was three months
pregnant when she won six more medals in
Rome's 1960 Olympics, and became the first female gymnast to retain the all-around Olympic title. She competed in the
Tokyo Olympics of 1964 at age 29, winning six medals once again despite new Czechoslovakian star
Vera Caslavska. Her record of eighteen medals makes her the most decorated Olympian to date in any sport. After retiring from competition in
1966, Latynina became the head coach of the
Soviet national team, coaching future champions including
Nelli Kim and
Olga Korbut. After ten years of coaching, she helped organize the
1980 Olympics in Moscow, and in
1985 was inducted into the International Women's Sports
Hall of Fame. She retired from work in
1991, and inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in
1998.
Some information from http://olympics.indya.com/olympics/olympians/article_larissa.asp.