Elena Zamolodchikova

Op top of the world at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games

Heidi-Marie Oosthuizen and her father discovered a tiny Russian teenager, 9 year-old Elena Zamolodchikova, on a trip to Moscow in 1991.

The pretty Muscovite was invited to South Africa and has since visited the country on five occasions as the guest of the Oosthuizen and Golden Lions Gymnastics.

She arrive in 1996 and took part in the SA Cup in Cape Town and to the surprise of everybody, won the event against competition of a Romanian gymnast who took part in the Atlanta Olympic Games a month earlier.

At the 2004 Sydney Olympics Elena became a double Olympic champion when she won both vault and floor and also added a silver medal for the team event.

Elena winner of the 1996 SA Cup on Cape Town.

Elena in Moscow in 1994

Elena in action in the 1992 Gold Reef City International in Johannesburg.

Ekaterina Lobaznyuk and Elena zamolodchikova on the podium at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Elena Piskun And Elena Paluih

Elena Piskun And Elena Paluih

Double trouble: Elena Piskun and Elena Paluih arrived in South Africa to take part in the 1992 Sasol Gold Reef City Gymnastics Festival.

The Belarusian duo afterwards took part in Mixed Pairs Competition at the University of Pretoria before a capacity crowd.

They spoke enough English to create an international outcry.

In an interview with SABC TV News, they both said that they are not returning to their native Belarus, but are going to stay in South Africa with Heidi-Marie and Wessel Oosthuizen!

Their remark made newspaper headlines and the Belarus Gymnastics Federation immediately sent a fax to the Oosthuizen family instructing them to return both girls after the competition.

“If I am forced to return to Belarus, I’ll retire from gymnastics,” Elena Paluih said. On her return to Belarus she quit.

Obviously the furor filled the Pretoria hall – the last time gymnastics was performed in front of a sell-out crowd. Ten months later Elena Piskun became World Champion on vault at the 1993 Birmingham, England, World Championships and also became world champion on bars at the 1996 Puerto Rico World Championships.

She now lives and coaches in Georgia in the US.

Silvia Mitova

Silvia Mitova

Sylvia Mitova’s brilliant gymnastics career ended far too soon when she broke her neck training in the Bulgarian capitol of Sophia shortly after she returned from the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games where she finished 10th all round.

 During her illustrious career, she gave a new meaning to floor routines and earned the nickname “Bulgarian Blues Queen” for one of the best floor routines in modern gymnastics history.

She was invited to South Africa by the Oosthuizen family and Golden Lions Gymnastics with the assistance of Gold Reef City.

Silvia was obviously uncomfortable and in pain and consulted with well-known neurosurgeon Dr Johan Wasserman shortly after her arrival.

Dr Wasserman decided to perform an emergency cervical fusion operation on her a mere five days after her arrival in South Africa.

Dr Wasserman offered his services for free and gymnastics friends and the Oosthuizen family paid a reduced fee, which the Garden City Clinic charged.

After ten weeks in South Africa Silvia returned home.

She later immigrated to Pennsylvania where she now runs her own club, Sylvia’s Gymnastics with her American husband, Artie Hutchinson.

Her parents, Maia and Zarko work for her.

Tatiana Tougikova

Tatiana Tougikova at 1989 World Championships in Rotterdam

Tatiana Tougikova’s arrival in South Africa in September 1991 caused quite a stir: she was the first “communist” gymnast to arrive in South Africa at the invitation of Golden Lions Gymnastics.

She retired a year earlier and was not competing anymore.

The 19 year-old pretty Russian was already married for one year to Sergey Denisevitch from Voronezh and could not speak a single word of English.

She toured the country and gave several clinics.

During her career, she won both the Russian Junior and Senior titles on several occasions and scored  perfect 10s.

She ended her career as USSR University champion.

At the 1987 Rotterdam World Championships, she performed the first ever double back layout somersault with a twist in by a woman.

She is now coaching at her former club in Voronezh and after a three coaching stint in Holland, speaks fluent Dutch.

Ekaterina (Katya) Lobaznyuk

Katya at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games

Ekaterina Lobaznyuk was one of the stars of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

During the Stars of Moscow competition the following year, she sustained a serious knee injury and was operatd on in Moscow.

She visited South Africa as a guest of Golden Lions Gymnastics in 2002 and after she complained about a pain in her knee, former Springbok rugby player, Dr Daan du Plessis, operated on her at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Pretoria.

Katya returned the following year and assisted Golden Lions Gymnastics with a talent ID project. Some of those gymnasts which she identified are now national artistic champions and training with Ilse Laing at her Johannesburg Gymnastics Centre.

Katya and her young son has now relocated to Vancouver is Canada where she coaches.

Ekaterina Orlova

Ekaterina's first vault on the new vaulting platform.

Ekaterina orlova - professional ice skater.