Alexei Nemov

Alexei Yuryevich Nemov (born 28 May 1976) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. Over his career, he collected five world titles, three European championships, and twelve Olympic medals.

Nemov was born in Barashevo, Mordovia, and grew up in Tolyatti on the Volga River after his father divorced his mother. He started training in artistic gymnastics at age six at the Volga Automobile Plant’s youth Olympic reserve school in Tolyatti, attending School No. 34. From 1983, he trained under Yevgeny Grigoryevich Nikolko, a Master of Sports and Honored Coach of Russia. He graduated from Tolyatti State University in 1999.

He debuted at the 1993 World Championships at sixteen, placing fifth on floor. The next year, he won his qualifying session at Worlds but dropped to twelfth in the all-around. He claimed his first major all-around title at the Goodwill Games in Saint-Petersburg, beating teammate Aleksei Voropaev by over a point. His gymnastics was known for complex acrobatics, a unique style, and elegance.

By 1995, Nemov had a reputation for inconsistency. At the European Cup all-around, he led after five events and needed only an 8.75 on high bar to win. He missed two release moves, crashed into the bar, botched a required element, and stopped mid-routine, scoring 7.35 and falling to ninth. At the World Championships in Sabae, Japan, the Russian team qualified 11th, with Nemov 96th all-around. The team rebounded to fourth in finals—the first time in decades Russia failed to medal in the team event—though Nemov posted the highest optional score.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Nemov won six medals: two gold, one silver, and three bronze. In the all-around, he battled World Champion Li Xiaoshuang but ruined his gold chances by botching his middle tumbling run on the final event, finishing second by a narrow margin.

Despite questions about his dedication and fitness, Nemov continued to excel. Shoulder injuries, his marriage, the birth of his first son, and perceived character inconsistencies raised doubts before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He entered the Games in peak shape—having never seen his newborn son, born in September 2000—and won the all-around gold, bringing home what he called a golden rattle. By the end of Sydney, he had Olympic medals in every men’s discipline except still rings.

Injuries took their toll, but Nemov competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics as an anchor for the Russian team. In the high bar event final, he performed a routine with six release skills, including four in a row. The judges gave him 9.725, placing him third. The crowd erupted, interrupting the competition for nearly fifteen minutes. Officials raised his score to 9.762, but it did not change his placement. The next competitor, Paul Hamm, could not start until Nemov stepped onto the podium and gestured for the audience to quiet down. For this act of sportsmanship, he received the 2005 Fair Play Award from the International Fair Play Committee. The controversy—one of several judging disputes at those Games—prompted a major reconstruction of the gymnastics scoring system in 2006, encouraging more acrobatic difficulty on high bar. The Russian Olympic Committee later awarded Nemov $40,000 for his character, and he retired soon after.

Nemov lives in Tolyatti with his wife Galina and sons Alexei (born 2000) and Dima (born 2009). In 2015, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu awarded him the rank of reserve colonel in the Russian Armed Forces for his sports achievements and service. In 2022, after the International Gymnastics Federation opened a disciplinary case against Ivan Kuliak for wearing the military symbol “Z” at an international medal ceremony, Nemov expressed his views on the matter.