Angelina Romanovna Melnikova (; born 18 July 2000) is a Russian artistic gymnast. With fourteen Olympic and World medals, she is the third-most decorated Russian gymnast of all time. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she led the Russian Olympic Committee to gold in the team competition. She previously represented Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the team competition. She was also a member of the gold medal-winning Russian teams at the 2016 and 2018 European Championships, and the silver medal-winning Russian teams at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships.
Individually, Melnikova is a two-time Olympic medalist, an eight-time World medalist, a seventeen-time European Championships medalist, a four-time European Games medalist, and a four-time Russian national all-around champion (2016, 2018, 2024, 2025). She is the 2020 Olympic all-around and floor bronze medalist, the 2021 and 2025 World all-around champion, 2025 vault champion and uneven bars silver medalist, 2021 floor silver medalist and vault bronze medalist, and the 2019 World all-around and floor bronze medalist. She is also the 2019 European Games all-around and uneven bars champion, the 2017 European champion on floor, and the 2021 European champion on uneven bars. In winning the 2021 World all-around title, she became the first non-American to win a World or Olympic all-around title in over a decade.
At the junior level, Melnikova won gold medals at the 2014 European Championships in the team, all-around, and balance beam events and was the 2014 Russian junior all-around national champion. She has been captain of the Russian women's national gymnastics team since 2017.
Early and personal life Angelina Romanovna Melnikova was born 18 July 2000 in Voronezh, Russia. She has a younger brother named Oleg. She started gymnastics at age six after her grandmother brought her to practice once. When she was thirteen, she moved to Moscow to train at the Round Lake national training center. She studied sport and tourism at the Smolensk State Academy of Physical Education.
Junior career 2014 Melnikova competed at the International Gymnix competition in Montreal and won the team gold medal alongside Anastasia Ilyankova, Daria Skrypnik, and Ekaterina Sokova. Individually, she won the all-around silver medal in the Junior International Cup behind Canadian Rose-Kaying Woo. She also placed second on uneven bars and third on floor exercise."L'International Gymnix – Montréal, Canada – Saturday March 8th 2014". International Gymnix (8 March 2014). Retrieved on 5 August 2016. In April, Melnikova competed at the Russian Championships with her home team, the Central Federal District. Her team placed first with a combined total score of 267.966. Individually, Melnikova had a strong showing and placed first in the Junior Master of the Sport division with a score of 58.300. She also won two other gold medals on balance beam and floor exercise with scores of 14.700 and 14.167 respectively. She competed in the uneven bars final and placed seventh.График проведения Чемпионата и Первенства России 2014 г. Пенза. [Schedule of the Championship and Championship of Russia 2014 Penza]. Artistic Gymnastics Federation of Russia (in Russian). Retrieved on 20 July 2023
At the European Championships, Melnikova competed in the junior division alongside teammates Maria Bondareva, Daria Skrypnik, Seda Tutkhalyan, and Anastasia Dmitrieva. As a team, they placed first with a combined score of 168.268. Melnikova then went on to win a gold medal in the all-around and on the balance beam and a silver medal on the uneven bars behind teammate Skrypnik. At the end of the year, she competed at the Top Gym Tournament in Charleroi and won gold in the all-around, vault, and uneven bars finals.
2015 Melnikova competed at the Junior Russian Championships in Penza in early April. She finished in first place with her team, then placed second in the all-around, fifth on uneven bars, first on balance beam, and second on floor exercise. In September, she performed at the Russian Cup; she was ineligible to compete due to her junior status but she was able to perform as a guest. Her overall score of 57.234 was the highest of the competition, beating official champion Daria Spiridonova's score of 57.100.
Melnikova competed at the Elite Gym Massilia meet in Marseille, France in November. She, alongside teammates Daria Skrypnik, Evgeniya Shelgunova, and Natalia Kapitonova, won the silver medal in the team competition. Individually, she won the all-around title ahead of France's Marine Brevet and Romania's Diana Bulimar. Then at the Voronin Cup in December, she won a silver medal with teammate Maria Kharenkova, and she finished second in the junior all-around behind Kapitonova. She won gold in both the vault and floor exercise event finals.
Senior career 2016 Melnikova became age-eligible for senior competition in 2016 and made her senior international debut at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge Cup where the Russian team won the gold medal. Individually, she scored the second-highest all-around score behind 2012 Olympian and reigning European champion Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland. In April, she won her first senior national all-around title; additionally, she placed first on balance beam and floor exercise and finished fifth on uneven bars. In early June, she competed at the European Championships. During the team final, she competed in all four events toward Russia's first-place finish. She also finished fifth in the balance beam event final. Then at the Russian Cup in June, she won the team, all-around, and balance beam gold medals.
