Maria Paseka

Maria Valeryevna Paseka (; born 19 July 1995) is a Russian artistic gymnast and member of the Russia women's national gymnastics team. During her decade-long career, she has primarily been successful as a vault specialist. On this apparatus, she is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 2016, bronze in 2012), a two-time world champion (2015, 2017), a two-time European champion (2015, 2019), the 2015 Universiade champion, and a two-time Russian national champion (2013, 2019). As a member of the Russian teams at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, Paseka won two silver medals in the team competition.

Junior career

2010 At the end of April, Paseka competed at the European Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom. She contributed an all around score of 55.850 toward the Russian team's first-place finish. In the vault final, she won the silver medal with a score of 14.275.

Senior career

2011 In August, Paseka competed at the Russian Cup in Yekaterinburg, Russia. She placed third on vault scoring 13.713 and fifth on floor scoring 13.125. Russian coach Valentina Rodionenko said, "In Yekaterinburg, she did not perform vault very well, but she has very difficult and high-level gymnastics."

In September, Paseka competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium. She placed sixth on vault scoring 13.837 and fifth on floor scoring 13.175.

Later in September, Paseka competed at the Dinamo International in Penza, Russia. She placed second on vault scoring 13.935 and third on floor scoring 14.034.

2012 In March, Paseka competed at the Russian National Championships in Penza, Russia. She contributed scores of 14.867 on vault, 10.767 on uneven bars, and 13.533 on floor toward the Moscow team's first-place finish. In event finals, she placed third on vault scoring 14.120 and seventh on uneven bars scoring 11.440.

In May, Paseka competed at the European Championships in Brussels, Belgium. She contributed a vault score of 14.833 towards the Russian team's second-place finish.

In June, Paseka competed at the Russian Cup in Penza, Russia. She contributed scores of 15.800 on vault and 14.134 on floor toward the Moscow team's first-place finish. In event finals, she placed seventh on vault scoring 11.925 and seventh on uneven bars scoring 13.175.

London Olympics At the end of July, Paseka competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. In the team final, she contributed a vault score of 15.300 toward the Russian team's second-place finish. In the vault final, she won the bronze medal with a score of 15.050.

2013 In March, Paseka competed at the Russian Championships in Penza, Russia. She contributed scores of 15.750 on vault and 12.650 on uneven bars toward the Moscow team's second-place finish. In event finals, she placed first on vault scoring 13.475 and eighth on uneven bars scoring 11.725.

In April, Paseka competed at the European Championships in Moscow, Russia. She won the bronze medal in the uneven bars final with a score of 14.400. She qualified for the vault final in second place with a score of 14.733. However, in the final she fell on both her vaults and finished seventh with a score of 13.499.

2018 Paseka spent the year recovering and rehabilitating her back. In December she was officially medically cleared to resume training and competing.

2019 Paseka made her comeback at the 2019 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships where she placed first on vault after competing an Amanar and a Lopez. As a result, she was named to the team to compete at the 2019 European Championships in Szczecin alongside Angelina Simakova, Angelina Melnikova, and Anastasia Ilyankova. Paseka later competed at the Baku World Cup. She qualified to the vault final in sixth place after her Lopéz was downgraded to a Podkopayeva. In the final Paseka attempted her Cheng but fell and finished in fifth place. At the Doha World Cup Paseka qualified to the vault final in first place after successfully competing her Cheng and Amanar. In the vault final Paseka won silver, 0.117 points behind American Jade Carey. Her Amanar was the highest scoring vault of the competition (15.100).

At the European Championships Paseka qualified to the vault final in fifth place after crashing her Cheng. During the final she won gold, beating 2017 European vault champion Coline Devillard. In June she competed at the Korea Cup where she placed fourth on vault after downgrading her Cheng to a Lopez and falling on her Amanar. In August Paseka competed at the Russian Cup on both vault and uneven bars. During qualifications she scored 12.100 on uneven bars but did not advance to the finals but she did qualify to vault final. During event finals she placed fifth on vault behind Lilia Akhaimova, Melnikova, Eleonora Afanasyeva, and Viktoria Trykina after a subpar performance.

In September Paseka was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships, replacing an injured Angelina Simakova. She was later named as the alternate. In November Paseka competed at the Cottbus World Cup where she placed sixth on vault after stepping out of bounds on her Amanar and falling while performing her Cheng.

2020 In February Paseka competed at the Melbourne World Cup where she placed eighth after falling on her Amanar and having her López downgraded. In March she competed at the Baku World Cup but placed eleventh during qualification and did not qualify for the event final. However event finals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Azerbaijan. Paseka later revealed that she injured her ankle in Baku and would therefore take a break from gymnastics and return after the 2020 Olympics.

Competitive history

International scores Year Competition Location Apparatus Rank-Final Score-Final Rank-Qualifying Score-Qualifying 2012 European Championships Brussels Team 175.536 2 172.562 Vault 9 14.149 Olympic Games London Team 178.530 2 180.429 Vault 15.050 3 15.049 Uneven Bars 79 0.000 2013 European Championships Moscow Vault 7 13.499 2 14.733 Uneven Bars 14.400 6 14.100 2015 European Championships Montpellier Vault 15.250 4 14.416 Uneven Bars 5 14.233 World Championships Glasgow Team 4 171.964 2 231.437 Vault 15.666 2 15.583 Uneven Bars 6 14.800 Floor Exercise 42 13.666 2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro Team 176.688 3 174.620 Vault 15.253 4 15.049 2017 European Championships Cluj-Napoca 4 14.283 2 14.412 World Championships Montreal 14.850 1 14.933 2019 European Championships Szczecin 14.516 5 14.133