Anna Pavlova (gymnast)

Anna Anatolyevna Pavlova(Russian:А́нна Анато́льевна Па́влова; born 6 September 1987) is a Russian-bornartistic gymnastwho won twobronze medalsat the2004 Olympic GamesinAthens, and represented Russia in other international competitions. In 2002 she won theRussian National Championships.
Pavlova competed forAzerbaijanfrom 2013, winning silver at the2014 European Championshipson vault. She was well known for her balletic style and clean technique.Pavlova retired in 2015 at the age of 28.
Pavlova first emerged on the international gymnastics scene in 2000, winning a gold medal on the uneven bars at the Junior European Championships. Although she was too young to compete as a senior at theWorld Championshipsin 2001, she was allowed to participate in theGoodwill Games, where she earned asilver medalon thebalance beam. In 2001 Pavlova won the junior women's nationals.
In 2002, still too young to compete internationally as a senior, Pavlova won the Russian National Championships. She earned four medals, including team, vault and all-around gold, at the Junior European Championships that year.
Pavlova competed at the2003 World Championshipsduring her first year as a senior gymnast, and the Russian team finished sixth. Pavlova did not earn an individual medal; she had qualified for the individual all-around, vault and floor finals, but mistakes prevented her from placing among the top three.
In 2004, Pavlova competed in the European Championships team competition. She fell from theuneven bars, which she was a favorite to win, and did not qualify for the all-around. Later that year, Pavlova claimed the Russian national title and made theRussian Olympic team.
At the2004 Summer OlympicsinAthens, Greece, Pavlova had her best performance to date. TheRussianteam fought their way back onto the medal podium, finishing third behindRomaniaand theUnited States. In the individual all-around, she placed fourth and missed the bronze medal by a fraction, 0.025, behind China'sZhang Nan. Pavlova won an individual bronze medal on the vault during the event finals, narrowly missing silver, whilst a mistake in beam finals cost her a medal. She finished fourth behind Romania'sAlexandra Georgiana Eremia. Her floor music at the Olympics was "Winter" byBond.
Pavlova is one of the few Russian gymnasts from the 2004 Olympic team who chose to continue competing; she won silver all-around at the2005 European Championships. She also competed in the2005 World ChampionshipsinMelbourne, Australia, where she qualified to the all-around final, as well as the vault and beam apparatus finals. The following year, Pavlova competed at the2006 World Championships, where she won a bronze medal with the Russian team. She once again qualified to the all-around, vault and beam finals.
Pavlova was named to theRussian Olympic teamfor the2008 Summer Olympics. On 10 August 2008, in the preliminary round, she performed her floor routine to "Exodus" by Maksim. She qualified fifth for the all-around final and also made the finals on vault, beam and floor. In theteam final, Russia finished fourth;Romaniawon the bronze. In thevault final, Pavlova scored 0 on her second vault because she started before the green light was lit. In thefloor final, she was still unsettled from the vault competition and did not perform well. Two days later, she finished fourth in thebalance beam final, 0.050 behind China'sCheng Fei.
In November 2008, Pavlova tore two ligaments in her knee during her beam dismount at the DTB World Cup event in Stuttgart. Surgery was required to reattach the ligaments. Pavlova told a Russian sports website, "I hope, of course, that I'll be able to return to gymnastics, but I don't have full confidence in that yet."
Before her injury, Pavlova had placed third on vault inStuttgart.At the time of the injury, she was ranked third in the world on beam and vault.
In August 2009, Pavlova resumed training.At the end of September, she began competing at the local level. She participated in the All Russia Dinamo competition and won gold on the uneven bars and bronze on the balance beam. After having competed at several local competitions, her first big meet was scheduled to be the 2009 Voronin Memorial. Her father died just a few days before the event, and she had to withdraw to be with family.
Pavlova appeared at the 2010 Russian Nationals in March with a heavily bandaged knee. Although she did not compete full-difficulty routines, she placed a respectable 10th in the individual all-around, and she won the gold medal with her team, the Central Federal District. She posted the highest score on vault to qualify for the event final, where she finished 5th.
In 2011, Pavlova competed in the 2011 Trnava Cup, finishing second behind RomanianLarisa Iordache. Later that year, she competed in the Voronin Cup, finishing 5th in the all-around. She finished third in vault finals, despite a fall on her second vault, a layout Podkopayeva (Yurchenko 1/2 turn on, layout front somersault 1/2). Later that day, she finished 3rd again on beam, despite a near-fall on her 2.5 twist dismount.
Pavlova began to compete for Azerbaijan in November 2013, saying that Russian gymnastics did not give her sufficient scope. She said that she had always been interested in international competition, and Russian gymnastics did not give her the opportunities she wanted.The Russian national coaches had not selected her for any major international meet since her knee surgery at the end of 2008.
Pavlova was selected to compete at the2014 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championshipsalong with another former Russian gymnast,Yulia Inshina. She qualified second into the vault finals behindGiulia Steingruberwith a score of 14.516. In the vault finals, she scored a 14.583 which earned her the silver medal. This was her first medal at a major international meet since 2008 and the first medal she won competing for Azerbaijan. This was also Azerbaijan's first ever medal at the European Gymnastics Championships.
On 15 December 2015, it was announced that Pavlova would retire from elite gymnastics.She has expressed desire to continue in the sport, as a gymnastics coach with her mother.