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Oksana Omelianchik

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Oksana Omelianchik(also known as Oksana Omelyanchik; Oksana Omeliantchik, born January 2, 1970 or December 31, 1969; Ulan-Ude, USSR) is a retired Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1985 World Gymnastics Championships.

She trained at the Spartak club in Kiev under coach Galina Perskaya. She competed at her first USSR Championships in 1983, placing fifth in the all-around. The next year, she finished fourth at the Championships and was selected as the alternate for the Soviet team at the 1984 Friendship Games (also known as the Alternate Games or Olomouc).

In 1985, Omelianchik made her senior debut at the European Championships, winning the uneven bars title, a silver medal on the floor exercise and bronze in the all-around and uneven bars. She was a member of the Soviet team at the 1985 World Gymnastics Championships in Montreal, but struggled in the team competition and did not qualify for the all-around final. However, Soviet team officials decided to pull Olga Mostepanova and Irina Baraksonova and subsitute Omelianchik and her teammate Yelena Shushanova. The decision proved to be sound; Omelianchik and Shushanova tied for the all-around gold and became Worlds Co-Champions. Omelianchik also won the FX gold medal in the event finals.

Omelianchik continued to compete for the Soviet team after the World Championships, placing third in the all-around at the 1986 Goodwill Games and fifth in the all-around at the 1987 Worlds. However, in spite of placing fourth at the 1988 USSR Nationals, she was only named as an alternate for the Soviet team for the 1988 Olympics. Her final competition was the 1989 USSR Cup, where she placed 22nd in the all-around.

Omelianchik was noted for her innovative skills, clean execution and energetic, inspired presentation. On the floor exercise, she poineered back-to-back tumbling (a series of skills in which a gymnast completes one full tumbling run from one end of the FX mat to the other, rebounds, and performs another complete tumbling run in the opposite direction without stopping). The original vault she created is still listed in the Code of Points as "the Omelianchik".

Omelianchik remains heavily involved in gymnastics as a choreographer, coach and judge. She heads the women's technical committee for the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation and choreographs routines for many of Ukraine's top gymnnasts, including Alina Kozich and Olga Roshupkina.

In a poll in Inside Gymnastics magazine, she was chosen as one of the "Top Ten All-Arounf Gymnasts of All Time."

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