Yevgeny Shabayev

Yevgeny Yevgenyevich Shabayev (Russian: Евгений Евгеньевич Шабаев; 24 April 1973 – 5 August 1998) was a Russian artistic gymnast. He won a silver with his team at the 1994 Team World Championships, and he was the bronze medalist in the all-around at the 1995 World Championships. He was also the 1995 Summer Universiade all-around and floor exercise champion and the 1994 Goodwill Games team and parallel bars champion. Due to injuries, he stopped competing in major international events after the 1995 World Championships but continued to train until his death in 1998.

Shabayev competed at the 1994 Goodwill Games in Saint Petersburg alongside Dmitri Vasilenko, Alexei Nemov, and Aleksey Voropayev, and they won the gold medal in the team competition. Individually, he won the all-around bronze medal, behind Nemov and Voropayev. In the event finals, he won the gold medal on the parallel bars and the silver medal on the vault. He won an additional bronze medal in the mixed team event with Voropayev, Elena Grosheva, and Oksana Chusovitina. In 1994, the International Gymnastics Federation hosted two separate World Championships for the individual and team competitions. At the individual World Championships, he placed fifth in the all-around final— less than one tenth of a point away from the bronze medal. Then, in the parallel bars final, he finished in fourth place and was 0.025 points away from the bronze medal. He then helped Russia win the silver medal at the team World Championships.

Shabayev won the all-around title at the 1995 Summer Universiade and also won gold on the floor exercise. He also won the all-around competition at the 1995 European Cup. He competed with the Russian team that placed fourth at the 1995 World Championships. He advanced to the individual all-around final and won the bronze medal behind Li Xiaoshuang and Vitaly Scherbo.

Shabayev had shoulder surgery in 1996 and was named the alternate for Russia's 1996 Olympic team. He returned to competition in December 1996 and won the all-around title at the Chunichi Cup. He missed the 1997 Russian Championships due to another injury and was left off the 1997 World Championships team. Despite the injuries, Shabayev continued training until his death.

Shabayev died of a heart attack on 5 August 1998, at the age of 25, in Moscow. His funeral was held six days later, and fellow gymnasts Alexei Nemov, Nikolai Kryukov, Elena Grosheva and Roza Galieva were in attendance. He is buried at the Pokrovskoe Cemetery.