Lilia Akhaimova

Lilia Igorevna Akhaimova (Russian: Лилия Игоревна Ахаимова, IPA: [ˈlʲilʲɪɪ̯ə ɐxɐˈiməvə], born 17 March 1997) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She represented the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the team event. She is a two-time World silver medalist with the Russian team (2018, 2019).

Liliya Akhaimova
Лилия Ахаимова
Akhaimova in 2021
Personal information
Full nameLilia Igorevna Akhaimova
Country represented Russia
Born (1997-03-17) 17 March 1997
Vladivostok, Russia[1]
HometownSaint Petersburg, Russia
Height1.56 m (5 ft 1 in)
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior International Elite
Years on national team2016–2022 (RUS)
ClubPushkin District Sports School of Olympic Reserve
Head coach(es)T.N. Yatchenko, L.V. Nedovesova, V.N. Govrichenkov
RetiredJune 17, 2022
Medal record
Women's artistic gymnastics
Representing Russia ROC
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2020 TokyoTeam
Representing  Russia
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2018 Doha Team
Silver medal – second place2019 StuttgartTeam
European Championships
Gold medal – first place2018 GlasgowTeam
Summer Universiade
Gold medal – first place2017 TaipeiTeam
Silver medal – second place2017 TaipeiVault
Silver medal – second place2019 NapoliTeam
Silver medal – second place2019 NapoliVault
Bronze medal – third place2017 TaipeiFloor Exercise
Bronze medal – third place2019 NapoliAll-Around

Personal life

Lilia Akhaimova was born on 17 March 1997 in Vladivostok, Russian Far East, but she has resided with her parents in Saint Petersburg since August 2012.[2] When she was five, her parents enrolled her in rhythmic gymnastics; when her coach advised her to go on probation, she chose artistic gymnastics.[3] Akhaimova's younger sister, Lyubov also competed at the national level in artistic gymnastics.[3] Akhaimova is of Jewish background.[4]

Akhaimova studied sport and health at the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education in St. Petersburg.[3]

In 2021, she received the title of Honoured Master of Sport of the Russian Federation.[3]

Career

2015–16

In 2015 Akhaimova only competed at national competitions. At the Russian national championships she placed 15th in the all-around and at the Russian Cup she finished 7th. At the 2016 Russian national championships Akhaimova finished 12th.

2017

Akhaimova competed at the 2017 Summer Universiade, earning team gold, as well as the silver on vault and bronze on floor.

2018

On 20 July, Akhaimova was named to the Russian team to compete at the 2018 European Championships alongside Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Irina Alexeeva, and Uliana Perebinosova.[5] They won gold in the team final and individually Akhaimova placed fifth on vault.[6]

On September 29, Akhaimova was named on the nominative team to compete at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar alongside Alexeeva, Melnikova, Aliya Mustafina, and Simakova.[7] On October 17, the Worlds team was officially announced and was unchanged from the nominative team.[8]

At Worlds, Akhaimova competed on vault and floor during the qualification rounds and was tasked with competing for the same two events during the team final. Despite crashing her Rudi vault in the final, Akhaimova rallied with a strong floor exercise to help Russia win the silver medal behind the United States and ahead of China.

Akhaimova also competed in the floor final, where she placed seventh.

2019

In July Akhaimova competed at the 2019 Summer Universiade alongside Tatiana Nabieva and Perebinosova. In the team final, Akhaimova contributed scores on vault, beam, and floor, helping Russian win the silver behind Japan.[9] Individually Akhaimova won bronze in the all-around behind Hitomi Hatakeda of Japan and teammate Perebinosova.[10] The following day, she won the silver medal on vault, behind Marina Nekrasova of Azerbaijan and just ahead of teammate Nabieva.[11] Despite qualifying in first to the floor final, Akhaimova finished sixth in the final after counting a fall on her piked double Arabian. The Russians were the most decorated female artistic gymnastics team at the Universiade, winning eight medals. They were also the only team to win medals on every event.

