LONDON–  Larysa Latynina, 77, of southern Ukraine (Kherson) was the most successful Olympic athlete ever.  At these 2012 Olympics she had to buy her own ticket for herself and her daughter to see Michael Phelps break her medals record.  Since the late 50’s she had won 18 Olympic medals.  Nobody, in her sport or any other, has owned more Olympic medals than she.

She won gold at the1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games.

Back in the day, she won a gymnastics world championship, while hiding the fact she was four months pregnant.  “I’m quite happy there is a man in the world who can overcome my record, finally,” she said in front of her daughter, Tatiana.

She organized the gymnastics competition at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.  Now in retirement she lives on an estate near the town Semenovskoye, in the Moscow region.  “Each Olympics had its own special things to remember,” she added.