Russia's Anna Pavlova currently holds an iron grip on Europe's juniors and demonstrated this with a strong showing at the European Championships in Patras in April. Elegant Yelena Anoshina made a name for herself by placing third AA, but there is a host of other Russian stars waiting in the wings for their chance. One of them is Polina Miller. Born November 23, 1988, Polina was the youngest member of her team in Patras. The perfect mixture of Svetlana Khorkina and Yekaterina Lobaznyuk, Miller has something else that makes her special: She shares a surname with one of the sports greats - American Shannon Miller.

Polina's great-grandfather was German which is where the name Miller (originally Müller) hails from. Watching famous namesake Shannon compete in 1994, little Polina reportedly commented "How odd to see a gymnast with such a Russian name competing for the USA!". Just one of a whole crop of young gymnasts from St. Petersburg to recently climb the ranks of the Russian team, Polina trains alongside the Ziganshina sisters Natalia and Gulnara.

Both of Polina's parents were gymnasts, with her father coming close to making the Soviet squad. He met his future wife while studying at the famous Lesgaft Institute of Physical Culture and Sports. It was their mutual friend Natalia Kovrinikh who first suggested Polina might try gymnastics. Kovrinikh is now not only Miller's personal coach but also her godmother. The greater part of the year is now spent away from St. Petersburg, either at the national training centre Round Lake or at various competitions. Miller has taken her talents abroad quite a bit, winning floor at the 2001 Siska International in Ljubljana and bars at this year's Stella Zakharova Cup in Kiev. An accomplished bars worker (Jaeger, Tkachev, Bi), she likes the apparatus best and is the reigning Russian Cup champion on this event. On floor, she works well to her dramatic Carmen music and packs in the difficulty on beam (nice combination of Onodi- immediate full-twisting tuck jump). Her favourite film is "The Man in the Iron Mask" and in her spare time she likes reading detective stories and going for walks."

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