Anna Pavlova (gymnast)

Anna Pavlova
Pavlova at the 2008 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Anna Anatolyevna Pavlova
Nickname(s)	Anya, Pavs
Country represented	Azerbaijan
Former countries represented	Russia
Born	(1987-09-06) 6 September 1987 Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Russian SSR, Soviet Union
Hometown	Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Russia
Height	152 cm (5 ft 0 in)
Weight	43 kg (95 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	2000–2008 (Russia) 2013–2015 (Azerbaijan)
Club	Dinamo
Head coach(es)	Nataliya Pavlova
Assistant coach(es)	Leonid Arkaev
Music	2008: "Exodus" by Maksim 2006: "Allegretto" by Bond 2004: "Winter" by Bond
Retired	15 December 2015
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 0 2 World Championships 0 0 1 World Cup Final 0 0 1 European Championships 0 5 2 European Team Championships 1 0 0 Total 1 5 6 Representing Azerbaijan European Championships 2014 Sofia Vault FIG World Cup 2014 Ljubljana Uneven Bars Representing Russia Olympic Games 2004 Athens Team 2004 Athens Vault World Championships 2006 Aarhus Team World Cup Final 2004 Birmingham Vault Goodwill Games 2001 Brisbane Balance Beam European Championships 2004 Amsterdam Vault 2005 Debrecen All-around 2005 Debrecen Vault 2008 Clermont Team 2004 Amsterdam Team 2005 Debrecen Balance beam European Team Championships 2003 Moscow Team

Anna Anatolyevna Pavlova (Russian: А́нна Анато́льевна Па́влова; born 6 September 1987) is a Russian-born artistic gymnast who won two bronze medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and represented Russia in other international competitions. In 2002 she won the Russian National Championships.

Pavlova competed for Azerbaijan from 2013, winning silver at the 2014 European Championships on vault. She was well known for her balletic style and clean technique. Pavlova retired in 2015 at the age of 28.

Career

2000–2002

Pavlova first emerged on the international gymnastics scene in 2000, winning a gold medal on the uneven bars at the Junior European Championships. Although she was too young to compete as a senior at the World Championships in 2001, she was allowed to participate in the Goodwill Games, where she earned a silver medal on the balance beam. In 2001 Pavlova won the junior women's nationals.

In 2002, still too young to compete internationally as a senior, Pavlova won the Russian National Championships. She earned four medals, including team, vault and all-around gold, at the Junior European Championships that year.

2003

Pavlova competed at the 2003 World Championships during her first year as a senior gymnast, and the Russian team finished sixth. Pavlova did not earn an individual medal; she had qualified for the individual all-around, vault and floor finals, but mistakes prevented her from placing among the top three.

2004

In 2004, Pavlova competed in the European Championships team competition. She fell from the uneven bars, which she was a favorite to win, and did not qualify for the all-around. Later that year, Pavlova claimed the Russian national title and made the Russian Olympic team.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, Pavlova had her best performance to date. The Russian team fought their way back onto the medal podium, finishing third behind Romania and the United States. In the individual all-around, she placed fourth and missed the bronze medal by a fraction, 0.025, behind China's Zhang Nan. Pavlova won an individual bronze medal on the vault during the event finals, narrowly missing silver, whilst a mistake in beam finals cost her a medal. She finished fourth behind Romania's Alexandra Georgiana Eremia. Her floor music at the Olympics was "Winter" by Bond.

2005–2006

Pavlova is one of the few Russian gymnasts from the 2004 Olympic team who chose to continue competing; she won silver all-around at the 2005 European Championships. She also competed in the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, where she qualified to the all-around final, as well as the vault and beam apparatus finals. The following year, Pavlova competed at the 2006 World Championships, where she won a bronze medal with the Russian team. She once again qualified to the all-around, vault and beam finals.

