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Biography |
Alexander Artemev is an American artistic gymnast. He is the
2006 all-around U.S. National Champion, the 2007 and 2008
U.S. National Champion on the pommel horse and an individual
bronze medalist at the 2006 World Championships. Artemev was
a member of the bronze medal winning U.S. team at the 2008
Olympics in Beijing.
Artemev was born in Minsk, Belarus. He is the son of
Vladimir Artemev, the former Soviet all-around champion in
1982 and 1984 whose own Olympic ambitions were dashed by his
country's boycott of the Los Angeles Games, followed by a
career-ending knee injury. The Artemevs moved to the United
States in 1994 when Sasha was 9, and father and son became
citizens in 2002. His mother, Svetlana, was a high-level
Russian rhythmic gymnast who moved to Chile in 1991, after
working as a roller skater in the Moscow Circus.
Artemev won three titles at the 2006 U.S. National
Championships on all-around, pommel horse and parallel bars.
He was the only member of the American men's team to win a
medal at the 2006 World Championships, a bronze on the
pommel horse. At the 2007 U.S. Nationals he finished fourth
in the all around, behind champion David Durante, Guillermo
Alvarez, and Sho Nakamori.
At the 2008 U.S. Nationals, Artemev won the pommel horse
title for the second consecutive year. After the Olympic
Trials in June, he was named as an alternate to the men's
team for the 2008 Olympics. On August 7, he was added to the
team, replacing injured Morgan Hamm.
Together with his teammates, Artemev won the bronze medal in
men's team gymnastics in Beijing. Artemev's dazzling
performance on the pommel horse, the last routine for the
team, locked the Americans in third place. Following the
team competition, Artemev competed in the individual
all-around, where he received the second highest pommel
horse score with a 15.525 (he previously placed third on his
pommel horse routine at the qualifiers for all-around with a
score of 15.250, and sixth for individual with a 15.250)
Artemev finished the all-around competition in 12th place
behind fellow American Jonathan Horton, who placed 9th.
Artemev qualified for the pommel horse individual finals,
where he attempted a new routine that would raise his
difficulty level. However, halfway through his routine, and
just after completing a more difficult move, he fell on an
easier move, resulting in an automatic 0.8 of a point
deduction, which dropped his final score to a 14.975. Had he
stayed on the horse, with the addition of the 0.8, he would
have garnered a score of at least a 15.775, which would have
given him a superior score over the second and third place
winners, Filip Ude and Louis Smith, who both had a 15.725,
and may have even earned an even better ranking than the
winner of the gold in that event, Xiao Qin, who had a
15.875. |
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since October 22, 2008