Dina Anatolyevna Kochetkova (Russian: Дина Анатольевна Кочеткова, born 27 July 1977 in Moscow, Russian SFSR) is a Russian gymnast who competed at the 1996 Olympics. Stylistically, she was considered by many[who?] to be the "last of the Soviets," performing difficult skills with elegant, clean technique. An element she pioneered, a full-twisting back handspring on beam, remains in the Code of Points as "the Kochetkova".
Career
Kochetkova was a member of the Soviet national team from the early 1990s. She won four medals at the 1991 Junior European Championships, placing second on the floor exercise and third in the all-around, vault and balance beam. As a senior, she competed for the Russian Federation at multiple international meets including the 1992 European Championships.
1994 was Kochetkova's breakthrough year. She won the Russian National Championships, the Goodwill Games all-around, and three individual medals at the World Gymnastics Championships in Brisbane: bronze in the all-around, behind Shannon Miller and Lavinia Miloșovici, gold on the floor exercise and another bronze on the uneven bars. Many experts and fans[who?] felt she was robbed of the 1994 World AA title due to a lack of reputation. Her rise escalated when she ended the two-year winning streak of Shannon Miller in AA competition by defeating her for the AA title at the 1994 Goodwill Games in Saint Petersburgh. Kochetkova won three more medals (silver AA and team; bronze FX) at the European Championships and shared in the team bronze medal at the World Team Championships in Dortmund. However, by the Team World Championships she was suddenly finding herself outshone by rising teammate Svetlana Khorkina, who was placed after Kochetkova in the lineup on every event in Team Finals.
At the 1995 World Championships, Kochetkova and the Russian team finished off the podium in the team competition; while Kochetkova qualified for the all-around and two event finals, subpar performances and a low vault score kept her out of medal contention. At the 1996 World Championships she rallied with a high balance beam score of 9.887 to win the event; and at the 1996 Europeans she earned a bronze on floor.
Kochetkova was a member of the Russian team for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and was considered a medal contender for multiple individual events. Kochetkova, as one of the most experienced Russian team members, showed strong performances in the team competition, qualifying in third place to the individual all-around. In the all-around final, she was tied for the lead going into the last rotation. However, she ended on vault, her weakest apparatus. In an attempt to get the highest score possible, she attempted a difficult 11⁄2 twisting Yurchenko vault (a 10.0 start value vault), instead of her usual simpler 9.9 start value vault, but faultered on the harder skill. Her low vault score dropped her to sixth place for the individual competition. This was the highest placing out of the Russians, but still shy of a medal. In the event finals, Dina finished fourth on the balance beam and fifth on uneven parallel bars and floor exercise.The Olympics were her last major competition.
Later life
Kochetkova underwent knee surgery in 1997 after her retirement. She lives in Moscow with her husband, working as a personal trainer.
Russia
