View source for Yuri Korolyov

{{Short description|Russian artistic gymnast (1962–2023)}}
{{For|the ice hockey administrator|Yuri Korolev (ice hockey)}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2024}}{{Infobox gymnast
| name = Yuri Korolyov
| image =
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| caption =
| full_name = Yuri Nikolayevich Korolyov
| altname =
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1962|8|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|4|29|1962|8|25|df=y}}
| death_place = Vladimir, Russia
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| discipline = MAG
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|show-medals=true
| medaltemplates = <!-- see [[Template:MedalRelatedTemplates]] -->
{{MedalCompetition | [[World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1981 Moscow]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|[[1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1981 Moscow]]|All-around}}
{{MedalGold|[[1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1981 Moscow]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalGold|[[1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1985 Montreal]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|[[1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1985 Montreal]]|All-around}}
{{MedalGold|[[1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1985 Montreal]]|Rings}}
{{MedalGold|[[1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1985 Montreal]]|Vault}}
{{MedalGold|[[1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1987 Rotterdam]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|[[1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1987 Rotterdam]]|Rings}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1983 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1983 Budapest]]|Team}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1985 Montreal]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1987 Rotterdam]]|All-around}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1981 Moscow]]|Pommel Horse}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|European Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1981 European Gymnastics Championships|1981 Rome]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalGold|[[1981 European Gymnastics Championships|1981 Rome]]|Rings}}
{{MedalGold|[[1983 European Gymnastics Championships|1983 Varna]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalGold|[[1983 European Gymnastics Championships|1983 Varna]]|Parallel Bars}}
{{MedalGold|[[1987 European Gymnastics Championships|1987 Moscow]]|Vault}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1981 European Gymnastics Championships|1981 Rome]]|Individual All-Around}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1981 European Gymnastics Championships|1981 Rome]]|Pommel Horse}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1981 European Gymnastics Championships|1981 Rome]]|Vault}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1983 European Gymnastics Championships|1983 Varna]]|Individual All-Around}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1983 European Gymnastics Championships|1983 Varna]]|Pommel Horse}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1987 European Gymnastics Championships|1987 Moscow]]|Individual All-Around}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1987 European Gymnastics Championships|1987 Moscow]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1983 European Gymnastics Championships|1983 Varna]]|Vault}}
{{MedalCompetition |[[Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|World Cup]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1982 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1982 Zagreb]]|Parallel Bars}}
{{MedalGold|[[1986 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1986 Beijing]]|All-Around}}
{{MedalGold|[[1986 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1986 Beijing]]|Rings}}
{{MedalGold|[[1986 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1986 Beijing]]|Vault}}
{{MedalGold|[[1986 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1986 Beijing]]|Horizontal Bar}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1982 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1982 Zagreb]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1982 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1982 Zagreb]]|Pommel Horse}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1982 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1982 Zagreb]]|Parallel Rings}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1986 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1986 Beijing]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1982 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1982 Zagreb]]|All-Around}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1982 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1982 Zagreb]]|Vault}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1986 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup|1986 Beijing]]|Parallel Bars}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Goodwill Games]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1986 Goodwill Games|1986 Moscow]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1986 Goodwill Games|1986 Moscow]]|All-Around}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1986 Goodwill Games|1986 Moscow]]|Floor Exercise}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1986 Goodwill Games|1986 Moscow]]|Rings}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1986 Goodwill Games|1986 Moscow]]|Horizontal Bar}}
{{MedalSilver|[[Gymnastics at the 1986 Goodwill Games|1986 Moscow]]|Pommel Horse}}
}}

'''Yuri Nikolayevich Korolyov''' ({{langx|ru|Юрий Николаевич Королёв}}; 25 August 1962 – 29 April 2023) was a Soviet [[Artistic gymnastics|artistic gymnast]] who competed during the 1980s, winning many World and European Medals. Part of a deep Soviet team that, throughout the 1980s, featured such names as [[Dmitry Bilozerchev]], [[Valeri Liukin]], [[Vladimir Artemov]], [[Valentin Mogilny]], and others, Korolyov still managed to distinguish himself for the greater part of the decade by becoming World All-Around Champion in 1981 and 1985, as well as being World Cup All-Around Co-Champion (with [[Li Ning]]) in 1986, among many other titles and medals.

