Zinaida Voronina, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetZinaida Voronina
gymnast
Date of Birth: 10-Dec-1947
Place of Birth: Yoshkar-Ola, Mari El Republic, Russia
Date of Death: 17-Mar-2001
Profession: artistic gymnast
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius 
About Zinaida Voronina
- Zinaida Voronina, born Zinaida Borisovna Druzhinina (also Druginina), (Russian: ??????? ????????? ????????? ????????; 10 December 1947, in Yoshkar-Ola, Mari ASSR – 17 March 2001) was a Soviet gymnast who competed at the European, World, and Olympic level from the mid-1960s to early 1970s.Voronina's major debut came at the 1966 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany.
- There she won a bronze medal on the floor exercise, receiving the highest individual score of any gymnast at those games (9.933).
- She trained with Vladimir Shelkovnikov.She went on to win several individual medals over the next four years, most notably at the 1968 Summer Olympics where she won the individual all-around silver behind Vera Cáslavská.
- At the same games, she became Olympic champion in the team competition.Around the time of the 1968 games, she married Olympic gymnast Mikhail Voronin.
- Shortly thereafter she gave birth to a son, Dmitry, and came back to further successes at the 1970 World Championships, among other games.
- She attempted to make the Soviet team for the 1972 Olympics, but faced a strong competition and only placed 10th in the individual all-around at the national championships.The same year she retired and started working as a gymnastics coach together with her husband.
- Saddled with her professional life and a difficult childhood (alcoholic mother, father she never met) she struggled with alcoholism.
- In 1980, she was divorced from her husband, who received custody of their son (he later became a competitive gymnast).
- Subsequently, she was sent out of Moscow for "anti-social behavior".
- She spent the remainder of her years working in a factory in Balashikha, Russia, dying in March 2001 at the age of 53.In 1969, she was awarded the "Order of the Badge of Honor".
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