Liubov Sereda

Liubov Paradieva Sereda (Russian: Любовь Парадиева Середа; born 1945) is a retired Soviet rhythmic gymnast. She is a two time (1969, 1967) World All-around silver medalist.

Liubov Sereda
Full name	Liubov Paradieva Sereda
Born	1945 (age 79–80) Grozny, Russia
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Rhythmic gymnastics
Country represented	Soviet Union
Head coach(es)	Maria Lisitzian
Assistant coach(es)	Nina Silaeva
Medal record Representing  Soviet Union World Championships 1967 Copenhagen Freehands 1967 Copenhagen All-around 1969 Varna All-around 1969 Varna Ball 1969 Varna Hoop 1969 Varna Rope

Biography

Sereda was born in Grozny, Republic of Chechnya. As a child she wanted to be a ballerina, she started gymnastics at age 10. She and her coach Silaeva later moved to Kyiv to train in rhythmic gymnastics.

She was a four time USSR Cup champion. Sereda competed in her first World championship at the 1967 Worlds in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was the favorite to win the All-around gold where she was leading the first three rotations until a drop from the last apparatus in rope placed her in third, she won the bronze in All-around behind East German Ute Lehmann with teammate Elena Karpuchina taking the gold medal. She won the Freehands^[1]

At the 1969 World Championships in Varna, she shared the silver with Bulgarian Neshka Robeva and teammate Galima Shugurova. She won the silver in ball and bronze medal in rope and hoop final. At the end of her sporting career, she briefly took up as a coach, she taught at the Kyiv Institute of Physical Education as an English teacher. In 1990, Sereda relocated to Moscow, Russia where she is working in a Moscow Sports School.^[2]