Dina Alekseyevna Averina (Дина Алексеевна Аверина), born 13 August 1998 in Zavolzhye, a small town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast — a region in central Russia roughly 400 km east of Moscow — is a Russian rhythmic gymnast who held the world all-around title four times and won a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games [1][2]. She is an identical twin: her sister Arina Averina is also a world champion in the same sport [3]. Together the twins are among the most decorated rhythmic gymnasts of their generation. Nizhny Novgorod, the regional capital on the Volga, was known as Gorky in Soviet times and was then a closed city — one that foreigners were not permitted to enter. The city and the surrounding region produced both sisters, and their careers carried the name of the Nizhny Novgorod region onto podiums across the world [4][5].

Dina Averina in world gymnastics

Rhythmic gymnastics is an Olympic discipline in which a solo gymnast or a group performs choreographed routines with hand apparatus — hoop, ball, clubs or ribbon — and is scored by judges on difficulty and execution. Dina Averina first came to wider international attention at the 2015 Russian Championships in Penza, where she took bronze in the all-around behind Yana Kudryavtseva and her twin sister Arina [6]. The following year, at the 2016 Russian Championships in Sochi, she finished third in the individual all-around behind Aleksandra Soldatova and Margarita Mamun [7], and in the Olympic year she was competing at international Grand Prix events across Europe [8].

The 2017 season marked a turning point. At the Moscow Grand Prix in February 2017 — the first major test after Olympic champions Yana Kudryavtseva and Margarita Mamun had retired or stepped back — Dina posted a clubs score of 19.600 in the finals, one of only two scores at that level in the entire competition [9]. Later that year at the Russian Championships in Penza, she won the all-around with 78.200 points, ahead of Soldatova and Arina Averina, with both twins listed as representing Nizhny Novgorod – Moscow [10]. At the 2017 World Games in Wrocław, Poland, Dina and Arina between them took multiple medals across all four apparatus finals; Dina's clubs exercise was recorded as having maximum difficulty of 10.0 and an execution score of 9.1 [11]. At the World Championships in Pesaro that August, Dina won the hoop title and Arina won the ball — maiden world titles for both [3].

Between 2017 and 2021 Dina Averina won the world all-around title four times, in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, becoming the only gymnast in the history of the discipline to hold that record [2]. She also accumulated ten European Championship gold medals [12]. At the 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, she won her 18th world gold medal, surpassing the previous record of 17 set by two-time Olympic champion Yevgeniya Kanayeva between 2007 and 2011 [13].

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — held in August 2021 — Dina Averina scored 107.650 in the individual all-around final, finishing second behind Israel's Linoy Ashram, who scored 107.800 despite a drop of her ribbon in the final routine [12][14]. Ashram became the first non-Russian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around gold since Ukraine's Ekaterina Serebrianskaya at the 1996 Atlanta Games [14]. Russia's Olympic Committee lodged a formal complaint with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) alleging biased judging [15]. The FIG's Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee reviewed all scoring from the competition and stated that it found "no bias or irregular" decisions [14]. Dina Averina said the judging felt unfair to her [15]. Arina Averina finished fourth [12]. At the same Games Dina's silver medal was her first and only Olympic medal [16].

In March 2022 Dina and Arina Averina were among the athletes who appeared at a rally-concert held at Luzhniki sports complex in Moscow under the title "Za mir bez natsizma! Za Rossiyu! Za Prezidenta!" [17].

In February 2024 head coach and federation president Irina Viner announced, at a gala event dedicated to Defender of the Fatherland Day, that the twins had told her they would no longer compete [18]. At that point Dina held 18 world championship gold medals and one Olympic silver; Arina held five world championship golds [18].

Nizhny Novgorod and Zavolzhye: where the Averinas began

Dina Averina was born and spent her early years in Zavolzhye (Заволжье), a town on the left bank of the Volga that is part of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast [1][5]. She began practising rhythmic gymnastics there as a young child under the guidance of coach Larisa Belova [19]. The Zavolzhsky FOK (Заволжский ФОК) — a municipal sports and fitness centre — records her among the athletes who trained in the town [5].

The Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics (Федерация художественной гимнастики Нижегородской области) counts Dina Averina among the outstanding athletes of the region [4]. At national competitions, the twins were listed as representing "Nizhny Novgorod – Moscow", reflecting the dual registration that is standard for Russian athletes who train in the capital while remaining formally attached to their home region [10].

After her initial training in Zavolzhye, Dina moved to Moscow and joined the Olympic training centre there, where she worked under coach Vera Shtelbaumsa [19]. The two sisters trained in parallel and competed against one another at national championships throughout their careers [6][7][10].

