Lilia Akhaimova

Lilia Igorevna Akhaimova (Лилия Игоревна Ахаимова, born 17 March 1997) is a Russian retired artistic gymnast.

Akhaimova was born on 17 March 1997 in Vladivostok, Russian Far East, but she has resided with her parents in Saint Petersburg since August 2012.

When she was five, her parents enrolled her in rhythmic gymnastics, but her coach encouraged her to switch to artistic gymnastics.

Akhaimova's younger sister, Lyubov also competed at the national level in artistic gymnastics.

She is of Jewish background.

She studied sport and health at the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education in St. Petersburg.

Akhaimova finished fourteenth in the all-around at the 2013 Russian Championships.

Then at the Russian Cup, she finished tenth all-around, fourth on vault, and seventh on floor exercise.

She won a team gold medal at the Gymnasiade as the alternate.

Akhaimova finished ninth in the all-around at the 2014 Russian Championships, and she placed fourth in both the vault and floor exercise event finals.

Then at the Russian Cup, she finished tenth all-around, fourth on vault, and seventh on floor exercise.

She then competed at her first international competition- the Élite Gym Massilia.

She finished twentieth in the all-around and won a silver medal with the Russian team.

Then at the Tournoi Pas-de-Calais, she won the team silver medal with Elena Eremina, and Akhaimova won the all-around bronze medal and the vault gold medal.

At the 2015 Russian Championships, Akhaimova placed fifteenth in the all-around, and at the Russian Cup she finished seventh.

Akhaimova finished twelfth in the all-around at the 2016 Russian Championships.

Then at the Russian Cup, she won the gold medal on the floor exercise.

She was a non-traveling alternate for Russia's 2016 Olympic team.

After the Olympics, she competed at the Toyota International where she finished fourth on the uneven bars and seventh on the balance beam.

Then at the Voronin Cup, she won the gold medal with teammate Elena Eremina.

Individually, she won the gold medals on the vault and floor exercise.

Akhaimova began the season at the Russian Championships where she became the national floor exercise champion and was runner-up on vault.

She then competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge alongside Elena Eremina, Natalia Kapitonova, Evgenia Shelgunova, and Daria Spiridonova, and they won the team gold.

She then won a bronze medal on the floor exercise at the Osijek World Challenge Cup behind Brazilians Thaís Fidélis and Flávia Saraiva.

She was selected to represent Russia at the 2017 Summer Universiade alongside Shelgunova, Spiridonova, Darya Elizarova, and Maria Paseka, and they won gold in the team competition.

Then in the vault final, she won the silver medal behind Canada's Brittany Rogers, and she won the bronze medal in the floor exercise final.

At the Cottbus World Cup, she won a silver medal on vault and a gold medal on floor exercise.

In March, Akhaimova tore a ligament in her ankle in three places.

In July, she won the silver medal on the floor exercise at the Russian Cup.

She was then named to the Russian team to compete at the European Championships alongside Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Irina Alexeeva, and Uliana Perebinosova.

They won gold in the team final, and individually, Akhaimova placed fifth on vault.

On September 29, Akhaimova was named on the nominative team to compete at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, alongside Alexeeva, Melnikova, Aliya Mustafina, and Simakova.

On October 17, the Worlds team was officially announced and was unchanged from the nominative team.

Akhaimova helped Russia win the silver medal behind the United States and ahead of China.

She qualified for the floor exercise final and finished seventh.

After the World Championships, Akhaimova competed at the Elite Gym Massilia and won a silver medal with the Russian team, and she won gold medals in the vault and floor exercise finals.

Then at the Cottbus World Cup, she finished sixth in the vault final.

She is a two-time World silver medalist (2018, 2019) and the 2018 European champion with the Russian team.

She is also a six-time Universiade medalist.

She represented the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the team event.