Angelina Melnikova

Angelina Romanovna Melnikova was born on July 18, 2000, in Voronezh, Russia. She began her gymnastics training at the age of six. At thirteen, she relocated to Moscow to train at the Round Lake national training center, a key facility for Russian gymnasts. Her junior career included notable achievements such as team gold, all-around silver, uneven bars second place, and floor exercise third place at the 2014 International Gymnix in Montreal. In 2014, she also secured a team gold, all-around gold, and balance beam gold, along with an uneven bars silver, at the Junior European Championships. These early successes established her as a prominent talent in artistic gymnastics.

Melnikova’s senior career commenced in 2016, a year where she also made her Olympic debut at the Rio de Janeiro Games, contributing to Russia’s team silver medal. She was appointed captain of the Russian women’s national team in 2017. A significant milestone occurred at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she led the Russian Olympic Committee to a gold medal in the team competition. Individually, she earned bronze medals in the all-around and floor exercise events at the same Olympics. In 2021, Melnikova further cemented her position by becoming the World all-around champion, the first non-American to achieve this title in over a decade. She also secured a floor exercise silver and vault bronze at the 2021 World Championships.

Throughout her career, Melnikova has accumulated four Olympic medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze), seven World Championship medals (1 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze), four European Games medals (2 gold, 2 silver), and twelve European Championship medals (4 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze). She is also a four-time Russian national all-around champion (2016, 2018, 2024, 2025). Her competitive history includes participation in numerous World Cups and international events, consistently placing at or near the top. Following a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in 2022, she returned to international competition in 2025 as an Authorised Neutral Athlete (AIN), winning gold on balance beam and silver on floor exercise at the Paris World Challenge Cup, marking her enduring presence in the sport.