2008

Pavlova was named to the Russian Olympic team for the 2008 Summer Olympics. On 10 August 2008, in the preliminary round, she performed her floor routine to "Exodus" by Maksim. She qualified fifth for the all-around final and also made the finals on vault, beam and floor. In the team final, Russia finished fourth; Romania won the bronze. In the vault final, Pavlova scored 0 on her second vault because she started before the green light was lit. In the floor final, she was still unsettled from the vault competition and did not perform well. Two days later, she finished fourth in the balance beam final, 0.050 behind China's Cheng Fei.

Pavlova (centre) at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing

In November 2008, Pavlova tore two ligaments in her knee during her beam dismount at the DTB World Cup event in Stuttgart. Surgery was required to reattach the ligaments. Pavlova told a Russian sports website, "I hope, of course, that I'll be able to return to gymnastics, but I don't have full confidence in that yet."

Before her injury, Pavlova had placed third on vault in Stuttgart. At the time of the injury, she was ranked third in the world on beam and vault.

2009–2010

In August 2009, Pavlova resumed training. At the end of September, she began competing at the local level. She participated in the All Russia Dinamo competition and won gold on the uneven bars and bronze on the balance beam. After having competed at several local competitions, her first big meet was scheduled to be the 2009 Voronin Memorial. Her father died just a few days before the event, and she had to withdraw to be with family.

Pavlova appeared at the 2010 Russian Nationals in March with a heavily bandaged knee. Although she did not compete full-difficulty routines, she placed a respectable 10th in the individual all-around, and she won the gold medal with her team, the Central Federal District. She posted the highest score on vault to qualify for the event final, where she finished 5th.

2011

In 2011, Pavlova competed in the 2011 Trnava Cup, finishing second behind Romanian Larisa Iordache. Later that year, she competed in the Voronin Cup, finishing 5th in the all-around. She finished third in vault finals, despite a fall on her second vault, a layout Podkopayeva (Yurchenko 1/2 turn on, layout front somersault 1/2). Later that day, she finished 3rd again on beam, despite a near-fall on her 2.5 twist dismount.

Nationality change

"The decision to move to another team appeared quite recently. I was training hard, competing, I was trying hard, but despite my results I have provided during the selection competitions for the past several years, I haven’t been included even into the reserve for the Russian National team, not mentioning the selection for the international competitions."

—Sportbox, 2013

Pavlova began to compete for Azerbaijan in November 2013, saying that Russian gymnastics did not give her sufficient scope. She said that she had always been interested in international competition, and Russian gymnastics did not give her the opportunities she wanted. The Russian national coaches had not selected her for any major international meet since her knee surgery at the end of 2008.

2014

Pavlova was selected to compete at the 2014 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships along with another former Russian gymnast, Yulia Inshina. She qualified second into the vault finals behind Giulia Steingruber with a score of 14.516. In the vault finals, she scored a 14.583 which earned her the silver medal. This was her first medal at a major international meet since 2008 and the first medal she won competing for Azerbaijan. This was also Azerbaijan's first ever medal at the European Gymnastics Championships.

2015: Retirement

On 15 December 2015, it was announced that Pavlova would retire from elite gymnastics. She has expressed desire to continue in the sport, as a gymnastics coach with her mother.

Floor music

• 2008–2010: "Exodus" by Maksim Mrvica
• 2006–2007: "Juno and Avos" by Alexei Rybnikov
• 2006: "Allegretto" by Bond
• 2004–2005: "Wintersun" by Bond
• 2003: "Korobushka" by Bond
• 2000: "Smuglyanka" by Shvedov

