Svetlana Baitova

                                        

 

 

                                                  

                                                   Svetlana Baitova on the cover of

                                                   International Gymnast Magazine.

 

 

Svetlana first participated in the World Championships in 1987 where she won a silver with her team and placed 4th in three event finals.  At the 1988 Olympics and 1989 World Championships she served as the table setter for the Soviet Union going first on almost all events.  She did not shine individually but both times her team won the gold medal.  She sometimes had more difficult, original and cleaner rutines than her teammates and other gymnasts, but going up first meant she never got the big scores she deserved.   Her trademark skill include one of the best double twisting Yurchenkos of all time, hop to high bar inmediate tucked Pak salto mount on bars, scissor mount on beam and a very graceful, balletic floor rutine.