This article is meant to complement a feature piece where I tracked the dominance of Ukrainian women’s artistic gymnastics (WAG) stretching from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. What is interesting about this era was not just Ukraine’s dominance in WAG, but that Ukraine had experienced considerable success in women’s figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics as well.

Ukraine had managed to peak in three different sports at exact same time which was a notable fact in itself. But what is particularly interesting is that these were the three sports that have the greatest demographical overlap. All three sports were on the women’s side, they all have a reputation for a dependency on child athletes, and they all pride themselves on being artistic sports.

It is a compelling case given how much overlap exists within these three programs, implying that maybe, the trifecta of dominance was inter-connected. That something was happening within the sports infrastructure of Ukraine that made the conditions right for Ukraine to achieve breakout success in three different sports.

Lastly, I want to list out all of these athletes to demonstrate the scope of what Ukraine had accomplished. All-Around titles are incredibly hard to come by and for Ukraine, it would have been easier to list the titles they didn’t win in the first half of the 1990s. Assignments at the Olympics and World Championships which were highly competitive under the Soviet program due to the large size of the country overwhelmingly went to Ukraine. And though it all Ukraine managed to produce an iconic figure skater to go along with their multiple iconic gymnasts.

Artistic Gymnastics

Oksana Omelianchik: Member of 1985 and 1987 World Championships teams. Also an alternate on the 1984 and 1988 Olympic teams.

Olga Strazheva: Member of the 1987 World Championships and 1988 Olympic teams.

Yulia Kut: Alternate on the 1989 World Championship team.

Ludmilla Stovbchataya: Alternate on the 1992 Olympic team. Later competed for Ukraine at the 1993 World Championships.

Olesia Dudnik: Member of the 1989 World Championships team.

Natalia Kalinina: Member of the 1991 World Championships team and alternate on the 1989 World Championships team.

Tatiana Lysenko: Member of the 1992 Soviet Olympic team, appeared in three World Championships.

Tatiana Gutsu: 1992 Olympic All-Around Champion, member of 1991 World Championships team.

Lilia Podkopayeva: 1996 Olympic All-Around Champion and All-Around Champion at the 1995 World Championships.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Oksana Skaldina: 1992 Olympic medalist, won the All-Around title at the 1991 World Championships. Also competed at the 1989 World Championships

Alexandra Timoshenko: 1988 & 1992 Olympian, won the 1992 All-Around title.

Ekaterina Serebrianskaya: 1996 Olympic All-Around Champion, All-Around Champion at the 1995 World Championships, also appeared in the 1992, 1993, and 1994 World Championships.

Olena Vitrichenko: 1996 Olympic bronze medalist, won the All-Around at the 1997 World Championships

Figure Skating

Oksana Baiul: Ladies’ Singles Gold medalist at the 1993 World Championships & 1994 Olympics.