Vera Biryukova

Vera Leonidovna Biryukova (Вера Леонидовна Бирюкова; born 11 April 1998) is a Russian group rhythmic gymnast who was the 2016 Olympics Group all-around champion.

Career
Biryukova was born in Omsk. She began gymnastics at five years old under the encouragement of her mother, Vera Shtelbaums. Her first coach was Natalia Glemba. She studied at Omsk schools number 61 and 125, where she began training with Elena Arais and her mother.

Biryukova was briefly included as part of Russia's group, but was later relegated to the reserve team. In 2016 Biryukova returned as a member of the Russian national group, replacing Ksenia Poliakova. She competed with the Russian group at the 2016 World Cup series in Kazan and Baku.

On August 19–21, Biryukova was a member of the gold-winning Russian group (with Anastasia Maksimova, Maria Tolkacheva, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasiia Tatareva) that won gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Awards

 * Honored Master of Sports of Russia (2016).
 * Order of Friendship (August 25, 2016) - for outstanding sports achievements at the Games XXXI Olympiad in 2016 in the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), manifested the will to win and sense of purpose.