In early April Russian gymnast Elena Eremina announced her retirement from women’s artistic gymnastics (WAG). It ends the athletic career of a gymnast who was one of the most popular gymnasts of the last eight years and ranked 11th on the list of most successful WAGs of the 2017-2021 Tokyo Olympic quad.

But by announcing her retirement, Eremina concluded a career that was legendary for her success in 2017, and heartbreaking for the misfortune that plagued Elena for the rest of her career. In the process becoming a “one-hit wonder” or a gymnast who had a memorable run of success, but only for a short period of time that wasn’t replicated afterwards.

The concept of a “one-hit wonder” is rare in gymnastics. By retiring Elena Eremina becomes only the 7th WAG ever to win an All-Around medal at the World Championships or Olympics (Group-1 Level) while having only a single career appearance in such competition.

With 104 WAGs in gymnastics history who have won an All-Around medal, only 6.7% of All-Around medalists fail to qualify to a second Group-1 competition in their careers. But surprisingly, that small percentage actually overstates how common this trend is.

The seven gymnasts who have done it:

1962: Irina Pervushina
1978: Elena Mukhina
1984: Mary Lou Retton
1984: Simona Pauca
2017: Elena Eremina
2021: Kayla DiCello
2021: Leanne Wong

Gymnastics fans en masse would object to the inclusion of Leanne Wong and Kayla DiCello because they are not retired and could return to Group-1 competition if they so choose. The presence of both Retton and Pauca also presents an asterisk because of the 1984 Olympic boycott. Would both gymnasts have retained their All-Around medals if Maxi Gnauck and the Soviets had been in attendance?

In Retton’s case it could be argued she never made a serious attempt to compete in a second Group-1 competition because she opted to pursue a celebrity career instead on the heels of her Olympic fame. Pauca is the textbook example of a one-hit wonder in the context of gymnastics history, but it would have been difficult for her to replicate her success in All-Around Finals if the 1984 All-Around hadn’t been boycotted.

And then there is Elena Mukhina who is simultaneously both a perfect and a terrible example of a “one hit wonder.” Mukhina produced one of the greatest performances in WAG history during her Group-1 debut at the 1978 World Championships, only to never appear in such a competition again. In that context her story “fits” into the theme of being a one hit wonder, but such a theme is a misrepresentation of Mukhina’s career.

Elena Mukhina was a dominant gymnast for years being a strong candidate for the 1976 Soviet Olympic team. She would have been a 1976 Olympian had Mukhina belonged to the program of almost any other country. Mukhina also had success at the European Championships in both 1977 and 1979, making her a gymnast with strong results in four consecutive years of senior-level competition. Hardly fitting the theme of a “one-hit” gymnast.

The only reason Mukhina has just a lone appearance at the World Championships is because she competed in an era where they were not yet held on a yearly basis. Had that been the case Elena Mukhina almost certainly would have made the Soviet team in 1977 and secured an additional All-Around medal had such a competition been held that year.

This leaves Irina Pervushina as the only example who truly compares to Elena Eremina’s career. Pervushina is not a well known figure, even amongst gymnastics history buffs. But her career was legendary and the only reason Pervushina is not well known is because her career predates the massive surge in popularity WAG experienced in the late 1960s. Leaving Pervushina as the obscure gymnast from an obscure era.

In my points ranking data Pervushina is the 5th greatest non-Olympian in WAG history, behind only Elena Mukhina, Morgan Hurd, Rebecca Bross, and Olga Mostepanova. This from a “one-hit wonder” whose entire career comes down to just one appearance in any international competition. There was no European Championships, World Cup, or Olympics for Irina Pervushina. And yet her 1962 World Championships that resulted in a bronze in the All-Around, a gold on bars, a silver on floor, as well as another gold in the team competition propels her towards the top of the list of greatest non-Olympians.

Irina Pervushina was the first breakout star of Yuri Shtukman, the famed Soviet coach who was a leading pioneer in the more “daredevil” style of gymnastics (predating Olga Korbut). He also was one of the first to understand the future of the sport was a pivot towards child athletes (predating Nadia Comaneci). Descendants of the Shtukman coaching/gymnast tree would ultimately coach Angelina Melnikova, Viktoria Komova, and Yana Vorona in the modern era.

During the cold war assistant coaches who had spent significant time with Shtukman coached Hall of Fame gymnasts, Elena Davydova, Natalia Shaposhnikova, Ludmilla Turischeva, and Natalia Yurchenko. At the beginning of all of this, and the gymnast who legitimatized the career of one of the most influential coaches in WAG history was Irina Pervushina.

