Nikolay Andrianov

Gymnast Nikolay Andrianov, who took up gymnastics in 1964 when he was 12 years old, won more Olympic medals than any male gymnast while representing the Soviet Union. Between 1972 and 1980 he won seven gold medals (six individual, one team), five silver and three bronze for a total of a record 15 medals. He won three Olympic medals in 1972, seven in 1976, and five in 1980. Andrianov also recited the Athlete’s Oath at the 1980 Moscow Olympics opening ceremony, which was his last gymnastics competition. At the World Championships Andrianov won gold on the rings, his best event, in 1974, the all-around and rings in 1978, and the team event in 1979. He also won seven silver medals at the World Championships. His international career started at the 1971 European Championships where he was a late substitute but won six medals, including a bronze in the all-around. In individual European Championships he eventually won eight gold, six silver, and two bronze medals, including the all-around championship in 1975. Andrianov was also World Cup champion in both 1975 and 1977 (shared with Vladimir Markelov in 1977). Domestically, Andrianov won eleven Soviet titles, including the all-around titles in 1972-1974. In 1976 he was also selected as the best Soviet sportsman of the year.

After finishing his sporting career after the 1980 Olympics, Andrianov and his wife Lyubov Burda, who won golds in gymnastics team event at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, worked as children’s gymnastics coaches and from 1981-92, Andrianov was the head coach of the Soviet national men’s junior team. From 1990-92 Andrianov was also the head coach of the Soviet national gymnastics team and was the president of the Soviet and later the Russian Gymnastics Federation in 1990-93. From 1994-2002 Andrianov worked as a children’s coach in Japan and thanks to his work, Japan rose to be one of the leading gymnastics nations of the world again in the 2000s, a position which it had lost in the 1990s. He was also named twice as the best gymnastics coach of the year in Japan. In 2002, Andrianov returned to Russia and worked as the director of the N.G. Tolkachov Specialized Children and Youth sports school in his native Vladimir, where he first began the sport as a youth. In 2010, Andrianov was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disorder multiple system atrophy and in his final months he was unable to move his arms or legs or talk. He died in March 2011 at 58-years-old.