Ksenia Afanasyeva

2005

Ksenia Afanasyeva competed at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy. She won the bronze medal in the All-Around competition with a total score of 36.550, behind Vanessa Ferrari of Italy (37.925) and fellow Russian Karina Myasnikova (37.000). In event finals, she placed fourth on vault, and won bronze medals on beam and floor. She also helped her team on their way to winning the gold medal in the team competition.

2006

In April, Afanasyeva competed at the European Championships in Volos, Greece, as part of the Russian team which took gold in the junior team competition. She performed on vault, uneven bars and beam.

2007

In March, Afanasyeva competed at the World Cup event in Paris, France. She placed second on balance beam scoring 15.175.

2008

In April, Afanasyeva competed at the European Championships in Clermont-Ferrand, France. She contributed scores of 14.575 on vault and 14.100 on floor toward the Russian team's second-place finish.

In May, Afanasyeva competed at the World Cup event in Tianjin, China. She placed second on vault scoring 14.350, third on uneven bars scoring 15.075, and fifth on balance beam scoring 15.275.

At the end of May, Afanasyeva competed at the World Cup event in Moscow, Russia. She placed seventh on vault scoring 13.887 and second on floor scoring 14.775.

Beijing Olympics

In August, Afanasyeva competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. In qualifications she placed sixth in the all around with a score of 60.800 but did not advance to the final due to the two per country rule. In the team final, she contributed scores of 15.075 on vault, 14.925 on uneven bars, and 14.375 on floor toward the Russian team's fourth-place finish. In the balance beam final, she placed seventh with a score of 14.825.

2009

In April, Afanasyeva competed at the European Championships in Milan, Italy. She placed second in the all around final with a score of 57.600 and fourth in the uneven bars final scoring 14.650.

Originally, Afanasyeva was on the four gymnast delegation for the 2009 World Championships in London, United Kingdom. She traveled to London but did not compete owing to a back injury.

2010

In April, Afanasyeva competed at the Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne, Australia. She placed third in the all around competition with a score of 57.450. In event finals, she placed third on uneven bars scoring 14.250, fourth on balance beam scoring 14.525, and sixth on floor scoring 13.675.

In May, Afanasyeva competed at the World Cup event in Moscow, Russia. She placed third on balance beam scoring 13.500.

In July, Afanasyeva competed at the Japan Cup in Tokyo, Japan. She won the all around competition with a score of 58.350. She said, "I did all events cleanly, vault in particular."

In October, Afanasyeva competed at the World Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She contributed a score of 14.800 on floor toward the Russian team's first-place finish. In the floor final, she placed eighth with a score of 12.700.

2011

In May, Afanasyeva competed at the World Cup event in Moscow, Russia. She placed second on balance beam scoring 14.200 and second on floor scoring 14.200.

In October, Afanasyeva competed at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In the team final, she contributed scores of 14.800 on vault and 14.633 on floor toward the Russian team's second-place finish. She placed seventh in the all around competition with a score of 56.732 and first on floor with a score of 15.133.

2012

In March, Afanasyeva competed at the Russian National Championships in Penza, Russia. She placed second in the all around competition with a score of 58.387. In event finals, she placed first on balance beam scoring 14.980, and second on floor scoring 14.180. She sustained a small leg injury and said, "I really hope to recover, to have time to prepare and make an impact (at the European Championships). Without this tournament it will be very hard to get to the Olympics. The selection of the team goes through several stages - the Russian championships that we just had, followed by the European championships and Russian Cup."

In June, Afanasyeva competed at the Russian Cup in Penza, Russia. She placed fourth in the all around competition with a score of 56.067.

London Olympics

At the end of July, Afanasyeva competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom and was team captain. She did not consider herself as a rival for one of the Russian spots in the all-around competition, saying "To be honest, I am not so strong in the all-around. I have a good batting average, and if we talk about the Olympics, the main battle for the medals will be led by Aliya Mustafina, Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina. I was recently asked whom I consider the leader of the team. The answer to this question is difficult, because all three gymnasts in their own way are strong, and all three will help the team in the fight for the gold." She described herself as more nervous than the rest of the team, but said "Gymnastics is about beauty and grace. We are strong and beautiful. Our rivals may have upgraded their routines before us. Yet we represent beauty. My girls didn’t surprise me at the European Championships because I see them every day. I know what they are capable of doing."

