Main:Natalia Ziganshina

Natalia Ziganshina
Ziganshina at the 2004 Olympic Games
Country represented	Russia
Born	December 24 1985 (1985-12-24) St. Petersburg, Russian SFSR, USSR
Height	5 ft. 1 in.
Coach	Viktor Gavrichenkov
Current status	Retired

Natalia Kamilovna Ziganshina, (Russian: Наталья Камиловна Зиганшина, born December 24, 1985) is a retired Russian gymnast. She represented Russia at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games. Ziganshina was born into a Tatar family. Her best event was vault. Ziganshina has a younger sister, Gulnara, who also competed in elite gymnastics.

Career

In 2000 Ziganshina was named to the Russian Junior European team. Here she helped the team win a gold medal in the team competition. Individually, she won the all-around bronze medal and a silver medal on uneven bars.

The following year, Ziganshina, a first year senior, made her first World Championship team. At the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, she helped her Russian team win a silver medal in the team competition. In the all-around competition, Ziganshina won the silver medal behind teammate Svetlana Khorkina.

At the 2002 Patras European Championships Ziganshina helped the Russian team win a gold medal in the team final. Individually, she won a gold medal on vault and a silver medal on floor exercise as well as placing 4th in the all-around final. Later that year Ziganshina made her second World Championship team. In Debrecen, Hungary, Ziganshina won the silver medal on vault and placed 7th in the floor exercise final.

Injuries kept Ziganshina out most of the 2003 season. She came back in 2004 to become a member of the 2004 Russian Olympic team. In Athens Ziganshina helped the Russian team to a bronze medal in the team competition but she did not qualify to any individual finals.

Ziganshina continued to compete after the Olympics. In 2005 she placed 6th in the all-around at Russian Championships, which were held in March. In August of that year she competed at the Universiade where she placed 5th in the all-around. Her last international competition was The Trophée Massilia where she won a bronze medal on vault. At the 2006 Russian Championships in March she placed 2nd with the St. Petersburg team and 13th in the all-around. Following this competition, she took a break from gymnastics.

Ziganshina began training again in January of 2007 after almost a year off but did not ever fully come back.

Medal Count

Year	Event	TF	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2000	Paris Junior European Championships	1st	3rd		2nd
2001	Chunichi Cup		6
	Brisbane Goodwill Games				2nd	4
	Ghent World Championships	2nd	2nd
2002	Russian Cup		1st
	Stuttgart World Cup Final						8
	Patras European Championships	1st	4	1st
	Debrecen World Championships			2nd			7
2003	Russian Championships		3rd
2004	Russian Championships		2nd
	Chunichi Cup		9
	Athens Olympic Games	3rd
2005	Russian Championships		6
	Trophée Massilia		14	3rd
	Izmir Summer Universiade	3rd	5
2006	Russian Championships	2nd	13