Resident Olympian Tapped for Gymnastics Hall of Fame

Seeing the birth of your child, getting married, and winning a gold medal at the Olympics. The vast majority of people will only get to experience the first two events.

Natalia Sout experienced the third twice as a teenager.

Sout, whose last name Shaposhnikova at the time, won two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics, which were held in her native USSR. The then-19-year-old won a gold medal for her performance in the vault competition and helped her team win a gold medal. She also won a bronze medal in the floor exercise and balance beam events.

Sout, a resident, will be inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame for her accomplishments on May 19.

“Competing in the Olympics was something I looked forward to because, for every athlete, that is the highest honor,” Sout said. “It was so much fun because it was like winning the lottery. How many people have a chance to do it? I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the journey I took to get there.”

Sout won several medals at the World Championships and World Cup competitions in the late 1970s. Now she, her husband Pavel, and their daughter Olga instruct young gymnasts at their business, Gymnastika in Woodland Park.

Pavel is also a world-class gymnast. He won a gold medal at the 1981 World Championships. As a member of the 1981 Soviet Men’s Team, he won several national and international competitions.

The family works with children as young as 5.

“You can always find something in every child. They all have the potential to succeed,” Sout said. “But the hardest thing to do is to get them to watch you and what you do. If you can get them to do that, you can teach them about position, flexibility, and other things.”

Sout began her gymnastics career at age 9. She said her coach was tough, but always asked her what she taught about what he was proposing.

“My coach was always ‘just do this,’ but you could always ask him why. He allowed you to choose,” Sout said. “He wouldn’t make you do something if you thought a particular skill wasn’t for you.”

Sout said that desire to succeed is probably the best asset an athlete can have. Gymnastics requires a lot of perseverance and tenacity.

“I believe that when a child really wants to succeed, that’s when I get the best results,” Sout said. “Yes, there’s talent and some kids won’t be as talented as others, but it is about their willpower.”

But potential, talent, and skill are no guarantee of success. Some kids must realize that they will only go so far in the sport.

“A child may really want to succeed, but he or she might not have the talent, and that’s a hard thing for them,” Sout said. “That’s when I go to them and say ‘okay we’re going to do this and you’re going to have fun with it’ and they might be disappointed, but that’s okay. You still treat them the same as someone who might have more talent than they do.”

Olga said she wasn’t very aware of just how famous her parents were when she was a young child.

“I never thought it was a big deal until I saw other people’s reaction to it,” Olga said. “First and foremost, she’s my mom. You always think of your parents as just that so it was kind of amazing when I realized how famous and popular they were. It’s amazing really. I’m my parents’ biggest cheerleader.”

Olga said her parents never pressured her into being as good as they were at gymnastics.

“You just do it because you want to, because you love it, not because someone makes you,” Olga said. “I see a lot of parents live vicariously through their kids and it makes me appreciate my parents now because they never did that with me growing up.”