Afanasyeva scored 15.066 on balance beam and 14.833 on floor during qualification on 29 July. In the team final on 31 July, she contributed scores of 14.833 on balance beam and 14.333 on floor toward the Russian team's second-place finish. In event finals on 7 August, she placed fifth on balance beam scoring 14.583 and sixth on floor, after stepping out of bounds twice and scoring 14.566.

2013

Ksenia Afanasyeva began her year by performing at a gala called "From London to Rio", along with other gymnasts such as Anna Pavlova, Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa and Maria Paseka.

In March, Afanasyeva competed at the Russian National Championships in Penza, Russia. She placed fourth in the all around with a score of 56.850. Afanasyeva contributed scores of 15.000 on vault, 12.750 on balance beam, and 14.450 on floor towards the Central team's first-place finish. In event finals, she placed third on balance beam scoring 13.775 and first on floor scoring 13.600.

Later in March, Afanasyeva competed at the 19th French International in La Roche-sur-Yon, France. She qualified for balance beam and floor with scores of 13.966 and 14.466 respectively. Afanasyeva placed fourth on balance beam with a score of 13.066, and won gold on the floor exercise with a score of 14.633.

In April, Afanasyeva competed at the European Championships in Moscow, Russia. In qualifications, she placed fifth in the all around with a score of 55.099 but did not advance to the final due to the two per country rule. After qualifying in first place with a score of 14.633, Afanasyeva won the gold medal in the floor final with a score of 15.166.

In July, Afanasyeva competed at the 2013 Summer Universiade where she helped Russia finish first in the team final with scores of 15.000 on vault, 12.550 on uneven bars, 14.250 on balance beam, and 14.750 on floor exercise. In doing so, she also qualified second to all around finals behind compatriot Aliya Mustafina, fourth to vault finals, and first to floor finals. She won the all around silver with compatriot Aliya Mustafina taking the gold medal. During vault finals, she debuted her new Amanar vault and performed the same two vaults as teammate Maria Paseka. Afanasyeva however, surprised the crowd and tied for first place with North Korean gymnast Hong Un-Jong with a 15.125 while Paseka placed third. She also won the floor final.

In August, Afanasyeva was named to the Russian team for the World Championships, and did not compete at the Russian Cup to rest for Worlds. However, at the end of August, she underwent surgery for an ankle injury, and missed the World Championships as a result.

In October she appeared at the Gala de Estrellas de las Gimnasias in Mexico, a charity gala, performing her floor routine (with watered-down tumbles) and dancing on the beam to "I Will Survive", alongside gymnasts such as Sandra Izbasa, Andreea Raducan and Diego Hypolito.

2014

In January Afanasyeva underwent a second ankle surgery, as the previous one had not improved her condition. In April she competed at the Russian Championships, where she performed only on the vault and the floor. She helped her team to the gold medal, but withdrew from the vault final after a fall during the team final exacerbated her ankle injury. She underwent yet another surgery, which required her to miss the World Championships for the second consecutive year.

Afanasyeva returned to international competition in late November at the Stuttgart World Cup. She debuted a new floor routine (watered down to three tumbles to help with her recovery) and performed a solid double-twisting Yurchenko vault, helping her team to a silver medal.

In December, she competed at the Voronin Cup, winning gold on floor and silver on vault.

2015

Afanasyeva competed at the Russian Championships in March, winning team and floor exercise gold, and placing fourth on vault.

