Olga Anatolyevna Bicherova (Russian: Ольга Анатольевна Бичерова; born 26 October 1967 or 1966) is a retired Soviet gymnast, who won the women's all-around gold medal at the 1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Olga Bicherova
Ольга Бичерова
Full nameOlga Anatolyevna Bicherova
Born (1967-10-26) 26 October 1967 (age 58)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Gymnastics career
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Country
represented
 Soviet Union
Medal record
Representing  Soviet Union
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1981 MoscowTeam
Gold medal – first place1981 MoscowAll-Around
Gold medal – first place1983 BudapestTeam
World Cup Final
Gold medal – first place1982 ZagrebAll-Around
Gold medal – first place1982 ZagrebVault
Gold medal – first place1982 ZagrebFloor Exercise
Silver medal – second place1982 ZagrebUneven Bars
Bronze medal – third place1982 ZagrebBalance Beam
European Championships
Gold medal – first place1983 GothenburgAll-Around
Gold medal – first place1983 GothenburgVault
Gold medal – first place1983 GothenburgFloor Exercise

Career

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Bicherova began gymnastics at age 7, initially training at the CSKA Moscow sports school and later representing the Armed Forces sports society. Her first major success was at the 1980 Junior Friendship Tournament, where she won the team gold, all-around title and placed first on the vault. A year later, Bicherova won the team gold and all-around gold at the 1981 World Championships, starting a series of major international successes, which included the all-around title at both the 1982 World Cup and the 1983 European Championships. She didn't compete at the boycotted 1984 Summer Olympics and also missed the Friendship Games. Olga's youthful appearance at the 1981 Gymnastics Championship caused many to question her age (supposedly 15), and hence her eligibility to compete.[1]

Bicherova was an Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. Due to an elbow injury, she retired from gymnastics in 1988 and worked as a coach for some time. She married fellow Soviet gymnast Valentin Mogilny.

Competitive history

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Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
1978 Junior Prague-Moscow Dual Meet1st place, gold medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
1979 Junior Friendship Tournament1st place, gold medalist(s)95
Junior GDR-USSR Dual Meet2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Junior USSR Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Junior USSR Cup52nd place, silver medalist(s)
1980 Junior Friendship Tournament1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Junior GDR-USSR Dual Meet7
Junior USSR Championships3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)
TBS Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
Senior
1981 Chunichi Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
European Championships234
Junior Friendship Tournament1st place, gold medalist(s)
Moscow Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)
Schoolchildren's Spartakiade1st place, gold medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)6
Tokyo Cup1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Championships43rd place, bronze medalist(s)4
World Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)8
1982 Budapest Invitational1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Cup Final1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
USA-USSR Dual Meet7
1983
European Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Cup182nd place, silver medalist(s)
World Championships1st place, gold medalist(s)5
1985 Summer Universiade1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Championships9
USSR Cup10
1986 Leningrad International62nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
USSR Championships546
USSR Cup5
USSR Spartakiade46
1987 USA-USSR Dual Meet1st place, gold medalist(s)8
1988 Champions All10

[2]

References

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  1. "Olga Bicherova (URS)". Gymnastics Greats. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010.
  2. "Olga Bicherova (USSR)". Gymn Forum. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
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