KOUDINOV Mikhail

General
RETIREMENT RETHINK
He decided that his last international competition would be the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, QC, Canada, which led to him wanting to showcase his own move 'The Koudinov'. "I thought 'it's my last competition, let's put together something special for my routine.'" In Montreal he attempted the move twice unsuccessfully before managing to complete it on his third try after encouragement from the crowd to try again. "I thought 'OK, why not?' So I put my thumb up to tell the crowd I had heard them and I decided to go one more time. And I ended up putting it on the bar." Following the competition and after seven years in the United States of America, he moved back to New Zealand and planned to retire from competing in international level gymnastics. However, his career continued after coach David Phillips convinced him to make himself available for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. (stuff.co.nz, 16 Mar 2018)

NAMED ELEMENT
In December 2017 'The Koudinov' was added to the Code of Points for the horizontal bar by the International Gymnastics Federation [FIG]. He first performed the element at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, QC, Canada. "One day I decided to try it over a foam pit just for fun. It seemed possible so I continued to play with it until eventually, I realised I could probably compete it. That's when I trained it more seriously to be able to submit it as a new skill." (fig-gymnastics.com, 15 Dec 2017; nzherald.co.nz, 15 Dec 2017)

MOVE TO NEW ZEALAND
Born in the Russian Federation, at age six he moved with his family to New Zealand. (stuff.co.nz, 16 Mar 2018)

COACH
He is the men's artistic gymnastics lead coach at Tri Star Gymnastics in Auckland, New Zealand. (tristar.org.nz, 01 Jan 2020; gymnasticsnz.com, 04 Jun 2021)