Elena Grosheva

Yelena Nikolayevna Grosheva was born on April 12th 1979, in Yaroslavl, Russia (then USSR).

At the age of 5 she took up gymnastics and showed great talent, for the sport, then in 1992 she was sent to Round Lake, to train as part of the National Team.

Her first big event was the 1994 Junior European Championships and later the same year she went to the World Championships.

In 1996 Yelena came second All-Around in the Russian Cup, just beaten by Roza Galiyeva, so she made it onto the Olympic team. At the games Russia, came first after compulsaries but in the finals they had to compete against the noise from the American crowds - this was just too off putting for the Russian team and Yelena fell on beam and bars. She made it to Vault and Floor finals but the US had beaten them to the Team Gold.

After being hampered by injuries Yelena retired from the sport and instead began studying aerobics, which led to her joining the Cirque de Soleil.

In June 2006 Yelena married and guests at the wedding included her former team mates Svetlana Khorkina and Liudmila Yezhova.