Larisa Latynina

Larisa Latynina is former Soviet gymnast, who was active during the years 1956- 1964. She has one 9 Olympic gold medals and 18 medals in total. She holds the record for most gold medals held by a gymnast, and was the person with the most medals in general for 48 years until Michael Phelps broke it in 2012. She is credited for helping establish Russia as a strong force in gymanstics. Larisa is a Russian name derived from the name of the ancient city of Larisa in Thessaly, which means “citadel”.