Alina Kozich (born December 16, 1987 in Ukraine) is
a Ukrainian gymnast. She is from Kiev and was a
member of the 2004 Ukrainian Olympic team in Athens,
Greece. She started Gymnastics at the age of 5 and
her younger sister Olha is also a very talented
gymnast.
Alina first came to prominence at the tender age of
13 when she competed at the 2001 European Youth
Olympics in Murcia, Spain where she won the All
Around competition and impressed judges and fans
with her clean lines and form. Her success in the
Junior ranks continued in 2002 with a Gold Medal on
the Uneven Bars at the 2002 Junior European in
Patras, Greece as well as a fourth place finish in
the All Around. 2003 saw Alina move into the senior
ranks where she continued to impress with a solid
8th place finish in the All Around as well as a 7th
place finish with her Ukraine team, qualifying for
the team competition at the 2004 Olympics. She
eventually placed 11th in the All Around and 8th on
floor.
The Olympic year started strongly with Alina with a
career highlight victory in the 2004 European All
Around competition where she narrowly defeated
Romanian Daniela Sofronie. Alina was the first
Ukrainian to take this title since Lilia Podkopayeva
in 1996, and joined a list of illustrious
compatriots such as Tatiana Gutsu and Ludmilla
Tourischeva. Frequently, the European all-around
champion goes on to take the Olympic title (this was
the case in 1975, 1992 and 1996) so expectations for
Alina heading into the 2004 Olympics were high. She
helped the high quality, but often inconsistent
Ukrainian team to a respectable Fourth in the team
competition, their best ever Olympic Result. Alina
had the highest All Around score of all the gymnasts
in the team final, including Carly Patterson and
Svetlana Khorkina who would go on to place first and
second in the All Around Final. This made Alina a
strong favorite to win a medal. However, falls from
the Balance Beam in the All Around and on her first
tumbling pass in the floor final prevented Alina
from winning a medal.
Alina continued to compete after the Olympics, but
at first struggled to regain her 2004 form. She
failed to make any finals at the 2005 World
Championships in Melbourne, Australia or the 2006
European Championships in Greece, but did win a
silver medal on floor at the 2005 Glasgow Grand Prix
and helped the Ukrainian team to a fifth place
finish at 2006 European Championships. In late 2006,
Alina began to regain the form that won her the 2004
European title, placing 13th in the all-around final
at the 2006 World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark.
She also helped her Ukrainian team finish a solid
fifth in the team final.
Alina has continued to compete and improve in 2007,
winning several medals at World Cup events. She
solidified this comeback with bronze medals in the
all-around and on floor at the European
Championships in Amsterdam, with Vanessa Ferrari of
Italy taking both titles. Alina is still training,
and hopes to compete in the 2007 World Championships
in Stuttgart and her second Olympics.