==1981–1984==
As Korolyov had been winning many titles and medals for years as a Junior at such competitions as the Jr. USSR Championships and Jr. European Championships, it was no surprise that his senior debut in 1981 would be quite major. At that year's 1981 European Gymnastics Championships in [[Rome]], where he became the first gymnast to compete in a triple back dismount from the Rings as well as a full-twisting double layout dismount from the High Bar,<ref name="gymn-forum.net">[http://www.gymn-forum.net/innovators.html Gymn Forum: Innovators in Gymnastics<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> he won the silver medal in the Individual All-Around, as well as taking 4 out of a possible 6 event finals medals – 2 gold and 2 silver. He was no less successful at that year's [[1981 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships in Moscow]], where his consistent, strong performances (highest 6-event composite score in the team compulsory segment of the competition, highest 12-event composite score throughout both segments of the team composition) won him the All-Around Champion title. He was the youngest Men's World All-Around Artistic Gymnastics Champion up to that point.<ref name="web.archive.org">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060619110203/http://www.gymnastica.com/olympic/gymnasts/korolev.html Yuri Korolev, USSR<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The next year, he continued to be the first, or among the first, male gymnasts to successfully compete certain yet more difficult moves, such as doing a handstand in the middle of a Pommel Horse routine as well as doing consecutive repetitions of the Tkatchev release move on High Bar,<ref name="gymn-forum.net"/> at the '''1982''' World Gymnastics Cup in [[Zagreb]], [[Yugoslavia]] where yet more strong performances helped him to 3rd place in the All-Around competition behind PRC gymnasts [[Li Ning]] (1st) and [[Tong Fei]] (2nd). He would also take 5 out of a possible 6 medals in the event finals (Parallel Bars title, plus 3 silvers and a bronze).

1983 was not as good a year for Korolyov as the previous 2 had been. He did manage to place 2nd to Bilozerchev in the All-Around at that year's European Championships in [[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]], as well as winning 2 event titles (Floor, shared with [[Plamen Petkov]] of [[Bulgaria]], and Parallel Bars). But a disastrous performance on high bar (score of 8.85) in the team compulsories segment of competition at that year's [[1983 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships in Budapest]] dropped him to 5th on the Soviet team, although his 6-event team composite score in team optionals was second, among his teammates, to Bilozerchev's. Not being among the top 3 men on his team, he did not qualify to the Individual All-Around Final, nor did he win a medal on any of the 3 individual event finals to which he qualified. Interesting to note is that although the Soviet team was able to throw out Korolyov's 8.85 High Bar score (their other 5 scores were all 9.7 or above), they still lost the World Team Title to China by only .100 (a very small margin in a team competition), and this was the only World or Olympic Team title the Soviet men would lose at a non-boycotted World Championships or Olympics from 1979 to 1992.

In 1984, any hopes Korolyov would have realistically entertained about any Olympic successes were dashed by [[1984 Summer Olympics boycott|the Soviet-led boycott]], and then his father's death prevented him from participating in the [[Gymnastics at the Friendship Games|Alternate Olympics]] that year.

==1985–1988==
The beginning of this [[quadrennium]] saw Korolyov make an impressive resurgence back onto the international competitive scene as he clinched the All-Around title by a large margin of .300 over Soviet teammate [[Vladimir Artemov]] at the [[1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1985 World Championships in Montreal]]. With Bilozerchev (who had won the European All-Around Title earlier that year) unfortunately sidelined because of a severe leg injury sustained in a car accident,<ref>[http://www.gymn-forum.net/bios/men/bilozerchev.html Gymn Forum: Dmitri Bilozerchev Biography<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Korolyov had more free rein to collect medals at this competition, where he also won 3 of the 6 individual event titles.

Like the midpoint year in the preceding quadrennium, 1986 was another stellar year for Korolyov, as he won or co-won the All-Around at that year's 2 most significant international competitions. At that year's World Cup in [[Beijing]], he shared the All-Around title with [[Li Ning]], and came back to best the home-country-advantaged Li in the individual event finals winning 3 golds and 2 silvers vs. Li's 2 golds and 1 bronze. Also, that year, at the first [[Goodwill Games]] in [[Moscow]], among a deep international field, Korolyov won the All-Around title again by a huge margin of .600 over compatriot Artemov. He logged the highest 6-event composite score in the preliminaries as well as again in the All-Around final, truly dominating the competition. That dominance stretched over into event finals as well where he snared 3 out of the 6 individual event titles.

