Oksana Omelianchik

Oksana Omelianchik
Full name	Oksana Alexandrovna Omelianchik
Country represented	Soviet Union
Born	January 2, 1970 or December 31, 1969 (disputed) Ulan-Ude, USSR
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior international
Gym	Round Lake national training center; Spartak Kiev
Head coach(es)	Valentina Panchenko, Valery Tupitsy, Galina Perskaya
Music	1987: Ballet Russe
Retired	1989
Medal record World Championships Gold 1985 Montreal All-around Gold 1985 Montreal Team Gold 1985 Montreal Floor exercise Silver 1987 Rotterdam Team European Championships Gold 1985 Helsinki Balance beam Silver 1985 Helsinki Floor exercise Bronze 1985 Helsinki All-around Bronze 1985 Helsinki Uneven bars

Oksana Alexandrovna Omelianchik (Russian: Оксана Александровна Омельянчик; alternative transliterations: Oksana Alieksandrovna Omiel'jantchik; Oksana Omeliantchik; Oksana Omelyanchik is a retired Soviet gymnast and the all-around gold medalist of the 1985 World Gymnastics Championships.

Early life and career

Omelianchik was born on January 2, 1970 or December 31, 1969 in Ulan-Ude, USSR). She was originally a figure skater, and participated in her first skating meet at the age of 6. She began gymnastics on the recommendation of her skating choreographer, who believed she had potential in the sport.^[1] She trained at the Spartak club in Kiev, where her coaches included Valentina Panchenko, Valery Tupitsy and Galina Perskaya.^[2]

By 1983, Omelianchik was competing internationally for the USSR. At that year's Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), an important meet for junior gymnasts, she earned gold medals on the floor exercise and uneven bars and placed fourth in the all-around competition. At her first USSR Championships in 1983, she placed fifth in the all-around. The next year, she competed in both the junior and senior USSR Championships, winning the all-around silver medal at the former and finishing fourth at the latter, and was selected as the alternate for the Soviet team at the 1984 Friendship Games (also known as 'Olomouc', after the city in which the competition was held).^[2]

Senior career

In 1985, Omelianchik won the Soviet National Championships, beating the future Olympic champion Elena Shushunova. She also competed at the European Championships for the first time, winning the balance beam title showing a triple twist dismount. She also won a bronze medal in the all-around behind Shushunova and East German Maxi Gnauck, silver on the floor exercise and bronze on the uneven bars.^[2]

Omelianchik was a member of the first place Soviet team at the 1985 World Gymnastics Championships in Montreal, but struggled in the team competition and did not qualify for the all-around final. However, Soviet team officials decided to pull Olga Mostepanova and Irina Baraksanova, who had both qualified for the finals, and substitute Omelianchik and her teammate Shushunova. The decision proved to be sound; the two Soviet gymnasts tied for the all-around gold and became Worlds Co-Champions. In the event finals, Omelianchik won the floor gold medal with her "Birdie" exercise, which would become her most well-known routine.^[3][4]

Omelianchik continued to compete for the Soviet team after the World Championships, placing third in the all-around at the 1986 Goodwill Games and third all around at the World Cup in Beijing. She also won the balance beam title and placed second on uneven bars and vault and third on floor exercise. The following year at the World Championships the Soviet team lost the title to a dominant team from Romania. Omelianchik debuted her new vault which introduced the half on technique in the roundoff family of vaults. She also showcased a new floor routine to Ballet Russe and a new triple full to a tuck front rebound, but suffered an uncharacteristic fall in the team competition. She placed fifth all around and failed to qualify for any event finals.^[5]

Despite maintaining consistent results within the top the 7 in the USSR Cup and USSR Championships for years, she was not selected for the 1988 Olympics. She was named as an alternate to the team and traveled with them to Seoul, but was not called upon to compete. Her final competition was the 1989 USSR Cup, where she placed 2nd in the all-around.^[4]

Post-retirement

Omelianchik remains heavily involved in gymnastics as a choreographer, coach and judge. She heads the women's technical committee for the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation and choreographs routines for many of Ukraine's top gymnnasts, including Alina Kozich and Olga Roshupkina.^[4][6]

In a poll in Inside Gymnastics magazine, she was chosen as one of the "Top Ten All-Around Gymnasts of All Time."^[7]

Skills

Omelianchik was noted for her innovative skills, clean execution and energetic, inspired presentation. She is also the originator of two skills, which are named after her in the Code of Points.

Floor exercise: Omelianchik was one of the pioneers of back-to-back tumbling, a series of skills in which a gymnast completes one full tumbling run from one end of the FX mat to the other, rebounds, and performs another complete tumbling run in the opposite direction without stopping.^[4]

Vault: On vault, "the Omelianchik" is a round-off half-on front pike.^[8]

Balance beam: Omelianchik's namesake skill is a back handspring-3/4 turn to handstand, which was rated as a 'D' in the 2005-2006 Code.^[9]

Achievements

Year	Event	AA	Team	VT	UB	BB	FX
1984	USSR Championships						3rd
1985	World Championships	1st	1st				1st
	European Championships	3rd			3rd	1st	2nd
	USSR Championships	1st				2nd	2nd
1986	World Cup	3rd		2nd	2nd	1st	3rd
	Goodwill Games	3rd	1st				2nd
	USSR Championships				2nd
1987	World Championships		2nd
	USSR Cup	3rd
	USSR Championships						3rd
1988	USSR Championships					3rd	2nd
1989	USSR Championships						2nd

References

1. ^ "Oksana and gymnastics" Valentina Pozhilova,Sport in the USSR, July 1986
2. ^ ^{a b c} Biography and list of competitive results at Gymn-Forum
3. ^ "They Gave It Their All" Yevgeny Lanfang, Moscow News No. 47, 1985
4. ^ ^{a b c d} "Whatever happened to Oksana Omelianchik?" Gymnastics Greats, 2002
5. ^ "Sprite Fight" Jill Smolowe, Time, September 19, 1988
6. ^ "In Our Spotlight: Alina Kozich" International Gymnast, June/July 2004
7. ^ "Top 10 gymnasts of all time". Inside Gymnastics
8. ^ Breakdown of vaults in the 2005-2006 Code of Points at Shanfan.com
9. ^ Breakdown of beam elements in the 2005-2006 Code of Points at Shanfan.com

External links and sources

• Oksana Omelianchik at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Whatever happened to Oksana Omelianchik?
• List of competition results at Gymn Forum
• Video of Oksana Omelianchik performing Omelianchik vault - 1987 Worlds, team optionals
• Animation of a gymnast performing Omelianchik vault

Gymnastics portal

Persondata
Name	Omelianchik, Oksana
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 2, 1970
Place of birth	Ulan-Ude, USSR
Date of death
Place of death