Svetlana Boginskaya

Svetlana Boginskaya is married to William Yee. The couple is blessed with two children; a daughter, Ania Julietta, born in 1999, and a son, Brandon, born in 2003.

Apart from being a wife and a mother, she is also a businesswoman. She runs an online gymnastics apparel business and a summer camp for gymnastics students.

Svetlana Boginskaya was born on February 9, 1973, in Minsk, Soviet Union. She developed an early passion for sports and began gymnastics when she was six.

At the age of eight, she moved from Minsk to receive full-time training at the Moscow Round Lake Gymnastics Center. By the age of 14, she became a member of the Soviet national gymnastics team.

In the 1987 World Championships, she won her first medal, a bronze in the balance beam event.

Gradually, she became one of the best gymnasts of the Soviet team and participated in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. She won four medals in the tournament which included two gold medals (Team, Vault), one silver (Floor Exercise) and a bronze (All-Around).

Three days after the Olympics, her long-time coach Lyubov Miromanova mysteriously committed suicide. It was a deep emotional setback for Boginskaya as Miromanova had been like a mother to her ever since she moved from Minsk to train full-time in Moscow.

Under the guidance of her new coach, Ludmilla Popkovich, Boginskaya participated in the 1989 World Championships where she won three gold medals: Team, All-Around and the Floor exercise. The same year, she also won three gold medals at the European Championships.

In 1990, Svetlana Boginskaya became only the third woman to sweep the European Championships winning the gold medal in every individual event. She defended her titles in the All-Around, Vault, and Floor Exercise, and also earned medals in the Uneven Bars and Balance Beam events.

In the 1991 World Championships, she won gold medals in the Team and Balance Beam competitions. However, in a controversial finish, she fell short of defending her world title in the All-Around event, thereby earning a silver medal.

In the 1988 Summer Olympic Games held in Seoul, she registered four medals in her name, out of which two were gold medals. She won the gold medals in the Team and Vault events, silver in the Floor Exercise, and bronze in the All-Around.

In 2005, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.