Raisa Gorokhovskaya

Shortly after World War II Raisa Gorokhovskaya studied at a circus school in Moskva where she gained good acrobatic skills. From here Gorokhovskaya was trained at a diving club in the city, winning the Moskva Championship in 1947. Despite being an excellent diver, she had not yet learned to swim, with a coach required to help her out of the pool. She continued to train hard and won bronze at the USSR Championships in 1954, followed by a silver in 1955, before winning back-to-back national titles in 1957 and 1958. The same year as her second USSR title Gorokhovskaya also won silver in platform diving at the European Championships in Budapest. She also competed at the Olympics in Melbourne and Roma, finishing ninth and fifth, respectively.

Gorokhovskaya retired from the sport in 1969 and began working as a physiotherapist. She spent the next four decades helping children with cerebral palsy at a boarding school in Moskva. She returned to competitive diving in the early 1990s, winning multiple World and European titles in the masters category.