Natalia Kuchinskaya

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Natalia Aleksandrovna Kuchinskaya (Russian: Наталья Александровна Кучинская) or Natasha Kuchinskaya (Russian: Наташа Кучинская) (born March 12, 1949, St. Petersburg, Russia) is a retired Soviet Olympic gymnast.

Kuchinskaya originally aspired to become a ballet dancer, but was convinced to study gymnastics by her parents, who were both involved with the sport. She trained with Vladimir Reyson and later national team coach Larissa Latynina, who was said to consider Kuchinskaya one of her favorite gymnasts.

By 1965, at age sixteen, Kuchinskaya was the USSR national champion. At the 1966 World Championships, after winning her second Nationals title, the USSR Cup and the World Trials, she established herself as one of the stars of the Soviet team, winning gold medals in three of the four event finals (balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise), a bronze on vault, and silvers in the all-around and team events. Kuchinskaya continued her winning streak in 1967, when she won the pre-Olympic test event in Mexico City and swept the USSR Nationals, walking away with the all-around title and every single event final gold medal.

At the 1968 Olympics, Kuchinskaya was arguably the most popular member of the Soviet team. She placed third in the all-around, behind Vera Caslavska and her teammate Zinaida Voronina, she also shared in the team gold medal and won the balance beam title and a bronze on the floor exercise. She was dubbed "The Bride of Mexico" by the admiring press and was serenaded with a folk song, "Natalie," during her stay in Mexico City.

The Olympics was Kuchinskaya's final competition. At the time, her sudden departure from gymnastics was attributed to a thyroid illness; in an interview in the late 90s Kuchinskaya also revealed that she had lost her motivation for the sport.

Following her retirement, Kuchinskaya coached in the USSR, Japan and the United States. She has been married for nearly thirty years to optician Alexander Kotliar and currently lives and coaches in the USA.

Appearances in other media

• Appears in the PBS documentary "The Red Files" discussing her experiences in gymnastics.

Achievements (non-Olympic)

Sources

• [Legends: Natalia Kuchinskaya] at International Gymnast magazine
• [List of competitive results]
• [Whatever happened to Natalia Kuchinskaya?]
• [Transcript of interview from The Red Files]

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