1987 saw Korolyov even better-poised to go into the succeeding year's Olympics than at the same point in time in the previous quadrennium. Despite the very successful return of Bilozerchev and the rise of younger Soviet stars such as [[Valeri Liukin]] and [[Valentin Mogilny]], Korolyov still managed to win his 3rd European All-Around Silver Medal, behind Liukin, at that year's competition European Gymnastics Championships in Moscow, adding to that 1 gold and 1 silver in event finals. Even more impressive was his performance at the [[1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1987 World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam]]. Although Korolyov only qualified 4th among his Soviet teammates, compatriot Liukin had to withdraw from the Individual All-Around because of an unfortunate knee injury, freeing Korolyov to compete in the All-Around final where he placed 2nd behind Bilozerchev and, buttressed by a perfect score of 10.00 on vault, even logged a higher 6-event composite score in the all-around final than Bilozerchev (or anybody else). (Under the [[Artistic gymnastics#New Life|New Life]] rules instituted two years later, he would have been World All-Around Champion.)

With the previous year's successes established, it looked like Korolyov would have another chance to finally prove himself on the world's biggest stage, the Olympics, but fate adversely intervened again when he injured his Achilles tendon, making his bid for the [[1988 Summer Olympics|1988 Seoul Olympics]] impossible.

==After 1988==
In '''1989''', incredibly, Korolyov kept competing. He almost made that year's World Championship team for the Soviets, but with yet more up-and comers in the Soviet system like [[Vitaly Marinich]] and [[Valery Belenky]], he placed 7th at that year's USSR Championships and then retired.<ref name="web.archive.org"/>

Korolyov died on 29 April 2023, at the age of 60.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Умер девятикратный чемпион мира по спортивной гимнастике Юрий Королев |url=https://tass.ru/sport/17647915 |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=TACC}}</ref>

==The most decorated non-Olympian in gymnastics?==
Korolyov is, quite arguably, the most decorated non-Olympian (male or female) gymnast of all time.

*With a total of 34 individual medals at World Championships, World Cups, and European Championships competitions, Korolyov has more such medals than any other non-Olympian with [[Valentin Mogilny]] (17) being the next highest in this sort of medal count. Even stretching this medal count to include individual Olympic (Official or ‘Alternate’) medals, Korolyov's medal haul is tied with [[Alexander Dityatin]] for 3rd all-time for men behind [[Vitaly Scherbo]] (51) and [[Nikolai Andrianov]] (48). The non-Olympian woman gymnasts with the highest such medal hauls are the deceased 1978 World All-Around Champion [[Elena Mukhina]], with 13, and her Soviet compatriot, 1985 World All-Around Co-Champion [[Oksana Omelianchik]], with 11.
*His World Championship and World Cup individual medals tally of 21 is also far higher than any other non-Olympian with Valentin Mogilny being second.
*Even going strictly by individual World Championship individual medals alone, Korolyov has more (9) than any other non-Olympian, with Mogilny being the runner-up again with 6.
*Korolyov's 8 European / World Championship / World Cup / Olympic All-Around medals is the 3rd highest ever among men, behind Scherbo and Andrianov who each have 9. Korolyov's 8 such All-Around medals also makes him the most prolific All-Around Medalist of the 1980s.
*Korolyov's 21 individual World Championship and World Cup medals is the 2nd highest all-time among all male or female gymnasts, surpassed only by Scherbo's 26. Among these, 11 were gold and that, again, is surpassed, among all male or female non-Olympian gymnasts, only by Scherbo's 13.
*On WorldGymRank's list of the “50 Greatest Gymnasts of Our Time”, Yuri Korolyov is 8th all-time among the men in this weighted, sophisticated, deeply detailed, gymnast ranking system,<ref>[http://www.worldgymrank.com/FiftyGreatestGymnasts.html FiftyGreatestGymnasts<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> a higher ranking in that system than any other male or female non-Olympian gymnast.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{FIG}}
* {{IGHOF}}

{{navboxes|title=International Championships won by Yuri Korolyov|list=
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{{Footer World Artistic Gymnastics All-Around Champions (Men)}}
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{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsMen’sStillRings}}
{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsMen’sVault}}
{{European Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Men's Floor Exercise}}
{{European Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Men's Rings}}
{{European Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Men's Vault}}
{{European Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Men's Parallel Bars}}
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{{International Gymnastics Hall of Fame members}}
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[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:2023 deaths]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Vladimir, Russia]]
[[Category:Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Russian male artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:Soviet male artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:World champion gymnasts]]
[[Category:European champions in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships]]
[[Category:Summer World University Games medalists in gymnastics]]
[[Category:FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian sportsmen]]