In August, Akhaimova competed at the Russian Cup. After two days of competition she finished fourth in the all-around competition, behind Vladislava Urazova, Angelina Melnikova, and Elena Gerasimova.[12] On the first day of event finals Akhaimova won gold on vault, finishing ahead of Melnikova. On the second day of event finals she won bronze on floor exercise, finishing behind junior competitors Urazova and Gerasimova. Shortly after the conclusion of the Russian Cup, Akhaimova was named to the nominative team for the 2019 World Championships alongside Melnikova, Daria Spiridonova, Anastasia Agafonova, Angelina Simakova (later replaced by Maria Paseka),[13] and Aleksandra Shchekoldina.[14]

During qualifications, she helped Russia qualify to the team final in third place behind the United States, and China. Individually, she qualified to the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals. Despite Valentina Rodionenko's, the head coach of the Russian Women's gymnastics team, low expectations for the team,[15] they won the silver medal in the team final with Akhaimova contributing scores on three apparatuses.[16] During the all-around final Akhaimova fell numerous times and finished 22nd in the competition.

In November, Akhaimova competed at Elite Gym Massilia where she placed fourth in the all-around and second on vault, behind Jennifer Gadirova of Great Britain.[17]

2020

In January, it was announced that Akhaimova would represent Russia at the American Cup, taking place on March 7.[18] However, in late February Akhaimova and Nikita Nagornyy announced on Instagram that Russia withdrew from the upcoming competition due to the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.[19] In late September, it was announced that Akhaimova would be competing at an upcoming competition in Hiroshima to take place in November alongside Angelina Melnikova, Elena Gerasimova, and Yana Vorona.[20] However, she later withdrew due to a positive COVID-19 test.

2021

Akhaimova competed at the Russian National Championships in March; however, she withdrew from finals after sustaining a minor ankle injury.[21] She next competed at the Russian Cup in June. During the all-around final, she finished fourth behind Viktoria Listunova, Vladislava Urazova, and Angelina Melnikova. Akhaimova placed first on vault and third on floor exercise.[22] She was selected to represent the Russia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. However, it was undecided whether she would join Melnikova, Listunova, and Urazova on the four-person team or compete as an individual.[23] In July, it was decided that Akhaimova would be a part of the team and Elena Gerasimova would compete as an individual alongside Anastasia Ilyankova.

At the Olympic Games, Akhaimova qualified to the vault event final. Additionally, she helped the Russian Olympic Committee qualify to the team final in a surprise first place, ahead of the United States team. During the team final, Akhaimova only competed on vault. After the first rotation, American team leader Simone Biles withdrew for mental health reasons. Although Melnikova and Urazova fell off the balance beam, the Russian team performed well on all other routines and finished in first place, over three points ahead of the second place American team.[24]

2022

Akhaimova announced her retirement from the sport in June.[25]

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Senior
2013National Championships414
Russian Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)1047
Gymnasiade1st place, gold medalist(s)
2014National Championships3rd place, bronze medalist(s)944
Student Spartakiada2nd place, silver medalist(s)441st place, gold medalist(s)
Russian Cup2nd place, silver medalist(s)1047
Massilia Cup (Master Massilia)2nd place, silver medalist(s)20
2015National Championships415
Diyatin Cup2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Russian Cup3rd place, bronze medalist(s)785
2016National Championships412
Russian Cup3rd place, bronze medalist(s)8781st place, gold medalist(s)
Toyota International57
Voronin Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
2017National Championships3rd place, bronze medalist(s)52nd place, silver medalist(s)41st place, gold medalist(s)
DTB Pokal Team Challenge Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)
Osijek Challenge Cup3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Universiade1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Cottbus World Cup2nd place, silver medalist(s)71st place, gold medalist(s)
2018Top 12 Series 41st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
European Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)5
World Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)R17
Massilia Cup (Master Massilia)2nd place, silver medalist(s)4
Cottbus World Cup6
Toyota International2nd place, silver medalist(s)52nd place, silver medalist(s)5
2019National Championships3rd place, bronze medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Universiade2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)6
Russian Cup41st place, gold medalist(s)53rd place, bronze medalist(s)
World Championships2nd place, silver medalist(s)2278
Elite Gym Massilia42nd place, silver medalist(s)
2021National Championships5
Russian Cup41st place, gold medalist(s)753rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Olympic Games1st place, gold medalist(s)6