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2003	European Team Gymnastics Championships	1st
	World Championships	6th	10th	5th			7th
2004	European Championships	3rd		2nd
	Olympic Games	3rd	4th	3rd		4th
	World Cup Final			3rd		8th
2005	European Championships		2nd	2nd		3rd
	World Championships		7th	5th		6th
2006	World Championships	3rd	19th	5th		4th
	World Cup Final			4th		4th
2008	European Championships	2nd
	Olympic Games	4th	7th	8th		4th	8th
2011	National Championships		2nd	2nd	6th	6th	6th
	Russian Cup		8th	1st
2012	National Championships	2nd	5th	1st		6th	8th
	Russian Cup	5th	5th	1st		5th	5th
2013	National Championships	1st	7th	3rd		5th	4th
	Gym Festival Trnava		2nd	2nd	3rd	3rd	1st
	Russian Cup	3rd	3rd	8th		2nd	4th
	Voronin Cup	2nd	2nd	1st	2nd	3rd	3rd
2014	Ljubljana World Cup				1st	4th
	European Championships			2nd
	Gym Festival Trnava		1st	1st	3rd	1st	4th
	International Bosphorus Tournament		1st	1st	1st	1st
	World Championships
	Voronin Cup	4th	3rd	3rd	3rd	2nd	3rd

• Competitor for Azerbaijan

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
2014	World Championships	Nanning	Team			30	196.328
			All-Around			70	51.098
			Vault			27	12.699
			Uneven Bars			82	12.933
			Balance Beam			123	12.166
			Floor Exercise			48	13.166
	European Championships	Sofia	Team			16	147.729
			Vault	2	14.583	2	14.516
			Uneven Bars			41	12.800
			Balance Beam			39	12.566
			Floor Exercise			40	12.733

• Competitor for Russia

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing	Team	4	180.625	3	244.400
			All-Around	7	60.825	5	60.900
			Vault	8	7.812	5	15.275
			Uneven Bars			35	14.600
			Balance Beam	4	15.900	6	15.825
			Floor Exercise	8	14.125	7	15.125
	European Championships	Clermont-Ferrand	Team	2	179.475	2	176.425
			Vault	5	14.337	3	14.712
			Balance Beam			13	14.750
			Floor Exercise	5	14.875	7	14.875
2006	World Cup Final	São Paulo	Vault	4	14.725
			Balance Beam	4	15.150
	World Championships	Aarhus	Team	3	177.325	4	234.800
			All-Around	19	57.625	15	58.425
			Vault	5	14.975	7	14.700
			Uneven Bars			36	14.350
			Balance Beam	4	15.275	5	15.525
			Floor Exercise			69	13.700
2005	World Championships	Melbourne	All-Around	7	36.387	8	36.174
			Vault	5	9.237	5	9.312
			Uneven Bars			47	8.362
			Balance Beam	6	8.762	4	9.350
			Floor Exercise			14	9.125
	European Championships	Debrecen	All-Around	2	37.074	8	35.586
			Vault	2	9.312	1	9.356
			Uneven Bars			38	8.312
			Balance Beam	3	9.325	2	9.287
			Floor Exercise			14	8.600
2004	World Cup Final	Birmingham	Vault	3	9.418
			Balance Beam	8	8.850
	Olympic Games	Athens	Team	3	113.235	4	149.420
			All-Around	4	38.024	7	37.711
			Vault	3	9.475	5	9.437
			Uneven Bars			46	9.237
			Balance Beam	4	9.587	4	9.637
			Floor Exercise			19	9.400
	European Championships	Amsterdam	Team	3	110.423
			All-Around			11	35.875
			Vault	2	9.381	3	9.450
			Uneven Bars			50	8.225
			Balance Beam			12	8.950
			Floor Exercise			9	9.200
2003	World Championships	Anaheim	Team	6	108.985	5	145.572
			All-Around	10	36.736	6	36.812
			Vault	5	9.356	3	9.431
			Uneven Bars			76	8.712
			Balance Beam			13	9.325
			Floor Exercise	7	9.237	8	9.350

See also

• List of Olympic female gymnasts for Russia

External links

• Anna Pavlova at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Anna Pavlova at Olympics.com
• Anna Pavlova at Olympic.org (archived)
• Anna Pavlova at Olympedia
• Anna Pavlova First Official Site (under construction)
• Current Official Website
• Anna Pavlova at YouTube