Anna Anatolyevna Pavlova (; born 6 September 1987) is a Russian-born artistic gymnast who won two bronze medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and represented Russia in other international competitions. In 2002 she won the Russian National Championships.
Pavlova competed for Azerbaijan from 2013, winning silver at the 2014 European Championships on vault. She was well known for her balletic style and clean technique. Pavlova retired in 2015 at the age of 28.
Career
2000–2002
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 the World Championships in 2001, she was allowed to participate in the Goodwill Games, where she earned a silver medal on the balance beam.
In 2002, still too young to compete internationally as a senior, Pavlova won the Russian National Championships.
2003
Pavlova competed at the 2003 World Championships during 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.
2004
In 2004, Pavlova competed in the European Championships team competition. She fell from the uneven 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 the Russian Olympic team.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, Pavlova had her best performance to date. The Russian team fought their way back onto the medal podium, finishing third behind Romania and the United States. In the individual all-around, she placed fourth and missed the bronze medal by a fraction, 0.025, behind China's Zhang 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's Alexandra Georgiana Eremia. Her floor music at the Olympics was "Winter" by Bond.
2005–2006
Pavlova is one of the few Russian gymnasts from the 2004 Olympic team who chose to continue competing; she won silver all-around at the 2005 European Championships. She also competed in the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, where she qualified to the all-around final, as well as the vault and beam apparatus finals. The following year, Pavlova competed at the 2006 World Championships, where she won a bronze medal with the Russian team. She once again qualified to the all-around, vault and beam finals.
2008
Pavlova was named to the Russian Olympic team for the 2008 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 the team final, Russia finished fourth; Romania won the bronze. In the vault final, Pavlova scored 0 on her second vault because she started before the green light was lit. In the floor final, she was still unsettled from the vault competition and did not perform well. Two days later, she finished fourth in the balance beam final, 0.050 behind China's Cheng Fei.thumb|260px|Pavlova (centre) at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing|left
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 in Stuttgart. At the time of the injury, she was ranked third in the world on beam and vault.
2009–2010
In August 2009, Pavlova resumed training.
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.
2011
In 2011, Pavlova competed in the 2011 Trnava Cup, finishing second behind Romanian Larisa 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).
Nationality change
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. She has expressed desire to continue in the sport, as a gymnastics coach with her mother.
Floor music
- 2008–2010: "Exodus" by Maksim Mrvica
- 2006–2007: "Juno and Avos" by Alexei Rybnikov
- 2006: "Allegretto" by Bond
- 2004–2005: "Wintersun" by Bond
- 2003: "Korobushka" by Bond
- 2000: "Smuglyanka" by Shvedov
Competitive history
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%;"
|-
! align=center | Year
! align=center | Event
! style="width:30px;" | Team
! style="width:30px;" | AA
! style="width:30px;" | VT
! style="width:30px;" | UB
! style="width:30px;" | BB
! style="width:30px;" | FX
|-
! colspan="8" | Representing Russia
|-
|rowspan="2"|2003|| align=left|European Team Championships || || || || || ||
|-bgcolor=#CCCCFF
| align=left | World Championships || 6 || 10 || 5 || || || 7
|-
|rowspan="4" | 2004
|- bgcolor=#F5F6CE
| align=left| European Championships || || || || || ||
|-bgcolor=98FB98
| align=left|Olympic Games || || 4 || || || 4 ||
|-bgcolor=#FAEBD7
| align=left|World Cup Final || || || || || 8 ||
|-
|rowspan="3"|2005
|- bgcolor=#F5F6CE
| align=left|European Championships || || || || || ||
|-bgcolor=#CCCCFF
| align=left|World Championships || || 7 || 5 || || 6 ||
|-
|rowspan="3" | 2006
|- bgcolor=#CCCCFF
| align=left|World Championships || || 19 || 5 || || 4 ||
|-bgcolor=#FAEBD7
| align=left|World Cup Final || || || 4 || || 4 ||
|-
|rowspan="3"|2008
|- bgcolor=#F5F6CE
| align=left|European Championships || || || || || ||
|-bgcolor=98FB98
| align=left|Olympic Games || 4 || 7 || 8 || || 4 || 8
|-
|rowspan="2"|2011||align=left|National Championships || || || || 6 || 6 || 6
|-
| align=left|Russian Cup || || 8 || || || ||
|-