International scores

Year Competition Description Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying
2018 European Championships Glasgow Team 1 165.195 2 161.462
Vault 5 14.066 4 14.016
Floor Exercise 60 11.733
World Championships Doha Team 2 162.863 2 165.497
Vault 9 14.099
Floor Exercise 7 13.366 8 13.600

See also

References

  1. Burack, Emily "Jewish vaulter Lilia Akhaimova helps Russia to Gymastics gold in Tokyo" The Forward (July 27, 2021)
  2. "Лилия Ахаимова из Владивостока стала серебряным призером чемпионата мира по спортивной гимнастике". Novosti Vl.ru. 13 October 2019.
  3. "Artistic Gymnastics AKHAIMOVA Liliia". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Retrieved 2021-07-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Jewish vaulter Lilia Akhaimova helps Russia to gymnastics gold medal in Tokyo". The Times of Israel. 27 July 2021.
  5. "Viktoria Komova wont be on the Russian team for Euros". Gymnovosti. 20 July 2018.
  6. "Gymnastics: Melnikova inspires Russia's European team triumph". Reuters. 4 August 2018.
  7. "Мустафина и Белявский вошли в заявку сборной России на ЧМ по спортивной гимнастике в Дохе". TASS (in Russian). September 28, 2018.
  8. "Russian Teams for Worlds Announced". Gymnovosti. October 17, 2018.
  9. "2019 Summer Universiade Live Blog – Women's Team Final". The Gymternet. July 5, 2019.
  10. "2019 Summer Universiade Live Blog – Women's All-Around Final". The Gymternet. July 6, 2019.
  11. "Гимнастка Ахаимова стала второй в опорном прыжке на Универсиаде". TASS (in Russian). July 7, 2019.
  12. "Vladislava Urazova wins AA gold at the Russian Cup". Gymnovosti. August 25, 2019.
  13. "Гимнастка Пасека заменит травмированную Симакову в составе сборной России на ЧМ". TASS (in Russian). September 24, 2019.
  14. "Назван состав сборной России по спортивной гимнастике на ЧМ в Штутгарте". ru sport (in Russian). August 27, 2019.
  15. "Родионенко не ожидает высоких результатов от россиянок на ЧМ по спортивной гимнастике". TASS (in Russian). October 3, 2019.
  16. "US women top Russia, Italy to win team title at Stuttgart Worlds". International Gymnastics Federation. October 8, 2019.
  17. "2019 Elite Gym Massilia Results". The Gymternet. November 25, 2019.
  18. "World, Olympic champions headline field for 2020 American Cup". USA Gymnastics. January 23, 2020.
  19. "Russian Gymnasts Will Miss American Cup Due To Coronavirus Fears". Gymnovosti. February 28, 2020.
  20. "Гимнасты Нагорный, Далалоян и Мельникова выступят за сборную России на турнире в Японии". TASS (in Russian). September 28, 2020.
  21. "ЧЕМПИОНАТ РОССИИ СРЕДИ МУЖЧИН И ЖЕНЩИН ПО СПОРТИВНОЙ ГИМНАСТИКЕ (№ ЕКП 31632)". Федерация спортивной гимнастики России (in Russian). March 12, 2021.
  22. "Viktoria Listunova, Nikita Nagornyy win Russian Cup titles". International Olympic Committee. June 10, 2021.
  23. "Rodionenko Announced Candidates For Individual Olympic Spots". Gymnovosti. June 13, 2021.
  24. "With Simone Biles out, Russia wins women's gymnastics team gold in Tokyo". Yahoo! Sports. July 27, 2021.
  25. "Олимпийская чемпионка Ахаимова приостановила карьеру из-за травмы спины" [Olympic champion Akhaimova retired due to a back injury]. RSport (in Russian). June 17, 2022.
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