Stella Zakharova, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetStella Zakharova
Soviet gymnast
Date of Birth: 12-Jul-1963
Place of Birth: Odessa, Odessa Oblast, Ukraine
Profession: artistic gymnast
Zodiac Sign: Cancer 
About Stella Zakharova
- Stella Zakharova (born 12 July 1963 in Odessa, Ukraine) is a retired gymnast who competed internationally for the former Soviet Union between 1977 and 1982.
- She was an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist in team competitions, and won individual all-around titles at other events. Zakharova won her first all-around championship at the 1976 All-Union School Spartakiade.
- That same year she placed second overall in the Junior USSR Championships.
- She was a consistently strong competitor through 1977-78, winning several vaulting and floor exercise event titles.
- A powerful tumbler, Zakharova was the first woman to incorporate three double-back somersaults into her floor routine. Zakhrova's most successful year was 1979, during which she won individual all-around championships at the American Cup, Moscow News, and World Cup events.
- At the World Championships held in Fort Worth, Texas she was a member of the Soviet women's team which finished second to the Romanian squad led by an injured Nadia Comaneci.
- It was the first time the Soviets had failed to beat their Romanian rivals in a major team competition. In 1980 Zakharova continued to enjoy success, winning the gold medal with her Soviet teammates at the Olympic games and capturing a second all-around title at the World Cup.
- That proved to be her high-water mark, as her performances began to decline from 1981 onward. After retirement, Stella Zakharova married Dynamo Kiev football player Viktor Khlus.
- The couple have a son and a daughter.
- Zakharova's home country Ukraine hosts an annual Stella Zakharova Cup competition in artistic gymnastics, named in her honor. Footage of Stella Zakharova training with the Soviet national team was captured in a 1978 Soviet Gymnastics training documentary; Zakharova appears about one minute into the clip [1].
- Included in the film are teammates Elena Mukhina, Natalia Shaposhnikova and Maria Filatova.
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