|rowspan="2"|2012||align=left|National Championships || || 5 || || || 6 || 8
|-
| align=left|Russian Cup || 5 || 5 || || || 5 || 5
|-
! colspan="8" | Representing Azerbaijan
|-
|rowspan="4" | 2013||align=left|National Championships || || 7 || || || 5 || 4
|-
| align=left|Gym Festival Trnava || || || || || ||
|-
| align=left|Russian Cup || || || 8 || || || 4
|-
| align=left|Voronin Cup || || || || || ||
|-
|rowspan="6"|2014||align=left|Ljubljana World Cup || || || || || 4 ||
|- bgcolor=#F5F6CE
| align=left | European Championships || || || || || ||
|-
| align=left|Gym Festival Trnava || || || || || || 4
|-
| align=left|International Bosphorus Tournament || || || || || ||
|-bgcolor=#CCCCFF
| align=left|World Championships || 30 || 70 || || || ||
|-
| align=left|Voronin Cup || 4 || || || || ||
|}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Year
! Competition Description
! Location
! Apparatus
! Rank-Final
! Score-Final
! Rank-Qualifying
! Score-Qualifying
|-
| rowspan=11 | 2014
| rowspan=6 | World Championships
| rowspan=6 | Nanning
| Team
|
|
| 30
| 196.328
|-
| All-Around
|
|
| 70
| 51.098
|-
| Vault
|
|
| 27
| 12.699
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 82
| 12.933
|-
| Balance Beam
|
|
| 123
| 12.166
|-
| Floor Exercise
|
|
| 48
| 13.166
|-
| rowspan=5 | European Championships
| rowspan=5 | Sofia
| Team
|
|
| 16
| 147.729
|-
| Vault
| bgcolor=silver | 2
| 14.583
| 2
| 14.516
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 41
| 12.800
|-
| Balance Beam
|
|
| 39
| 12.566
|-
| Floor Exercise
|
|
| 40
| 12.733
|-
|}
- Competitor for Russia
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Year
! Competition Description
! Location
! Apparatus
! Rank-Final
! Score-Final
! Rank-Qualifying
! Score-Qualifying
|-
| rowspan=10 | 2008
|bgcolor=98FB98 rowspan=6 | Olympic Games
|bgcolor=98FB98 rowspan=6 | Beijing
| Team
| 4
| 180.625
| 3
| 244.400
|-
| All-Around
| 7
| 60.825
| 5
| 60.900
|-
| Vault
| 8
| 7.812
| 5
| 15.275
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 35
| 14.600
|-
| Balance Beam
| 4
| 15.900
| 6
| 15.825
|-
| Floor Exercise
| 8
| 14.125
| 7
| 15.125
|-
| rowspan=4 | European Championships
| rowspan=4 | Clermont-Ferrand
| Team
| bgcolor=silver | 2
| 179.475
| 2
| 176.425
|-
| Vault
| 5
| 14.337
| 3
| 14.712
|-
| Balance Beam
|
|
| 13
| 14.750
|-
| Floor Exercise
| 5
| 14.875
| 7
| 14.875
|-
| rowspan=8 | 2006
| rowspan=2 | World Cup Final
| rowspan=2 | São Paulo
| Vault
| 4
| 14.725
|
|
|-
| Balance Beam
| 4
| 15.150
|
|
|-
| rowspan=6 | World Championships
| rowspan=6 | Aarhus
| Team
| bgcolor=cc9966 | 3
| 177.325
| 4
| 234.800
|-
| All-Around
| 19
| 57.625
| 15
| 58.425
|-
| Vault
| 5
| 14.975
| 7
| 14.700
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 36
| 14.350
|-
| Balance Beam
| 4
| 15.275
| 5
| 15.525
|-
| Floor Exercise
|
|
| 69
| 13.700
|-
| rowspan=10 | 2005
| rowspan=5 | World Championships
| rowspan=5 | Melbourne
| All-Around
| 7
| 36.387
| 8
| 36.174
|-
| Vault
| 5
| 9.237
| 5
| 9.312
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 47
| 8.362
|-
| Balance Beam
| 6
| 8.762
| 4
| 9.350
|-
| Floor Exercise
|
|
| 14
| 9.125
|-
| rowspan=5 | European Championships
| rowspan=5 | Debrecen
| All-Around
| bgcolor=silver | 2
| 37.074
| 8
| 35.586
|-
| Vault
| bgcolor=silver | 2
| 9.312
| 1
| 9.356
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 38
| 8.312
|-
| Balance Beam
| bgcolor=cc9966 | 3
| 9.325
| 2
| 9.287
|-
| Floor Exercise
|
|
| 14
| 8.600
|-
| rowspan=14 | 2004
| rowspan=2 | World Cup Final
| rowspan=2 | Birmingham
| Vault
| bgcolor=cc9966 | 3
| 9.418
|
|
|-
| Balance Beam
| 8
| 8.850
|
|
|-
|bgcolor=98FB98 rowspan=6 | Olympic Games
|bgcolor=98FB98 rowspan=6 | Athens
| Team
| bgcolor=cc9966 | 3
| 113.235
| 4
| 149.420
|-
| All-Around
| 4
| 38.024
| 7
| 37.711
|-
| Vault
| bgcolor=cc9966 | 3
| 9.475
| 5
| 9.437
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 46
| 9.237
|-
| Balance Beam
| 4
| 9.587
| 4
| 9.637
|-
| Floor Exercise
|
|
| 19
| 9.400
|-
| rowspan=6 | European Championships
| rowspan=6 | Amsterdam
| Team
| bgcolor=cc9966 | 3
| 110.423
|
|
|-
| All-Around
|
|
| 11
| 35.875
|-
| Vault
| bgcolor=silver | 2
| 9.381
| 3
| 9.450
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 50
| 8.225
|-
| Balance Beam
|
|
| 12
| 8.950
|-
| Floor Exercise
|
|
| 9
| 9.200
|-
| rowspan=6 | 2003
| rowspan=6 | World Championships
| rowspan=6 | Anaheim
| Team
| 6
| 108.985
| 5
| 145.572
|-
| All-Around
| 10
| 36.736
| 6
| 36.812
|-
| Vault
| 5
| 9.356
| 3
| 9.431
|-
| Uneven Bars
|
|
| 76
| 8.712
|-
| Balance Beam
|
|
| 13
| 9.325
|-
| Floor Exercise
| 7
| 9.237
| 8
| 9.350
|-
|}
See also
- List of Olympic female gymnasts for Russia
- Nationality changes in gymnastics
References
External links
- Anna Pavlova First Official Site (under construction)
- Current Official Website
- Anna Pavlova at YouTube