Oksana Kostina

Oksana Alexandrovna Kostina was a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She was the 1992 World All-around champion and 1992 European All-around bronze medalist.

Career

For years, Kostina remained in the shadow of two Ukrainian gymnasts, Oksana Skaldina and Olexandra Tymoshenko. Though she won the all-around bronze medal at the 1992 European Championships, she was not selected for the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Kostina and her coach, Olga Buyanova, frustrated by what they felt was the Unified Team's favoritism toward Skaldina, traveled to Barcelona and Kostina trained with the British team for a short time before she was ordered home.
In the absence of the two Ukrainian gymnasts, Kostina won the All-around gold medal, as well as gold medals in rope, hoop, ball and clubs at the 1992 World Championships in Brussels. She became Russia's first World Champion as an independent country. Her goal was to compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Death

Kostina died in a car crash on 11 February 1993 in Moscow, a few weeks shy of her 21st birthday. She was engaged to Eduard Zenovka, a fellow athlete and Pentathlon bronze-medalist at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. A lorry that was driving in the opposite direction crashed head-on into their vehicle. Both athletes were seriously injured and needed surgery in hospital. Sixteen hours later, Kostina died from injuries sustained at the car crash. The police investigation revealed that Zenovka, who was driving the car, was heavily intoxicated at the time of the accident.

Achievements

Kostina was one of the few gymnasts to win gold medals in all of the apparatus in a single World Championship, along with Darja Varfolomeev, Bianka Panova, Ekaterina Serebrianskaya and Evgenia Kanaeva.