Yelena Naimushina

Yelena Naimushina, from Krasnoyarsk, was on the Soviet national team from 1979-80, winning a team all-around gold at the 1980 Olympics and a team all-around silver at the 1979 World Championships. Individually her best international placement was 13th in individual all-around at the 1979 Worlds. Naimushina also won gold in balance beam and silver in floor exercise at the 1980 World Cup. Domestically Naimushina won the Soviet balance beam title in 1980, floor silver in 1980 and floor bronze in 1979. She also won all-around silver at the 1979 Soviet Cup and all-around bronze at the 1980 Soviet Cup.

Naimushina ended her career in 1982 after a serious back injury. Educated as a physical education teacher, Naimushina married a Latvian cyclist Andris Zelčs-Ločmelis, who was the world junior track champion in 1980, and they moved to Latvia, raising their three children. The couple divorced in 2001 and Naimushina moved back to Russia in 2002, settling in Tula, where she worked as a children’s coach. In 2015 Naimushina moved back to Krasnoyarsk, where she unexpectedly died in 2017, aged only 52.