Born September 5, 1976, gymnast Tatiana Gutsu was raised in Odessa, a Ukrainian city then controlled by the Soviet Union. She began kindergarten at five years old, and was spotted by Victor Dikii, a coach who visited her school to look for potential gymnasts. Dikii's judgment had been correct, and Gutsu was eventually sent to the National Training Center at Round Lake near Moscow. Her first international experience came at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, where, although only four athletes would compete, the Soviet coaches wanted to give others the chance to display their skill. In exhibition routines, Gutsu performed more difficult elements than those used by gymnasts in the actual medal hunt, but her form was still poor. By the 1992 European Championships, she had improved so much that she won a medal in every event, including first place overall. Following such an outstanding performance, Gutsu was expected to win the gold medal in Barcelona's 1992 Olympics - but instead fell off the beam, placed fourth on the Unified Team, and was ineligible for the all-around competition. When that event began, though, Gutsu was participating anyway. The coaches said Roza Galieva had injured her knee, so Gutsu went on to beat Shannon Miller for the gold medal. It was later found that Galieva's supposed knee injury had never occurred, but Gutsu was not considered at fault because the decision had been made by the Unified Team's coaching staff. She did not enter a major competition after the Olympics, but did tour the U.S. with other gymnasts, including fellow 1992 Olympian Svetlana Boguinskaia. She was forced to retire young due to stress fractures in her back and disagreement with the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation; today Gutsu lives in the United States and coaches gymnastics.