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{{Infobox gymnast
| name            = Olesya Dudnik
| image           =
| fullname        = Olesya Vitalyevna Dudnik
| altname         = 
| nickname        = 
| country         = {{USSR}}
| formercountry   = 
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|1974|8|15}}
| birth_place     = [[Zaporizhia]], Ukraine
| death_date      = 
| death_place     = 
| height          = 
| discipline      = WAG
| natlteam        = 
| club            = 
| gym             = 
| headcoach       = 
| formercoach     = 
| choreographer   = 
| music           = 
| eponymousskills = 
| retired         = 
| show-medals     = yes
| medaltemplates  = <!-- see [[Template:MedalRelatedTemplates]] -->
{{MedalCompetition|[[World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1989 Stuttgart]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|[[1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1989 Stuttgart]]|Vault}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1989 Stuttgart]]|Balance Beam}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|European Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1989 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1989 Brussels]]|Balance Beam}} 
}}

'''Olesya''' [alternate spelling '''Olessia'''] '''Dudnik''' (Олеся Віталіївна Дудник; born August 15, 1974, in [[Zaporizhia]], [[Ukraine]]) is a [[gymnastics]] coach and former artistic gymnast who competed internationally for the [[Soviet Union]] between 1988 and 1990.  She was the world champion on the vault in 1989 and is regarded as one of the greatest gymnasts ever on the balance beam.  Her brief competitive career was ended by injuries.

==Career==
When her athletic potential was discovered, Dudnik was sent to train at club [[Dynamo (sports society)|Dynamo]] in [[Kropyvnytskyi]]. She was moderately successful in international junior meets. Her breakout performance came at the 1989 American Cup in [[Fort Worth, Texas]], where she finished second in the individual all-around competition.

At the 1989 World Championships held in [[Stuttgart, Germany]], Dudnik was a member of the gold medal-winning Soviet team, led by [[Svetlana Boginskaya]] and considered one of the most powerful women's line-ups ever assembled.  The team was so deep with talent that Dudnik did not qualify for the individual all-around competition due to a large error in her compulsory uneven bar routine.  However, in the event finals she won the gold medal on the vault.  Though she was considered the favorite to win beam and had recorded a perfect 10.0 for her optional routine, Dudnik had a large stumble on her dismount.  Nevertheless, the judges recognized the extreme and unprecedented difficulty of the routine, and she captured the silver medal.  She also placed fourth in the floor exercise.  She scored four [[Perfect 10 (gymnastics)|perfect 10.0's]] during the competition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=International Gymnast October 2017 Page 16 |url=http://www.ourdigitalmags.com/publication/?i=441563&p=16&view=issueViewer&pp=1 |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=www.ourdigitalmags.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Dudnik's gymnastics were a combination of artistic elegance and daring athleticism. In the vaulting event, she routinely stuck a double-twisting [[Yurchenko (vault)|Yurchenko]] vault, which was rarely seen in those times.  Her uneven bar routine included an Arabian tuck mount. Her balance beam routine included an aerial cartwheel to two layout step outs, a nearly laid-out full twisting somersault, and an exceptionally difficult round-off, flip-flop, triple-twisting dismount.  Moreover, Dudnik rarely had balance errors on any of these elements. Her beam routine was so difficult that it would actually be worth a 9.9 under the 2001–2005 Code of Points, and a 6.4 under the 2009-2012 COP, even though the routine was not constructed to meet these guidelines.

Video footage from the World Championships shows Dudnik performing with a bandaged right foot.  The foot injury continued to nag her through the 1990 French Internationals. Before the injury, Dudnik's floor routine consisted of an Arabian double front, a {{frac|2|1|2}} twist to punch barani, and a full-in pike dismount. Later, she sustained a serious knee injury, and difficulties with rehabilitation brought her competitive career to an end.

==Personal==
In addition to injuries, Dudnik has endured personal tragedies.<ref>{{Citation |title=WOGymnastikA: Interview With Olesya Dudnik of Soviet Union |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FdrQunvrpQ |access-date=2023-06-13 |language=en}}</ref>  Her parents died of illnesses they suffered in the aftermath of the [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl nuclear disaster]]. In March 1994 she married Ukrainian wrestler Oleh Chapnyi, and the couple had a son born in 1995. ''International Gymnast'' magazine reported that Chapny, however, died in 2004.

Olesya Dudnik coached gymnastics at the Al Gezeera Sporting Club in Cairo, Egypt until 2017. She remarried in 2017 and currently resides in Redondo Beach, CA.

== Selected competitive skills ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Apparatus
!Name
!Description<ref>{{Cite web |title=International Gymnast October 2017 Page 6 |url=http://www.ourdigitalmags.com/publication/?i=441563&p=6&view=issueViewer&pp=1 |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=www.ourdigitalmags.com |language=en-US}}</ref>
!Difficulty<ref>according to the [https://www.gymnastics.sport/publicdir/rules/files/en_2022-2024%20WAG%20COP.pdf 2022 Code of Points]</ref>
|-
|Vault
|Baitova
|Yurchenko entry, double twist off
|5.0
|-
|Uneven Bars
|
|Round off Arabian (half twist to front tuck) mount over low bar 
|F
|-
| rowspan="2" |Balance Beam
|
|Back layout with a full twist
|G
|-
|
|Back layout dismount with three twists
|F
|-
|Floor Exercise
|
|Tucked Arabian double front (half twist to double front tuck)
|E
|}

==Competitive history==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%;"
|-
! align=center|Year
! align=center|Event
! style="width:30px;"|Team
! style="width:30px;"|AA
! style="width:30px;"|[[Gymnastics vault|VT]]
! style="width:30px;"|[[Gymnastics uneven bars|UB]]
! style="width:30px;"|[[Gymnastics balance beam|BB]]
! style="width:30px;"|[[Gymnastics floor|FX]]
|-
| rowspan="3" | '''1988''' || align=left | Junior Friendship Tournament ||{{gold1}} ||{{silver2}} || || {{silver2}} || {{gold1}}||{{gold1}}
|- 
| align=left | Jr. USSR-GDR Dual Meet || {{gold1}} || 4 || || || ||
|-
| align=left | II All-Union Summer Games for Youth || || {{gold1}} || || || ||
|-
| rowspan="5" | '''1989'''
| align=left | [[McDonald's American Cup]] || || {{silver2}} || || || ||
|-bgcolor=#F5F6CE
| align=left | [[1989 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|European Championships]] || ||6 || || || {{gold1}} ||
|-
| align=left | International Mixed Pairs ||{{silver2}} || || || || ||
|-
| align=left | USSR Championships || {{gold1}} || {{silver2}} || || || ||
|-bgcolor=#CCCCFF
| align=left | [[1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]] ||{{gold1}} || || {{gold1}} || || {{silver2}}||4
|-
| rowspan="2" | '''1990'''
| align=left | French International || || || || || {{gold1}} ||
|-
| align=left | USSR Championships || {{silver2}} ||7 || || || ||
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121010232958/http://www.gymn.ca/gymnasticgreats/wag/dudnik.htm Whatever Happened to... Olesya Dudnik]
*[http://www.gymn-forum.net/bios/women/dudnik.html List of Competitive Results at Gymn Forum]

{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsWomenTC|1989}}
{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsWomenVault}}
{{Footer European Artistic Gymnastics Balance Beam Champions (Women)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudnik, Olesya}}
[[Category:1974 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ukrainian female artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:Soviet female artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:World champion gymnasts]]
[[Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships]]
[[Category:Gymnasts from Zaporizhzhia]]
[[Category:European champions in gymnastics]]