Larisa Petrik

Larisa Petrik
— Gymnast —
Petrik in 1966
Personal information
Full name	Larisa Leonidovna Petrik
Born	28 August 1949 Dolinsk, Sakhalin, Russia
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Club	Dynamo Vitebsk
Medal record Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City Team 1968 Mexico City Floor exercise 1968 Mexico city Balance beam European Championships 1965 Sofia Balance beam

Larisa Leonidovna Petrik (Russian: Лариса Леонидовна Петрик; born 28 August 1949) is a former Soviet gymnast and Olympic champion. Petrik competed at the 1966 World Championships where she shared in the team silver medal (gold went to the Czechoslovaks) and earned an individual bronze medal on the beam. She also competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where she received a gold medal in floor exercise (shared with Věra Čáslavská), a gold medal in team combined exercises, and a bronze medal in balance beam.^[1][2] Her gold medal on floor was very controversial because originally, Čáslavská won outright. After the competition was concluded, Petrik's prelims scores were changed to let her tie with Čáslavská, an action which caused Čáslavská to publicly defy the Soviets who had recently invaded her home country.

After marrying the Olympic gymnast Viktor Klimenko she changed her last name to Klimenko (Russian: Клименко).^[2] She has two sons: Vladimir and Viktor; Vladimir is a gymnast and Viktor is a ballet dancer.

References

1. "1968 Summer Olympics – Mexico City, Mexico – Gymnastics" databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on October 20, 2008)
2. "Larisa Petrik". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.