sentences:  She became interested in gymnastics at age six after seeing on television the famous Soviet Olympic gold medallists Larisa Petrik and Natalia Kuchinskaya.She practicised the splits to see if she also could do them.Deciding she wanted to be a gymnast Elena went by herself to be enrolled in Voronezh's famous "Spartak" Gymnastics school, yet was turned away, as she was very small, and considered at the time to have the wrong physique for the sport.