In July, Melnikova was selected to represent Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil alongside Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka, Daria Spiridonova, and Seda Tutkhalyan. Due to her successful junior career and early season performances, she was expected to advance to numerous Olympic event finals and be in contention for an all-around medal. However, Melnikova performed subpar during the qualification round, partially due to a strained hamstring suffered during podium training. She fell off the balance beam and again on floor exercise, failing to qualify for the individual all-around final or any event finals. She improved upon her performance in the team final; she competed on all four apparatuses but still counted a fall on the balance beam. Her performances helped contribute to Russia's team silver medal.
After the Olympic Games, Melnikova competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial in Chiasso, Switzerland. She won the three-event all-around ahead of Eythora Thorsdottir and Jessica López. She next competed at the Swiss Cup, a mixed pairs event where she was partnered with Nikita Ignatyev. They finished third behind the Ukrainian pair of Angelina Kysla and Oleg Verniaiev and the German pair of Kim Bui and Marcel Nguyen. Melnikova ended the season competing at the Toyota International event held in Japan. She finished fourth on vault but won gold on the uneven bars and silver on balance beam and floor exercise behind Mai Murakami on each.
2017 Melnikova was named as team captain of the Russian women's national team starting in 2017, succeeding Olympic teammate Aliya Mustafina. She started her season at the Russian Championships in Kazan. Although she was expected to do well in the absence of Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina, as well as coming into the meet as the reigning national champion, she faltered throughout the competition on every event except vault. As a result, she finished eleventh in the all-around. Melnikova participated in the Stuttgart World Cup in March, placing second behind Germany's Tabea Alt due to a fall off the balance beam. The following month she competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy where she received three bronze medals in the team event, vault, and floor exercise. At the London World Cup in April, she finished fifth in the all-around. Later that month, it was announced that she would attend the European Championships as part of the Russian team, along with Elena Eremina, Natalia Kapitonova, and Olympic teammate Maria Paseka. During the qualification round, Melnikova fell off the balance beam and uneven bars and did not qualify for the individual all-around final. However, she qualified for the vault and floor exercise finals. She finished eighth in the vault final. During the floor exercise final, she performed a clean routine which resulted in her winning the gold medal ahead of British gymnast Ellie Downie and Eythora Thorsdottir from the Netherlands.
In August, Melnikova competed at the Russian Cup in Ekaterinburg, where she won the all-around ahead of Eremina and Maria Kharenkova. She also placed first on the balance beam and third on vault and in the team competition. After the Russian Cup, Melnikova was selected to represent Russia at the World Championships along with Paseka, Eremina, and Anastasia Ilyankova. She qualified for the all-around final in tenth place with a score of 53.132. She finished sixteenth in the all-around final after falling twice on the floor exercise.
After the World Championships, Melnikova competed at the Mexican Open and won bronze in the three-event all-around behind Yesenia Ferrera and Cătălina Ponor. Then in December, she competed at the Voronin Cup where she finished first in the all-around, ahead of Viktoria Komova. In the event finals, she won the silver medal on vault behind Oksana Chusovitina and on uneven bars behind Uliana Perebinosova.
2018 Melnikova started off her season at the Stuttgart World Cup, where she finished fourth after making mistakes on both the balance beam and floor exercise. However, a week later at the Birmingham World Cup, she won the meet, finishing ahead of USA's Margzetta Frazier. In April, she competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy where she claimed a gold medal with the Russian team, ahead of Italy and Brazil. On vault, she won a silver medal and on uneven bars she claimed the bronze behind teammate Anastasia Ilyankova and USA's Ragan Smith. Then on the balance beam, she won another bronze medal, this time behind the American first-year senior Emma Malabuyo and Smith. She also finished fourth in the all-around and fifth on floor exercise.
One week later, Melnikova competed at the Russian Championships. On the first day of competition, she earned a silver medal with the Central Federal District team and qualified for the all-around and all four event finals. Melnikova won the gold medal in the all-around ahead of Angelina Simakova and Viktoria Komova. In the event finals, she earned a silver on vault behind Viktoria Trykina, gold on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. In late June, she competed at the Russian Cup where she finished first in the all-around. She also finished first with the Central Federal District team in the team competition and the uneven bars final.