Alina Kozich

Who is Alina Kozich?

Alina Kozich is a former Ukrainian gymnast. She is from Kiev and was a member of the 2004 Ukrainian Olympic team in Athens, Greece. She started Gymnastics at the age of 5 and her younger sister Olha is also a very talented gymnast.

Alina first came to prominence at the age of 13 when she competed at the 2001 European Youth Olympics in Murcia, Spain where she won the All Around competition and impressed judges and fans with her clean lines and form. Her success in the Junior ranks continued in 2002 with a Gold Medal on the Uneven Bars at the 2002 Junior European in Patras, Greece as well as a fourth place finish in the All Around. 2003 saw Alina move into the senior ranks where she continued to impress with a solid 8th place finish in the All Around as well as a 7th place finish with her Ukraine team, qualifying for the team competition at the 2004 Olympics. She eventually placed 11th in the All Around and 8th on floor.

The Olympic year started strongly with Alina with a career highlight victory in the 2004 European All Around competition where she narrowly defeated Romanian Daniela Sofronie. Alina was the first Ukrainian to take this title since Lilia Podkopayeva in 1996, and joined a list of illustrious compatriots such as Tatiana Gutsu and Ludmilla Tourischeva. Frequently, the European all-around champion goes on to take the Olympic title so expectations for Alina heading into the 2004 Olympics were high. She helped the high quality, but often inconsistent Ukrainian team to a respectable Fourth in the team competition, their best ever Olympic Result. Alina had the highest All Around score of all the gymnasts in the team final, including Carly Patterson and Svetlana Khorkina who would go on to place first and second in the All Around Final. This made Alina a strong favorite to win a medal. However, falls from the Balance Beam in the All Around and on her first tumbling pass in the floor final prevented Alina from winning a medal.