Denis Ablyazin

Denis Ablyazin
— Gymnast —
Ablyazin at the 2015 European Championships
Personal information
Full name	Denis Mikhailovich Ablyazin
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1992-08-03) August 3, 1992 Penza, Penza Oblast, Russia
Spouse	Ksenia Semyonova (m. 2016)[1]
Height	1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Club	Dinamo Penza
Gym	"Burtases"
Head coach(es)	Sergei Starkin
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 3 2 World Championships 1 0 1 European Championships 6 4 2 Summer Universiade 1 2 0 Total 8 9 5 Men's artistic gymnastics Representing  Russia Olympic Games 2012 London Vault 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team 2016 Rio de Janeiro Vault 2012 London Floor 2016 Rio de Janeiro Rings World Championships 2014 Nanning Floor 2014 Nanning Rings European Championships 2013 Moscow Vault 2014 Sofia Team 2014 Sofia Floor 2014 Sofia Rings 2014 Sofia Vault 2016 Bern Team 2012 Montpellier Team 2015 Montpellier Rings 2015 Montpellier Vault 2016 Bern Rings 2012 Montpellier Rings 2012 Montpellier Vault Summer Universiade 2013 Kazan Team 2013 Kazan Rings 2013 Kazan Vault

Denis Mikhailovich Ablyazin (Russian: Денис Михайлович Аблязин, born 3 August 1992) is a Russian artistic gymnast. He is a five-time medalist at the Olympic Games, At the 2012 London Olympics he won silver in vault and bronze in floor. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he won silver with the Russian men's team, a silver in vault and bronze in rings.

He is also two-time European vault champion (2013 and 2014), the 2014 European champion on floor and rings and the 2014 World Champion on floor.

Personal life

Ablyazin was born on 3 August 1992 in Penza, Russia.^[2] As a child, he practiced ice hockey with the goal of becoming a hockey player. He also tried cycling and playing football.

In 2016, Ablyazin married Ksenia Semyonova, a Russian former gymnast who won two World titles.

Career

After trying multiple sports as a child, Ablyazin finally chose artistic gymnastics, the sport he excelled in the most. The sport truly appealed to him after he brought home a gold medal from a youth version of the sports festival, Spartakiad, hosted by his primary school in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

2011

In March, Ablyazin competed at Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus, Germany. In the event finals he placed fourth on floor with a score of 14.925 and third on vault with a score of 16.050. In April, he competed at the European Championships in Berlin, Germany, where he finished sixth in the floor exercise final, scoring 15.250.

In October, Ablyazin competed at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. He contributed scores of a 15.033 on floor, 15.000 on rings and 16.266 on vault toward the Russian team's fourth-place finish. Individually, he placed fifth in the vault final with a score of 16.174, after qualifying in ninth place and being brought in as a reserve when Marian Dragulescu of Romania withdrew from the competition due to injury.

2012

In May, Ablyazin was selected, alongside Emin Garibov, David Belyavskiy, Anton Golotsutskov and Aleksandr Balandin to represent Russia at the 2012 European Championships in Montpellier, France. He contributed scores of a 15.266 on floor, 15.241 on rings and 16.066 on vault toward Russia's second-place finish. He won two bronze medals in the rings and vault finals, scoring a 15.433 on rings and 16.062 on vault.

2012 London Olympics

Ablyazin competed for the national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Men's artistic team all-around. He was the only Russian male artistic gymnast to win two medals, a bronze on floor and a silver on vault at the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[2]

2013

In March, Ablyazin competed at the World Cup, which was held in France, where he won gold on rings and placed second on floor. In April, he won the gold medal in the vault final at the 2013 European Championships in Moscow, Russia, scoring 15.408.

In July, Ablyazin, alongside the Russian team (Nikolai Kuksenkov, Emin Garibov, David Belyavskiy and Nikita Ignatyev) competed at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia, where they won the gold medal, ahead of Ukraine and Japan. In the event finals, he placed second both on rings and vault.

In September, Ablyazin competed at the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, but failed to qualify to any event finals.

2014

At the start of the season, Ablyazin competed at the World Cup in Cottbus, Germany and placed first in the rings and floor finals. In May, he and his teammates (Nikolai Kuksenkov, Aleksandr Balandin, Nikita Ignatyev, David Belyavskiy), competed at the 2014 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Ablyazin contributed scores of 15.833 on floor, 15.500 on rings, 15.366 on vault toward Russia's first-place finish with a total score of 267.959, ahead of Great Britain. Individually, he placed first in all events he qualified, winning the gold medal on floor with a score of 15.700, on rings, scoring 15.800 (tied with teammate Aleksandr Balandin) and on vault with a total score of 15.150.

Ablyazin won a total of four gold medals making him the most successful gymnast in the entire 2014 European Championships.^[3] He was the first gymnast to win four gold medals in a single European Championships since Marian Dragulescu in 2004.

In October, he competed at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China and helped the Russian team to a 5th-place finish. In the event finals, Ablyazin won his first gold medal on floor, scoring 15.750, and took bronze in rings with a score of 15.700. He also qualified to the vault final, but fell on both vaults and finished in 8th place.

2016

On May 25-29, Ablyazin (together with David Belyavskiy, Nikolai Kuksenkov, Nikita Ignatyev and Nikita Nagornyy) won Russia the Team gold at the 2016 European Championships, he qualified to 2 apparatus finals taking silver in Ring and finished 7th in Vault.

On August 6-16, Ablyazin competed with the Russian Team (together with Ivan Stretovich, Nikita Nagornyy, Nikolai Kuksenkov and David Belyavskiy) at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he contributed scores of 15.100 in floor, 15.700 in rings, 15.600 vault; helping the Russian men's team win the silver medal with a total of 271.453 points.^[4] Ablyazin also qualified to two apparatus finals where he won bronze in rings and silver in vault behind Ri Se-gwang.^[5]

Competitive history

Ablyazin, bronze medalist in men's rings at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Ablyazin, silver medalist in men's vault at the 2012 Summer Olympics

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Denis Ablyazin.

• Denis Ablyazin at the International Federation of Gymnastics
• Denis Ablyazin Profile (Russian)
• Denis Ablyazin Sports Bio
• Gymnastics Results