Tatiana GUTSU

Born into a Ukrainian family of Moldovan descent, Tatiana Gutsu first started in gymnastics at age of six and became a member of the Soviet national team in 1988. Her first major international competition was the 1991 World Championships, where she won the team title and added silvers in the uneven bars and balance beam. In early 1992, Gutsu won the all-around, vault, and balance beam titles at the European Championships and established herself as one of the favorites for the Olympic all-around title. But at the Olympic preliminaries, Gutsu fell from the balance beam, qualifying ninth in all-around. As only three competitors from each country were allowed in the final, and because of Gutsu’s fall, three other competitors from the Unified Team had already placed higher, so Gutsu did not qualify. But the team coaches felt that Gutsu had a better chance of bringing home all-around gold than her teammates Svetlana Boginskaya and Roza Galiyeva. They decided to keep Boginskaya, as she was too famous and there would be a scandal, so they told Galiyeva to forfeit her place in the final so that Hutsu could compete. Galiyeva was forced to claim a severe knee injury, which was “verified” by the team physician. So Gutsu went onto the final, where she won a gold .012 points ahead of American Shannon Miller. Gutsu retired from sports due to injuries shortly after the 1992 Olympics. After her retirement, Hutsu moved to the United States and settled in Ohio, where she coached gymnastics. After gaining US citizenship in 2002, Gutsu tried a comeback to compete at the 2003 World Championships for her new country, but without success.