Editing Ludmilla Tourischeva (section)

==Career==
Tourischeva began gymnastics in 1965, at age 13, and began competing for the Soviet team in 1967. Coached by [[Vladislav Rastorotsky]] (who later trained [[Natalia Shaposhnikova]] and [[Natalia Yurchenko]]), she represented the Soviet Union at the [[1968 Summer Olympics]], just after her 16th birthday. She won the gold medal with the team and placed 24th in the all-around.

Two years later, Tourischeva became the leader of the Soviet team. From 1970 to 1974, she dominated almost every major international competition, winning the World Championships all-around gold in [[1970 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1970]] and [[1974 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1974]], the European Championships in 1971 and 1973, and the World Cup in 1975.

At the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in [[Munich]], Tourischeva won the all-around gold medal but was overshadowed by the sudden popularity of her younger compatriot [[Olga Korbut]]. She qualified for all four event finals, and won a silver and a bronze. Tourischeva was one of the first female gymnasts to use two separate pieces of music for her floor routines at an international competition. For the team competition, she used "March" from the film ''[[Circus (1936 film)|Circus]]'' by [[Isaak Dunaevsky]], while for the all around, she used the music to the film ''Die Frau meiner Träume'' by Franz Grothe.

At the 1975 European Championships, Tourischeva placed fourth in the all-around behind 13-year-old [[Nadia Comăneci]] of [[Romania]] (who also won the [[Vault (gymnastics)|vault]], [[uneven bars]], and [[balance beam]] apparatus finals), her own teammate [[Nellie Kim]] (who placed second and won the [[Floor (gymnastics)|floor exercise]] final) and Annelore Zinke. This marked the first time in 5 years that Ludmilla lost an All-around competition.

After struggling with a back injury, Tourischeva competed in her third Olympics, the [[1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Summer Games]] in [[Montreal]], where she won her third team gold with the Soviet squad. In the all-around, she finished third behind Comăneci and Kim. She won silver medals on vault and floor exercise in the event finals, losing to Kim but overcoming Comăneci, bringing her total Olympic medal count to four gold, three silver, and two bronze.

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Ludmila Turishcheva UB Collapsed 1975WCAA.jpg|thumb|left|Uneven bars are collapsing. Tourischeva salutes the judges]] -->
Tourischeva was known for her calm demeanor in competition. In 1980, British journalist David Hunn wrote that she "never had the cheek of some of her rivals, but for serenity she was supreme".<ref name="hunn">{{cite book |author1=Hunn, David | title = The Complete Book of Gymnastics | location= London  | publisher=Ward Lock Ltd | year = 1980 | isbn = 99903-963-2-9 }}</ref> This was famously illustrated during the 1975 World Cup at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] in London, when a broken hook holding support cables of the uneven bars caused the apparatus to fall apart and crash to the ground just as Tourischeva landed her dismount. Saluting the judges, she walked off the podium without even turning around to look at the remains of the apparatus. She went on to win the all-around and all four event finals. Years later, she said of the incident that, at that moment, she had thought only one thing: she must complete her routine and "stick it".<ref name="op">{{cite journal |date=July–September 1990 | title = And the steel was broken | journal = Olympic Panorama | issue = 3 | pages = 33–34 }}</ref> Rastorotsky, her coach, said, "Ljudmila would fight to death in any situation."<ref name="vr">{{cite news  | title=National Property  | publisher=Novaya sportivnaya gazeta  | date=2003-03-26}}</ref>

She was also known for her gracious manner. At the 1976 Olympics, she walked around the podium to personally congratulate champion Comăneci and shake her hand before accepting her own medal.<ref name="comaneci">{{cite book | author = Comăneci, Nadia | title = Letters to a young gymnast | location = New York | publisher = Basic Books | year = 2003 | isbn = 0-465-01276-0 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/letterstoyounggy00coma }}</ref>

Tourischeva is one of only two women, the other being [[Yelena Shushunova]], who have won the "grand slam" of all-around titles: Olympics, World Championships, World Cup, and European Championships. She is also one of only two women to win four gold medals at a single World Championships (in 1974). The other is [[Simone Biles]] of the United States, who won four in [[2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2014]], [[2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2015]], and [[2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2018]]; Biles broke the record and won five gold medals in [[2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2019]].