Spending time with family and friends, walking her dogs, baking. (olympic.org.nz, 01 Jan 2022)

Student

Health Science - University of Auckland: New Zealand

English

Counties Manukau Gymnastics: Papakura, NZL

Elena Pirozhenko [club, national]

She fell ill with a viral chest infection on her competition day at the 2022 World Cup event in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was able to compete at the event, but was later hospitalised in Bulgaria. (newsroom.co.nz, 16 Jun 2022)

She began rhythmic gymnastics at age seven.

A swimming coach told her parents that her flexible feet would make her a good ballet dancer and gymnast. Her ballet teacher later encouraged her to practise rhythmic gymnastics. "I was looking for another sport, so she got me to watch a YouTube video of her daughter doing rhythmic gymnastics. I remember thinking, 'Wow' - she was throwing the hoop up, rolling under it and catching it behind her back. So I went and tried it, and my parents couldn't get me out of the gym. [Ballet is] a huge part of gymnastics to have good technique."

To compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (newsroom.co.nz, 16 Jun 2022)

New Zealand athlete Portia Bing. (newsroom.co.nz, 16 Jun 2022)

In 2021 she received the Student Service to Sport Award from Baradene College in Auckland, New Zealand, in recognition of her coaching at the college. (newsroom.co.nz, 16 Jun 2022)

JUGGLING SPORT AND STUDIES
In 2021 she began studying for a degree in health sciences at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She trains at Counties Manukau Gymnastics in the afternoons. "I've always thought of becoming a sports doctor. I find science really interesting. I'm trying to do my sport while my body still works, and make the most of it. Because when I'm 30, I probably won't be as mobile as I am now." (newsroom.co.nz, 16 Jun 2022)

ATHLETICS
She competed in high jump at national secondary school level in New Zealand. She says she was inspired by New Zealand athlete Portia Bing, who had attended her secondary school and returned to give a talk to students when Hopman was around age 13. "She had such a big influence on me. I remember asking her heaps of questions. [High jump was] something I liked to do on the side. My dad and I would sit down and say, 'Okay we've got to break this school record'. I got it in year seven and eight, then my goal was to get it every year." (newsroom.co.nz, 16 Jun 2022)