Total Medals:
Olympics:
Worlds:
Euros:
World Cup:
Appearances:,

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If you were to list the most overlooked gymnasts in WAG history, Olga Bicherova would certainly be at the top of the list. Bicherova’s resume speaks for itself. She is one of just three gymnasts to have won the AA titles at the European Championships, World Championships, and the World Cup. In the four major WAG competitions of the era, Bicherova won more individual medals (9) than both Olga Mostepanova (3) and Natalia Yurchenko (5) won combined.

Yet it is Mostepanova and Yurchenko who are the most widely known Soviet gymnasts of the era while Bicherova is the least talked about AA Champion from 1956 to present day. She became lost in the shuffle between two Olympic boycotts and didn’t have an iconic vault (Yurchenko) or a Perfect-40 (Mostepanova) to make her name stand the test of time.

Bicherova made her debut at the 1981 World Championships where she is widely alleged to have been underage and just 13 years old. It was at this competition that she became an AA Champion. Bicherova performed well for the next two years but by mid 1983 an alarming trend had appeared. Bicherova was missing a significant amount of competitions due to injury. Bicherova reappeared just in time for the 1983 World Championships, but was not named to the Soviet team for the 1984 Alternate Olympics. Bicherova would never regain top form, but she continued to appear in major televised competitions until 1988.

Olympics & World Championships:

Results:

1979
Druzhba: 2nd-Team, 9th-AA, 5th-VT
Jr. URS-GDR Dual Meet: 2nd-AA
Jr. USSR Championships (Lower Level): 1st-AA, 1st-VT, 2nd-FX
Jr. USSR Cup (Lower Level): 5th-AA, 2nd-BB

1980
Druzhba: 1st-Team, 1st-AA, 1st-VT, 2nd-FX
Jr. URS-GDR Dual Meet: 7th-AA
Jr. USSR Championships: 3rd-Team, 1st-AA, 1st-VT, 2nd-BB
TBS Cup: 1st-VT, 1st-UB, 1st-FX

1981
Chunichi Cup: 1st-AA, 1st-VT, 1st-BB
Tokyo Cup: 1st-VT, 1st-BB
European Championships: 23rd-AA, 4th-VT
Druzhba: 1st-AA
USSR Championships: 4th-AA, 3rd-VT, 4th-UB
World Championships: 1st-Team, 1st-AA, 8th-UB

1982
World Cup: 1st-AA, 1st-VT, 2nd-UB, 3rd-BB, 1st-FX
USA-USSR Dual Meet: 7th-AA

1983
European Championships: 1st-AA, 1st-VT, 1st-FX
USSR Cup: 18th-AA, 2nd-VT,
World Championships: 1st-Team, 5th-VT

1984
USSR Championship: 9th-AA

1985
University Games: 1st-Team
USSR Championships: 9th-UB
USSR Cup: 10th-AA

1986
USSR Championships: 5th-VT, 4th-UB, 6th-BB
USSR Cup: 5th-AA
USSR Spartakiade: 4th-AA, 6th-BB

1987
URS-USA Dual Meet: 1st-Team, 8th-AA

1988
Champions All: 10th-AA

Articles Featuring Olga Bicherova:
How Olga Bicherova Defied Sexism in the USSR

Gallery:

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Results are taken from Score for Score, The Gymternet, GymnasticGreats, My Meet Scores, Gymn-Forum, the official websites of various national gymnastics federations, newspaper clippings, classic gymnastics magazines, and in some cases, were provided by the gymnasts themselves. An explanation for the meaning of these symbols can be found here.