April saw a return to her pre-injury form, when she travelled to France for the European Championships and was crowned floor champion with a score of 14.733, as well as picking up a bronze medal on the vault after competing an Amanar and a Lopez and scoring 14.866. She admitted in an interview afterwards that she had only successfully performed the Amanar vault twice in her life - once, when she won the vault title at the 2013 Summer Universiade, and the second time in Montpellier, saying "If I didn't dare to try it, I would have had no chance - either I'd win the bronze medal or I'd fall, but nothing ventured nothing gained." She was officially congratulated by politician Vladimir Gruzdev, Governor of Afanasyeva's home region Tula Oblast, who said "The gold medal in the floor exercise was the result of hard work, perseverance and determination. Your countrymen are proud of your achievements! I am confident that a strong character and skill will continue to serve as collateral for your athletic success."

In August she competed at the Batumi International.

In September she competed at the Russian Cup in preparation for the World Championships. She performed well, helping her team to the silver medal, and individually winning gold on floor (14.700), silver on beam (14.333) and bronze on vault (14.334). Following this meet, she was named to the nominative list for the 2015 World Championships.

Afanasyeva looked weak in podium training in Glasgow, and revealed that she was suffering from kidney stones and had spent a week in hospital. The Russian team performed well in qualifications, with Afanasyeva posting a 14.866 on vault and a 14.633 on floor, qualifying fourth individually into the floor final, and helping the team to qualify in second position to the team final. In the team final, the Russians started strongly on vault, with Afanasyeva improving on her qualifying score with a 15.066 for her double-twisting Yurchenko. However, with one fall on bars and three falls on beam, the Russians finished in fourth place and out of the medals, despite Afanasyeva's respectable score of 14.500 on floor. Afanasyeva's final performance at the 2015 World Championships came in the floor final, where she upgraded her difficulty to a 6.4 and scored 15.100 to win the silver medal behind the USA's Simone Biles.

In December she competed at the Toyota International Cup in Japan, along with teammates Maria Paseka, Daria Spiridonova and Viktoria Komova. She finished fifth on the vault, and won the floor final with a 14.500 ahead of Japan's Sae Miyakawa who scored 14.450.

2016

Ksenia Afanasyeva's health problems continued, and in January it was announced that she was undergoing ankle surgery in Munich for the fourth time.

In April she competed at the Russian Championships. Having suffered a rip on the bottom of her foot a few days prior to the competition, she competed only a watered-down floor routine in qualifications and missed the team competition entirely - this didn't hinder her team from winning the gold medal. She came back in event finals with an improved floor routine to share the floor title with Angelina Melnikova, and was announced as part of the Russian team for the European Championships.

Afanasyeva originally intended to compete on vault, beam and floor for the Russians in Bern, but an exacerbation of her ankle injury a few days before the beginning of podium training put paid to her plans. Seda Tutkhalyan was brought in to cover the team on beam and floor, and in the absence of vault superstar Maria Paseka, Afanasyeva competed two vaults in the qualifying round and qualified third into the vault event final. She competed on vault in the team final, helping Russia to the gold medal ahead of Great Britain and France, and then performed again in the vault event final, winning an individual bronze medal to add to Russia's haul.

Another ankle operation beckoned, and in June Afanasyeva found herself once again in Munich. Having originally been announced as part of the Russian team for the Olympic Games in Rio, she was announced as an alternate with Seda Tutkhalyan taking her place on the team. She retired from elite gymnastics on the 21st of July due to suffering from a kidney disease.

Floor music

2005–2006: "Dancing With the Muse"
2007–2008: "Isadora" and "L for Love"
2009: "Ballet" and "Nuclear"
2010–2011: "The Color of the Night"
2011: "Tango in the Night"/"Infiltrado"
2012–2013: "Pulmon", "Ironside" and "Grand Guignol"
2014: "El Tango de Roxane" - José Feliciano, Ewan McGregor, Jacek Koman
2015: "Halo Theme (cover)" - Lindsey Stirling and William Joseph
2015 Worlds: "Puddit" by Al Jarreau

Competitive history

Afanasyeva's gymnastics include strong technique, difficult skills, and consistency. She excels especially on floor where she displays both difficult tumbling elements and difficult dance elements.