MOSCOW: Former Soviet Union gymnastics star Elena Mukhina, who was rendered a quadriplegic after an accident on the eve of the 1980 Olympics, has died at the age of 45, local media reported on Monday.
Mukhina became the fourth Soviet winner of the overall world title after Galina Shamrai, Larisa Latynina and Lyudmila Turishcheva with her triumphant performance at the 1978 world championships in France.
She had also won three gold medals at the 1977 European championships and the gold medal at the uneven bars at the 1979 championships.
But tragedy struck in 1980 when Mukhina suffered a paralysing fall at the national team's training base at Minsk just days before the opening of the Moscow Olympics.
The injury left her completely paralysed until her dying day.
