Lilia Akhaimova
Lilia Igorevna Akhaimova (, born 17 March 1997) is a Russian retired artistic gymnast. She represented the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the team event. She is a two-time World silver medalist (2018, 2019) and the 2018 European champion with the Russian team. She is also a six-time Universiade medalist.

Personal life 
Akhaimova was born on 17 March 1997 in Vladivostok, Russian Far East, but she has resided with her parents in Saint Petersburg since August 2012. When she was five, her parents enrolled her in rhythmic gymnastics, but her coach encouraged her to switch to artistic gymnastics. Akhaimova's younger sister, Lyubov also competed at the national level in artistic gymnastics. She is of Jewish background. She studied sport and health at the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education in St. Petersburg.

Career

2013-14
Akhaimova finished fourteenth in the all-around at the 2013 Russian Championships. Then at the Russian Cup, she finished tenth all-around, fourth on vault, and seventh on floor exercise. She won a team gold medal at the Gymnasiade as the alternate.

Akhaimova finished ninth in the all-around at the 2014 Russian Championships, and she placed fourth in both the vault and floor exercise event finals. Then at the Russian Cup, she finished tenth all-around, fourth on vault, and seventh on floor exercise. She then competed at her first international competition- the Élite Gym Massilia. She finished twentieth in the all-around and won a silver medal with the Russian team. Then at the Tournoi Pas-de-Calais, she won the team silver medal with Elena Eremina, and Akhaimova won the all-around bronze medal and the vault gold medal.

2015–16
At the 2015 Russian Championships, Akhaimova placed fifteenth in the all-around, and at the Russian Cup she finished seventh.  

Akhaimova finished twelfth in the all-around at the 2016 Russian Championships. Then at the Russian Cup, she won the gold medal on the floor exercise. She was a non-traveling alternate for Russia's 2016 Olympic team. After the Olympics, she competed at the Toyota International where she finished fourth on the uneven bars and seventh on the balance beam. Then at the Voronin Cup, she won the gold medal with teammate Elena Eremina. Individually, she won the gold medals on the vault and floor exercise.

2017
Akhaimova began the season at the Russian Championships where she became the national floor exercise champion and was runner-up on vault. She then competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge alongside Elena Eremina, Natalia Kapitonova, Evgenia Shelgunova, and Daria Spiridonova, and they won the team gold. She then won a bronze medal on the floor exercise at the Osijek World Challenge Cup behind Brazilians Thaís Fidélis and Flávia Saraiva. She was selected to represent Russia at the 2017 Summer Universiade alongside Shelgunova, Spiridonova, Darya Elizarova, and Maria Paseka, and they won gold in the team competition. Then in the vault final, she won the silver medal behind Canada's Brittany Rogers, and she won the bronze medal in the floor exercise final. At the Cottbus World Cup, she won a silver medal on vault and a gold medal on floor exercise.

2018

In March, Akhaimova tore a ligament in her ankle in three places. In July, she won the silver medal on the floor exercise at the Russian Cup. She was then named to the Russian team to compete at the European Championships alongside Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Irina Alexeeva, and Uliana Perebinosova. They won gold in the team final, and individually, Akhaimova placed fifth on vault. On September 29, Akhaimova was named on the nominative team to compete at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, alongside Alexeeva, Melnikova, Aliya Mustafina, and Simakova. On October 17, the Worlds team was officially announced and was unchanged from the nominative team. Akhaimova helped Russia win the silver medal behind the United States and ahead of China. She qualified for the floor exercise final and finished seventh.

After the World Championships, Akhaimova competed at the Elite Gym Massilia and won a silver medal with the Russian team, and she won gold medals in the vault and floor exercise finals. Then at the Cottbus World Cup, she finished sixth in the vault final. She then won silver medals on the vault and the balance beam at the Toyota International.

2019
Akhaimova won the silver medal on the floor exercise behind Angelina Melnikova at the Russian Championships. In July, she competed at the 2019 Summer Universiade alongside Tatiana Nabieva and Uliana Perebinosova. In the team final, Akhaimova helped Russia win the silver behind Japan. Individually, she won bronze in the all-around behind Hitomi Hatakeda of Japan and teammate Perebinosova. The following day, she won the silver medal on vault, behind Marina Nekrasova of Azerbaijan and just ahead of teammate Nabieva. Despite qualifying in first to the floor final, Akhaimova finished sixth in the final after counting a fall on her piked double Arabian. In August, Akhaimova competed at the Russian Cup. After two days of competition, she finished fourth in the all-around. In the event finals, she won gold on vault and bronze on floor exercise. 

Shortly after the conclusion of the Russian Cup, Akhaimova was named to the nominative team for the World Championships alongside Angelina Melnikova, Daria Spiridonova, Anastasia Agafonova, Angelina Simakova (later replaced by Maria Paseka), and Aleksandra Shchekoldina. During the qualification round, she helped Russia qualify for the team final in third place behind the United States and China. Individually, she qualified for the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals. The team won the silver medal in the team final with Akhaimova contributing scores on three apparatuses. Akhaimova finished twenty-second in the all-around final, seventh in the vault final, and eighth in the floor exercise final. After the World Championships, Akhaimova competed at Elite Gym Massilia where she placed fourth in the all-around and second on vault, behind Jennifer Gadirova of Great Britain. Then at the Toyota International, she won the silver medal on the vault behind Melnikova and the gold medal on the floor exercise.

2020 
In January, it was announced that Akhaimova would represent Russia at the American Cup, taking place on March 7. However, in late February, Akhaimova and Nikita Nagornyy announced on Instagram that Russia withdrew from the upcoming competition due to the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. In late September, it was announced that Akhaimova would be competing at an upcoming competition in Hiroshima to take place in November alongside Angelina Melnikova, Elena Gerasimova, and Yana Vorona. However, she later withdrew due to a positive COVID-19 test. The test later turned out to be a false positive.

2021 
Akhaimova competed at the Russian Championships in March; however, she withdrew from finals after sustaining a minor ankle injury. She next competed at the Russian Cup in June. During the all-around final, she finished fourth behind Viktoria Listunova, Vladislava Urazova, and Angelina Melnikova. Akhaimova placed first on vault and third on floor exercise. She was selected to represent the Russia at the 2020 Summer Olympics. However, it was undecided whether she would join Melnikova, Listunova, and Urazova on the four-person team or compete as an individual. In July, it was decided that Akhaimova would be a part of the team and Elena Gerasimova would compete as an individual alongside Anastasia Ilyankova. At the Olympic Games, Akhaimova qualified for the vault event final. Additionally, she helped the Russian Olympic Committee qualify for the team final in first place, ahead of the United States team. During the team final, Akhaimova only competed on the vault and helped the Russian team win the gold medal. Akhaimova finished sixth in the vault final.

2022 
Akhaimova announced her retirement from the sport in June.

Competitive history

See also
List of Jews in sports

References

External links
Russian Gymnastics Profile

1997 births
Living people
Russian female artistic gymnasts
Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
European champions in gymnastics
Universiade medalists in gymnastics
FISU World University Games gold medalists for Russia
Universiade silver medalists for Russia
Universiade bronze medalists for Russia
Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade
Gymnasts from Saint Petersburg
Sportspeople from Vladivostok
Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic medalists in gymnastics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Russian people of Jewish descent
Jewish gymnasts
Olympic gold medalists for the Russian Olympic Committee athletes