Svetlana Nikolayevna Baitova (Belarusian: Святлана Мікалаеўна Баітава; Russian: Светлана Николаевна Баитова; born 3 September 1972) is a retired Belarusian gymnast. She won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games as a member of the Soviet team and finished fourth in the all-around final at the 1987 World Championships.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 3 September 1972 Mogilev, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.52 m (5 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 39 kg (86 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Spartak Mogilev | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
editBaitova competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal with the Soviet team. Individually, she finished 13th in the team competition but did not qualify for the all-around final (top 36) as she was the fourth ranked Soviet and the limit was three gymnasts per nation. Her best Individual result was seventh on the balance beam, but again she did not advance to the apparatus final (top 8), as she was the third Soviet (two gymnasts per nation was the limit for the apparatus finals). Her other results were ninth (uneven bars), 14th (vault) and 31st (floor).[1] In 1988, she had not yet recovered from a hand fracture she received in 1987. Nevertheless, she was included on the team owing to her strong performance at the Olympic trials.[2]
Baitova won a team silver medal and finished fourth in the all-around final at the 1987 World Championships. She also finished fourth in three of the four event finals; vault, uneven bars and floor exercise. She won a team gold medal the 1989 World Championships;[3][4]
Eponymous skills
editBaitova was one of three gymnasts to successfully perform the double-twisting Yurchenko (DTY) vault at the 1987 World Championships, the first major FIG competition where it was performed. Contradicting naming conventions, the vault is currently named after her in the Code of Points despite the fact that Eugenia Golea and Elena Shushunova did the same vault successfully in the same phase of the same competition. She also has an eponymous balance beam mount.[5]
| Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty[a] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vault | Baitova | Round-off flic-flac on - stretched salto backward with 2/1 turn (720°) off | 5.0 |
| Balance beam | Baitova | Two flank circles followed by leg "Flair" | D |
- ^ Valid for the 2022-2024 Code of Points
Retirement
editShe retired in 1990 and since 1991 works as gymnastics coach in Mogilev. In 1990, she married and gave birth to son Alex, but remarried later.[2][4] In 2002, she was hired to coach in Qatar on a five-year contract, but returned after 11 months because she could not tolerate the hot climate.[2]
References
edit- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Svetlana Baitova". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
- ^ a b c "Бриллиантовая рука". Belarus Segodnya, №23 (24160). 6 February 2013.
- ^ "БАИТОВА Светлана Николаевна (гимнатика спортивная)". Belarusian Olympic Committee.
- ^ a b "Svetlana Baitova (URS)". gymn.ca.
- ^ "2022-2024 Code of Points Women's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. p. 68, 108, 206, 209. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
