Masha (olympics.com, 31 Jan 2021)

Physical Education - Moscow City University, Russia

Husband Dmitry

English, Russian

Central Sports Army Club [RUS] / Sambo 70 Olympia [RUS]

Marina Ulyankina [personal], RUS; Valery Ulyankin [personal], RUS

In 2017 she received treatment in Germany for a back injury. She underwent surgery on her back in December 2017, which stopped her training for about two years. (olympics.com, 31 Jan 2021; gymnovosti.com, 05 Mar 2019; intlgymnast.com, 08 Mar 2018)

In early 2011 she underwent two rounds of surgery on her heels, which took her six months to fully recover from. (moscow-live.ru, 12 Sep 2011)

She took up gymnastics at age six at the MGFSO Dinamo youth sports school in Moscow, Russian Federation. (gymnast.ru, 27 Aug 2014)

She watched a television programme that showed a girl bouncing on a trampoline at the Dinamo club in Moscow and told her mother that she wanted to try it. Her mother refused, telling her that trampoline was a dangerous sport. "I threw a tantrum and my mum was forced to take me to Dinamo." She eventually switched to artistic gymnastics because it offered four apparatus, the chance to work different muscle groups, and was less scary than trampoline. (mk.ru, 18 Sep 2016)

Winning gold on vault at the 2015 European Championships in Montpellier, France, and the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. (olympics.com, 31 Jan 2021)

"I am a workaholic, in the good sense of the word. I get pleasure from the good execution of a skill." (International Gymnast magazine, March 2016)

In recognition of her achievements at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016, she received the Order for Merits to the Fatherland [first grade] and the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation. (kremlin.ru, 25 Aug 2016, 13 Aug 2012)

She holds the title of Honoured Master of Sport in the Russian Federation. (minsport.gov.ru, 24 Dec 2020)

General
CAREER BREAK
She took a break from competition in 2020 because she had plans to start a family. She has previously expressed concern about the impact of pregnancy on her back, which she has injured in the past. She resumed training in 2021 "The doctors say that changes in my spine are noticeable, one vertebra has shifted. For now, the muscles are keeping it in place, but later, if, for example, I want to have a baby, there may be problem. I guess I'm getting old." (Instagram profile, 20 Sep 2021; gymnovosti.com, 12 Dec 2017; rsport.ria.ru, 17 Apr 2020)

FURTHER EDUCATION
She has studied at the Smolensk State Academy of Physical Education, Sport and Tourism in the Russian Federation. (sgafkst.ru, 15 Apr 2019)