Yury Ryazanov

Yury Ryazanov took up gymnastics when he was 5-years-old in his hometown of Vladimir, showing talent as a young gymnast by winning many local age-group competitions. In 2005, Ryazanov won a gold at the Russian Junior Championships and silver at the Russian Championships on horizontal bar. In 2006 he was selected to the Russian national team that went to the World Championships, and won silver in the team event, while he placed 16th in the individual all-around. At the 2007 European Championships, Ryazanov won his first individual international medal, placing third in all-around. In 2008 Ryazanov won his first major title, winning the European Championships team event. In 2009, Ryazanov won a bronze in the individual all-around at both the World and European Championships. Domestically Ryazanov never won a Russian title, but was a runner-up eight times in various events and won bronze twice. On 20 October 2009, after returning from the World Championships, Ryazanov lost control of his car, a bit before the village of Vorsha, while driving home at high speed on the Moscow-Vladimir highway, and rammed another car traveling in the opposite direction. Ryazanov was killed instantly, and the two passengers in the other car were seriously injured.