She soon realized that she'd sacrificed her education to her sport and had no background to ingress in University, as she wanted.
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| A:hover {color: red; font-weight: bold} | |||||||||||||||||||
| Back | Natalya Kuchinskaya | ||||||||||||||||||
| She was, possibly, the only one that Latynina really liked. Even today, when someone speaks about her, her former coach has a glimpse of a smile and adds "She was the beautiful Natalia..." | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born on March 12th, 1949 in St. Petersburg, Natasha grew up in the dream of becoming a ballet dancer. But her parents, gymnastics coaches, made her train as a gymnast. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Luckily for them, Kuchinskaya, under the guidence of Vladimir Reyson, showed a great potential and earned a worldwide recognition at the 1966 World Championships in Germany. Although defeated by the great Vera C�slavsk�, Natalya won the Floor Exercise, the Balance Beam and the Uneven Bars finals. | |||||||||||||||||||
| She made her National Team for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. There, she was instantly adored as a goddess because of her performances on stage, and also because of her beauty. Her charm was irresistible; mariachi singers sang serenades below her window in the Olympic Village. | |||||||||||||||||||
| During the competition she won the Gold on Beam and with her Team, and bronze on Floor and all around. She could have had the Silver if it wasn't for a fall on the Uneven Bars. As expected, the unbeatable C�slavsk� won the Gold. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Tired from the limited world of gymnastics, she retired. Obviously the Government, thirsty of gold in major competitions, tried to dissuade her, but Kuchinskaya's will was stronger - for a while. She soon realized that she'd sacrificed her education to her sport and had no background to ingress in University, as she wanted. |
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| She worked as a coach - job she had a lot of problems to get - in Ukraine and Japan and, in the late 1990's, she moved to the USA. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Married to Alex Kotliar since 1980, she now coaches at the American Academy of Gymnastics in Illinois. | |||||||||||||||||||
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