Gemini Gymnastics programs are led by Head Coach and Owner, Elena Davydova, 1980 Olympic All Around Gold Medal Champion. Her achievements as a gymnast and impact as Head Coach at Gemini Gymnastics have been outstanding.

Elena Davydova
Head Coach & Owner

Born in Voronege, Russia, Elena’s contributions as an athlete changed the sport of gymnastics forever. She was the first woman to complete a backward giant and a Tkatchev on the uneven bars, a front salto and a side somersault on the balance beam as well as a round-off backhand spring. On vault Elena invented the full twist-on, tucked front somersault off and on floor she was the first to perform a 1 1/2 twist, punch front combination, an Arabian 1 3/4 somersault, and a piked Arabian 1 3/4 somersault. In addition to edging out Nadia Comaneci at the 1980 Olympics for the all around title, she scored a perfect 10 on vault during the Team Competition. She won another Gold Medal at the 1981 World Gymnastics Championships.

Elena retired as an athlete to attend Leningrad University of Physical Education and later received her doctorate in Pedagogical Science at the P.F. Lesgaft State Institute of Athletic Education. Upon graduation, she joined the St. Petersburg Olympic Reserve as a coach for the Soviet National Gymnastics Team, and served as an International Brevet Judge (the highest international level of judging awarded by the F.I.G. ‘Fédération Internationale Gymnastique’ which is the governing body of gymnastics world wide ). Elena immigrated to Canada with her family in 1991 and began working at Gemini Gymnastics. After a successful competitive season with athlete Sarah Deegan, Gymnastics Canada awarded Elena the 1997 Senior High Performance Coach of the Year award. In 2005 as a judge she achieved the highest score of all Canadian Brevet judges on the International exam, and in June 2006 she received Brevet Coach status. Elena is the only Canadian to hold both Brevet Coach and Judge status for women’s artistic gymnastics. As of 2007 as a Brevet Coach, she is only 1 of 31 female coaches worldwide and the only Olympic AA champion to hold this title. In May 2007, Elena Davydova was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

2020 marked the 40th anniversary of Elena’s Olympic victory. She is considered one of the top 10 heroes of the Soviet Games in Moscow for doing the impossible – in the All Around competition, Elena beat the best world gymnast Romanian star Nadia Comaneci.

Elena Davydova and her coaching staff at Gemini have produced champions in all levels of competitive gymnastics including 20 Canadian AA Champions, 9 Elite Canada AA Champions, 21 Eastern Canadian AA Champions and 108 Provincial AA Champions.

Valery Yahchybekov
Associate Coach

Valery was born in Noginsk, Russia. Before joining Gemini Gymnastics, he was the Head Coach of the Lvov Russian Training Centre in Ukraine. In 1996, Valery immigrated to Canada and joined our Gemini Gymnastics’ coaching team. He is a fully certified level 3 NCCP coach and received the Gymnastics Canada Junior High Performance Coach of the Year award in 2005, 2006 and 2010. At Gemini, Valery coaches the provincial and national level gymnasts. His athletes have ranked among the top in the province and across Canada. Several have been part of Canada’s National Team and have earned scholarships in the United States where they competed for the NCAA. He was one of the coaches to Kristina Vaculik, who was a member of the 2012 Canadian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Olympic team.

Julie Sullaphen
Associate Coach

Julie was born in Manchester, England and came to Canada when she was 4 years old. Julie did recreational gymnastics as a young child. She has been involved gymnastics for the past 13 years with her 2 daughters who both competed in the Provincial program. Julie began coaching as a CIT in 2005-2006 and certified Level 1 shortly after. She joined our Gemini staff in January 2011, became certified Level 2, and also certified in First Aid & CPR. Julie currently coaches Competitive Levels 4-6. Julie was a hairstylist for over 25 years and a stay at home mom for 8 years. She has been married to her husband Aveen for over 18 years and lives in Bowmanville.

Kathy Chin
Associate Coach

Kathy was born in Toronto and raised in Pickering, where she lives now with her family. She is a mother of 6 and has a daughter in Gemini’s competitive program. Kathy competed for Pickering as a provincial gymnast and has enjoyed coaching there for 30+ years in pre-competitive, invitational and provincial level. She is NCCP level 2 and trampoline level 1 certified.

Debbie Siemon
Associate Coach & Competitive Administrator

Debbie was a competitive gymnast for 9 years and has been coaching competitive for 25 years ranging from compulsory, up to the national level. She was Head Coach in Bramalea and Pickering. She is a certified Women's NCCP Level 3, and Level 2 Trampoline. Debbie has also been an Ontario Team Coach and has produced many Ontario, Eastern Canadian and Event Champions, receiving the GO Competitive Coach of the Year in 2012-2014. She has also been a Judge for the past 12 years, currently ranked to judge up to Level 10. She began Coaching with us Summer 2020.

