Two time Russian Olympic gymnastics champion, Maria Filatova, now age 50, is battling to regain her official Russian passport/citizenship status, so she can travel outside of the United States and return to her home town and home country. …
She currently lives and owns a gym in Rochester, New York and has applied unsuccessfully for a new Russian passport a number of times. Her application has always been rejected with the stated reason being “lack of merit.” There are many things that one might say about Maria Filatova, but none of them could ever involve her displaying a lack of merit. …
Leave a comment on that post if you have any special insight into the Russian passport process.
Maria Filatova … (born July 19, 1961, Leninsk-Kuznetsky, Siberia) is a retired Soviet gymnast who competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.
… She was one of the first female gymnasts to successfully compete a double back somersault on floor in 1975. …
In fact, a new profile by Elizabeth Booth and Vladimir Zaglada credits Maria as one of the greatest innovators all-time, though many of these firsts were seen only in the former Soviet Union.
Maria Filatova’s innovations:
Vault Tsukuhara with full twist (1976 USSR Nationals EF)
Uneven Bars From giant circle, cross hands half turn into straddle
forward somersault to hang on high barBeam Flic-flac layout/two layouts in a row
Beam dismount Flic-flac x 2 (2 feet) – double twist/double back/double pike
Floor Round off-flic flac – double back/double pike/full-in back out (the first on the Soviet team)
… Many people believe that Maria merited all around gold at her final competition, the 1981 World Championships. Having ‘set the table’ for the Soviet team, her qualification scores did not give her the same bonus as her rivals. I prefer, though, to think of Filatova the way she is described in the Russian Gymnastics Hall of Fame : ‘the strongest gymnast of the 1970s’. …
read more on Rewriting Russian Gymnastics – Maria Filatova: Russian Sparrow Made in the USSR
Hers is a fascinating story. A tiny girl from remote Siberia joining the ranks of Tourischeva, Kim, Saadi and Korbut.
Click PLAY or watch her Floor routine 1980 on YouTube.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 