Lyasan Utiasheva

Utiasheva was known for her extreme flexibility, her emphasis in point of landing on high relevé in her backsplit pivots led to a career ending injury.

She then competed at the 2001 World Cup in Berlin and won gold medals in All-around and the individual apparatus finals in clubs, ball, rope and hoop.

[3] At the 2001 World Games in Akita, Japan, Utiasheva won four silver medals behind teammate Irina Tchachina in event finals for rope, hoop, ball and clubs.

She was a member of the Russian team that won gold at the 2001 World Championships in Madrid but they were later disqualified due to Alina Kabaeva and Irina Tchachina testing positive for a banned diuretic.

She underwent surgery and returned to the sport briefly in 2004 but, unable to perform her jumps, she retired from competition and completed her career in 2006.

Utiasheva in a gala performance
Utiasheva in a gala show