Olena Vitrychenko

Olena Vitrychenko was introduced to the sport in 1980 when she was four years old by her mother, Nina, herself a former rhythmic gymnast.^[1] Her mother coached her at the Deriugins School in Kyiv,^[1] and beginning in 1997, she trained in the Boris Savlokhov club.^[2] Her mother alleged that they were essentially kicked out of the Deriugins school by not being allowed full training time and rarely being allowed to practice routines with music.^[3]

Vitrychenko made her international debut in 1986. At the 1992 European Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, she won a bronze medal as a member of the Ukrainian group.^[1] At the 1994 World Championships in Paris, she placed 6th in the all-around.^[4]

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Vitrychenko seemed to be a contender for the gold medal, having placed first after preliminaries and second after the semi-finals. She was the only gymnast to perform clean routines on all days of the competition, including during the final; she finished with a good ribbon routine after Kateryna Serebrianska and Yana Batyrshina both dropped their ribbons during the last round of the competition finals. However, she placed third, a result that was controversial.^[2][5] Vitrychenko said in a 1998 interview that she felt "there was a little bit of unfair judging" at the event, though she defended having her own mother judge her at other events, pointing to the hoop final at the 1997 World Championships, where her mother scored her under Natalia Lipkovskaya, who won the final.^[2]

Vitrychenko won the all-around at the 1997 European Championships, where she also won gold in the hoop final,^[6] the 1997 Summer Universiade,^[7] and the 1997 World Championships, where she additionally won three of the event finals.^[2] The next year, she lost both the 1998 European Championships and the 1998 Goodwill Games titles to Alina Kabaeva.^[8] At the 1999 World Championships, she was fifth in the all-around but won the hoop and rope titles with perfect 10 scores.^[9]

At the peak of a long and well-publicized feud with the head of the Ukrainian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, Irina Deriugina, Vitrychenko was placed 19th in the qualification round at the 2000 European Championships in Zaragoza, Spain, and she withdrew in protest.^[3] After an official review determined that certain judges had clearly discriminated against Vitrichenko, Deriugina and five other judges were banned for one year.^[10] The other 26 judges at the event were not allowed to judge the Olympics.^[11]

Afterward, the International Olympic Committee awarded her a spot on the Ukrainian Olympic team. She performed well at the Olympics, finishing in fourth place behind Alina Kabaeva.^[12] She retired in 2000.^[1]

Vitrychenko coached rhythmic gymnastics in Spain for ten years. In March 2013, she began coaching at the Illinois Rhythmic Gymnastic Center.^[1] In 2014, she opened her own gym, which moved to Libertyville, Illinois in 2024.^[13]

Vitrychenko has three children.^[13]

• Longines Prize for Elegance: 1999^[15]