Russia, Gymnast
June 1,
1960 – December, 22, 2006.
Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. Her career was on the rise and she was widely touted as the next great gymnastics star until 1979 when a broken leg left her out of several competitions, and the recovery from that injury combined with pressure to master a dangerous and difficult tumbling move (the Thomas salto) caused her to break her neck just two weeks before the opening of the 1980 Summer Olympics, leaving her permanently quadriplegic just one month past the age of 20.
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