Name Galina Shamrai Role Olympic athlete | Country represented Soviet Union | |
Full name Galina Yakovlevna Shamrai Born October 5, 1931 (age 92)
Tashkent ( 1931-10-05 ) Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics | ||
Galina Yakovlevna Shamray (Russian: Гали́на Я́ковлевна Шамра́й) (also known as Galina Rudko, Galina Ilyina after marriages; born October 5, 1931) is a retired Soviet gymnast. In 1954, she became the first women's all-around World Champion from the USSR.
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Personal life
Shamrai was born on October 5, 1931, Tashkent, USSR. She graduated from the Lenin Pedagogical Institute of the Moscow Region. She married Anatoly Ilyin, who played for Spartak and became an Olympic champion in football at the 1956 Summer Olympics. The couple had a daughter, Elena, in 1958.
She lives in Moscow.
Career
Shamrai trained at the Iskra club and later at the Burevestnik sports society in Moscow. She began competing at the USSR Championships in 1950, where she placed eighth in the all-around. She was added to the team roster for the 1952 Summer Olympics, which were the first Olympic performance for Soviet athletes. Shamrai did not compete in the event finals, but was 8th in the all-around, contributing to the team's gold. She also won the team's silver in the portable apparatus event. In December of the same year, Shamrai earned the silver medal on the floor exercise at the USSR Championships. She continued a progressive movement upwards in 1953, placing fourth in the all-around at the Nationals.
The 1954 World Championships were the culmination of her competitive career. She won the all-around title, a gold medal in the team competition, a silver on bars and the team's silver in the portable apparatus. She earned one more gold medal on the balance beam, at the 1955 Nationals, and retired in 1956.
In 1957, Shamrai was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor. She worked as a coach at the Spartak club in Moscow and began judging at international gymnastics events in 1975.