From Nizhny Novgorod to the world

The Averina twins' trajectory followed a path common to elite Russian gymnasts from the regions: early formation in a local club, transfer to Moscow for high-performance training, and then international competition under a dual regional registration that preserved the connection to their home oblast [10][4]. Dina's first major national results, including her bronze at the 2015 Russian Championships, were achieved under the Nizhny Novgorod registration [6]. Her world-record 18 gold medals at World Championships were won between 2017 and 2021, with the region's gymnastics federation listing her as one of its four double world all-around champions [4][2].

Memory and life after competition

After retiring in February 2024, Dina Averina took part in masterclasses and exhibition performances aimed at promoting rhythmic gymnastics [19]. In 2024 she met Olympic figure-skating champion Dmitry Solovyov during the filming of the television entertainment show Lednikovy period (Ледниковый период — an ice-skating show, whose name means "Ice Age") [20]. On Valentine's Day he proposed, and the couple married in the summer of 2024 [21][20]. In September 2025 an open training session by the Averina sisters was held in Moscow, at which artificial intelligence technologies for use in sport were presented [19].

On 29 August 2026 Dina Averina and Dmitry Solovyov had a son, named Lev, born at 05:17 [22]. Dina had earlier stated that she intended to give birth in Nizhny Novgorod [19]. Arina Averina published a photograph with her nephew and congratulated the family on the new arrival [23].

Sources

  1. olympedia.org — "Olympedia – Dina Averina," athlete profile
  2. cyclowiki.org — "Dina Averina is the only four-time world all-around champion in rhythmic gymnastics" (in Russian)
  3. insidethegames.biz — "Russian identical twins both bag gold and silver at FIG Rhythmic World Championships," 2021 (archive)
  4. nnfrg.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation data on Dina Averina as an outstanding athlete of the region (in Russian)
  5. fokzvl.ru — "Averina Dina Alekseyevna – MBU Zavolzhsky FOK (archive)" (in Russian) (archive)
  6. gimnastika.pro — "Kudryavtseva – absolute champion of the country, the Averina sisters – medallists," 18 April 2015 (in Russian)
  7. gimnastika.pro — "Results of the 2016 Russian championship in individual competition," 17 April 2016 (in Russian)
  8. insidethegames.biz — "Averina earns all-around title at Berlin Masters Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup," 2016 (archive)
  9. ueg.org — "Dina Averina turns heads at the 2017 Moscow Grand Prix," originally covered February 2017, revisited 28 October 2026
  10. allsportinfo.ru — "Dina Averina – champion of Russia in rhythmic gymnastics all-around," 12 March 2017 (in Russian) (archive)
  11. ueg.org — "The Averina twins dominate the 2017 World Games in Wrocław," originally covered July 2017, revisited 28 October 2026
  12. NBC Olympics — "Israel's Linoy Ashram upsets Dina Averina for gold in rhythmic gymnastics," 2021
  13. NEWS.ru — "Dina Averina broke Kanayeva's record for the number of gold medals at the World Championships," 30 October 2021 (in Russian)
  14. insidethegames.biz — "FIG 'appalled' by judge abuse and claims no bias from Tokyo 2020 panel," 2021 (archive)
  15. Yahoo Sports / au.sports.yahoo.com — "Olympics 2021: Russia complains of 'biased' gymnastics judging," 7 August 2021 (archive)
  16. Olympics.com — Dina AVERINA | Olympics.com (archive)
  17. Sports.ru (Спортс) — Rally "Za mir bez natsizma! Za Rossiyu! Za Prezidenta!" at Luzhniki, 18 March 2022 (in Russian)
  18. RBK (РБК) — "Gymnasts Dina and Arina Averina ended their sporting careers," 23 February 2024 (in Russian) (archive)
  19. snob.ru — "Dina Averina: biography and achievements of the gymnast (archive)" (in Russian) (archive)
  20. NN.RU (НН.РУ) — "In 2024, after retiring, Dina Averina met Olympic figure-skating champion Dmitry Solovyov on the set of the show Lednikovy period," 2024 (in Russian)
  21. Championat.com (Чемпионат) — "Dina Averina and Dmitry Solovyov held a wedding: love story, guests, Valieva, Buzova, Averbukh," 2025 (in Russian) (archive)
  22. V gorode N (В городе N) — "On 29 August 2026 Dina Averina and Dmitry Solovyov had a son named Lev, born at 05:17," 2026 (in Russian)
  23. Newsroom24 — "Arina Averina published a photograph with her nephew and congratulated the family," (in Russian)