How such a historically significant gymnast could end up in such obscurity is a testament to how quickly the sport will abandon the last gymnast to celebrate its next star. The comparisons to Irina Pervushina is not intended as an insult to Elena Eremina, but a complement that Pervushina was a legend and Eremina should be thought of in the exact same way. Unlike Pervushina, it is difficult to imagine fans would ever forget the wonder that was Elena Eremina.

After the 1962 World Championships Pervushina disappeared from competition and was never seen again. The culprit was a series of injuries where as soon as Irina was fully healed from one injury, a new one appeared.

Eremina’s career was remarkably similar as immediately following her performance at the 2017 World Championships, she began to suffer non-stop back problems involving her spine. Eremina’s medal count in 2017 was impressive for a 1st-year senior. She won a silver medal at the European Championships, then took a bronze in the All-Around at the World Championships, with one more silver medal in the All-Around.

It wasn’t a particularly dominant run, but it was an indication that this gymnast had significant potential for the future. But that future would never come and over the next four years Eremina did not appear in a single high-level competition. As far as I am aware, she had only one appearance in a competition held outside of Russia in that time.

Elena Eremina’s legacy is that she was a fan favorite whose routines, innovative gymnastics skills and status as a highly regarded junior prospect won her over so many fans. Her passion and love for the sport, pushing through her injuries, all while not being discouraged after a pattern of low results made Eremina inspiring. Eremina never lost faith in her goal even after four years of heartbreak. Eremina always strived to return to her 2017 form and fans held out hope that Elena would succeed in that goal.

The concept of a one-hit wonder has different interpretations as previously discussed with Elena Mukhina. Out of all gymnasts Simona Pauca might have the most textbook career of a one-hit wonder. After rapidly rising up the ranks in 1983, she made Romania’s Olympic team and became a 2x Olympic gold medalist. Pauca also produced a score equal to Mary Lou Retton in the All-Around Finals but was demoted to bronze because of carry-over scoring. The gymnast with only two years of junior results where she finished 5th and 10th in the All-Around ended up becoming a 3x Olympic medalist in what was her senior debut.

The only argument against Pauca’s status as WAG’s greatest one-hit wonder, at least when having an All-Around medal is considered the minimum threshold, is how her career results should be interpreted in the context of a boycott. But even if Pauca had been demoted to 5th in the All-Around and bronze on beam in a fully-attended Olympics, it still would have been an incredible story.

Being a one-hit wonder while winning an All-Around medal is the rarest of all forms as the trend is far more common amongst vault, bars, beam, and floor podiums. Even Irina Pervushina might not be the most perfect example as she was an Olympic alternate in 1960, and possibly could have made the Soviet team in 1961 had there been a World Championships that year. Although it is not a guarantee as is the case with Elena Mukhina and 1977.

This is what makes the senior career of Elena Eremina so fascinating. That unlike the other six examples, there’s nothing to really nitpick regarding how her career doesn’t fit the mold of a one-hit wonder. After recapping the careers of Mukhina, Pauca, Retton, and Pervushina, many readers might select Eremina as the example that best fits the description.

Interestingly enough, of the seven examples of gymnasts who won All-Around medals in their one and only appearance at the Group-1 level, six of them won multiple medals in an individual event. The lone exception is Kayla DiCello. Making Kayla the only gymnast in all of WAG history from the 1930s-present to make an All-Around podium and never medal in Event Finals nor appear in a second major competition. Although that statistic involves a young gymnast with ample opportunity for her to achieve future success in elite competition.

Elena Eremina was an inspirational gymnast who gave gymnastics fans so much to cheer for. One of my favorite Twitter accounts Solnishko who is well known for producing translations of Russian-language WAG news had the following summary of how significant Eremina’s back problems became.

“She has 3 protrusions in her cervical spine, another in her thoraci, a compression fracture in her thoracic spine and the metal construction in her lumbar holding her spine together.”

The following picture is needed to best understand the significance of the above quote.

As for the metal construction Eremina has in her back, she provided gymnastics fans with an image of it on her social media.

That is the toughness Elena Eremina endured and pushed through when so many others would have given up. Eremina had the heart of the truest competitor and the one silver lining to her retirement is that Elena’s body will finally get some rest, while her longterm quality of life will be safeguarded.

If this article has one purpose, it is that gymnastics fans wanted Elena Eremina’s career to be memorable. In a way it was when you analyze her career through the concept of a one hit wonder and realize how unique it was. If not, you could say her career was a “one of a kind” phenomena. Fans enjoyed the career of Elena Eremina and it truly was a wonder to watch.