Yulia Raskina

Raskina performing rope at 2000 Sydney Olympics

Raskina is Jewish.[1] She was born into a sporting family. Her mother was the master of sports of the international class of the USSR in artistic gymnastics. Her father was also a master of sports, a trainer in track and field athletics.

Raskina broke into the International RG scene at the 1997 World Championships in Berlin and was a three-time national champion. She became the 1999 World Championships all-around silver medalist and was a two-time European all-around silver medalist in 1999 and 2000. Raskina won the gold medal in ball at 2000 European in Zaragosa. She marked her career high by winning the silver in all-around at the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia ahead of then Olympic gold favorite Alina Kabayeva who took the bronze medal. She lost the gold to Yulia Barsakova by 0.084. Had her hoop not gone out of bounds by an inch which was a mandatory 0.1 deduction and a 4.9 out of 5.0 in Artistry, she would have won the gold. Raskina made unsuccessful comeback until 2003 and finally completed her career.

In 2005 and 2006, Raskina took part in Cirque du Soleil's Corteo alongside former Ukrainian rhythmic gymnast Tamara Yerofeeva. She won Belarusian TV project "Star Dances" with professional dancer Denis Moryasin and was selected to represent Belarus at the Eurovision Dance Contest.

• List of select Jewish gymnasts

• Yulia Raskina at the International Gymnastics Federation