2009 World all-around bronze medalist Yuri Ryazanov, 22, died Tuesday in a car accident near his hometown of Vladimir, about 120 miles from Moscow.
According to International Gymnast Magazine, "...the accident occurred 160 km east of Moscow at 12:50 a.m., when Ryazanov was returning to his hometown of Vladimir following the world championships. Police believe he was killed instantly when he lost control of his car and swerved into oncoming traffic. His Chevrolet collided with an Audi, injuring two of its passengers.
Ryazanov had been Russia's most successful all-around gymnast the past few years, winning bronze medals at the European championships in 2007 and 2009. He won both of Russia's top domestic meets in 2009 — the Russian national championships in March and the Russian Cup in August.
"This is a human tragedy," Russian head coach Andrei Rodionenko said. "He was very good, kind, honest. The whole team respected him."
Reports of his death have shocked the gymnastics community. Ryazanov competed and won the all-around bronwe last week in London, pulling himself up from eighth place after preliminaries.
Ryazanov was emerging as the leader of the Russian squad that finished a disappointing sixth place as a team in Beijing. He was a member of the men's team that finished second at the 2006 World Championships and helped the team win gold at the 2008 European Championships.
Early reports indicate that alcohol was not a factor in the accident. It seems unknown whether or not Ryazanov was wearing a seatbelt.
Ryazanov is not the only talented Eastern European gymnast to have died in a car accident. In February 2004, Ukraine's Alexander Beresch, who won bronze in the all-around at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, died in a car crash when his Puegot was struck by a speeding car.
Beresch's teammate Sergei Vyaltsev, who was also in the car, suffered critical injuries in the accident.
Montage: R.I.P. Yuri Ryazanov
Comments
omg why ;
This is a tradgedy and I hope that the whole gymnastics community will remember him forever. It shocked me to the cor ewhen my coach told us and I know I will not be able to forget his story for a long time. At least we can hope that he died happily with a world medal. Such a tradgedy for such a promising gymnast. :(
May he rest in piece with the lord.
I watched the competition on the Universal Sports channel a couple nights ago and thought how hot and sexy and cute he looked and how much he was a great up-and-comer for the Russian gymnastics program which had been doing poorly for the past decade. Right after the telecast, they had an update and it was on him and it was such a tragic thing to hear. Only 22 years old.
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