Irina Deriugina

Deriugina was born to Ukrainian athletes from Eastern Ukraine: Albina Deriugina, a gymnast, and Ivan Deriuhin, a pentathlete. At age ten, in 1968, Deriugina entered the National Ballet School. From 1976 to 1980, she studied at the Kyiv National Institute of Physical Culture. Deriugina was a member of the Soviet rhythmic gymnastics squad from 1972 until her retirement from the sport in 1982, after which she was appointed the Ukrainian national coach.

From 1988 to 1992, Deriugina was in charge of the rhythmic gymnastics technical organizing committee, serving as competition director. At her Kyiv school, which she ran with her mother until Albina Deriugina's death, she trains forty high-level gymnasts. Two former gymnasts have alleged that conditions at the school were abusive.^[1][2] Since 1992, they have also organized the annual rhythmic tournament, the Deriugina Cup.

Deriugina was a judge at the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona. She was involved in a judging scandal at the 2000 European Championships in Zaragoza, Spain, when she and five other judges were found to have discriminated against Ukrainian gymnast Olena Vitrychenko in their scoring compared to other gymnasts. As a result, the six judges were suspended for one year, and none of the judges at the European Championships were allowed to judge at the 2000 Summer Olympics.^[3][4]

Deriugina was married to Oleh Blokhin, a Ukrainian football striker and coach who was European Footballer of the Year in 1975. They have a daughter, Iryna Blokhina, a pop artist, socialite, and choreographer for the Deriugins' School's students.