Margaret Meek

Associate coach and Choreographer

Margaret was a competitive gymnast and has been coaching gymnastics since 1985. She joined the Gemini coaching team in 2010. She works with our competitive athletes and is our in-house choreographer.
Margaret is NCCP Level 3 gymnastics and Level 2 tramp coach.

Anastasia Chin

Associate Coach

Anastasia began gymnastics at the age of 2 and joined the competitive Gemini team at the age of 11. She is the daughter of Gemini competitive gymnastics coach Kathy! Anastasia went on to become the level 5 Provincial Champion in 2022! Also, winning silver on floor, beam, as well as a bronze medal on bars! She is still currently training with Gemini and working on level 6. Anastasia started CIT-ing at the age of 12 and became a coach in 2022. She loves working with children and watching her athletes progress!

Avery Taylor

Associate Coach

Avery started gymnastics at home and self taught a lot of skills! She began at Gemini in 2017. She moved up into the Gems program shortly after. Avery was then a competitive gymnast for 3 years and was training for Level 6 when she retired. She started her Coaching journey in 2020 as a CIT and officially became a Coach in 2022. Avery loves coaching and helping her athletes progress!

Lia Kaiser
Competitive and Pre-Competitive Coach

Lia has been a part of Gemini since she was 7 years old. She joined the competitive program when she was 8 and competed until she was 14. Lia began coaching in 2018 and has loved every minute of it!
Lia is NCCP Competition 1 trained (former NCCP Level 2).

Alise Kaiser

Competitive and Pre-Competitive Coach

Alise has been a part of Gemini Gymnastics since she was five years old and competed with the club until the age of 16. During her competitive career, she won the Ontario Championships in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She also competed at the Eastern Canadian Championships, where she placed second all-around.

Alise began coaching recreational gymnastics in 2022 and started coaching the Gems pre-competitive program in 2023. She has also been gaining experience by assisting her sister with coaching the competitive group. Alise enjoys watching the athletes grow, develop, and progress in their gymnastics journey.

Alise is NCCP Competition 1 trained (formerly NCCP Level 2).

Lily LaBarre

Competitive and Pre-Competitive Coach & office assistant

Lily has been a part of the Gemini gymnastics family since she was just 2 years old. She began competing at Gemini at the age of 6 and continued her competitive gymnastics journey through Level 9, where she became a Provincial Champion.
She says “Gymnastics has always been a huge part of my life, and I knew from a young age that I wanted to give back to the sport that had given me so much. I began CITing at Gemini when I was 12 and officially started coaching at 16.
Today, I coach recreational, pre-competitive and competitive athletes while also helping out in the office. I love being able to share my experience and passion for gymnastics with the next generation of athletes and watching them grow both in and out of the gym. Gemini has been such an important part of my life for so many years, and I’m so grateful to now be able to give back to the gym that has always felt like home”.
Lily is NCCP Competition 1 trained (former NCCP Level 2).

Office Staff

Kaleigh Hutchings

Pre-Competitive Coach • Competitive Substitute Coach • Office Staff

Kaleigh has been part of the Gemini Gymnastics family since she was just 6 years old. She joined Gemini's competitive program at age 7 and competed until she was 13 at the provincial level. At 14, Kaleigh began our CIT (Coach-in-Training) program and officially started coaching in 2021.

Today, Kaleigh works with our Pre-Competitive athletes, serves as a substitute coach for our Competitive program, assists with Gems testing, and is also part of our Office Team.

One of Kaleigh's favourite parts of coaching is watching athletes grow, develop new skills, and build confidence throughout their gymnastics journey. Having grown up as a Gemini athlete herself, she loves seeing that same excitement and spark in the athletes she coaches and helping them experience the joy of gymnastics that she experienced growing up.

Hayley Ardiel

Pre-Competitive Coach • Competitive Substitute Coach • Office Staff

Callie Sioui

Pre-Competitive Coach • Competitive Coach • Office Staff

Skylar Sach-Anderson
Pre-Competitive Coach • Competitive Substitute Coach • Substitute Office Staff

Skylar has been doing gymnastics since 18 months old. She joined the competitive program at Gemini at 7 years old and competed for 8 years. She placed 2nd all around at the 2018 Provincial Championships. Skylar became a coach in 2019 and office assistant in 2022.

Jocelyn Langevin
Pre-Competitive Coach • Competitive Substitute Coach • Substitute Office Staff

Jocelyn has been doing gymnastics since she was 5 years old. She was a part of the Gems program and was working on level 6 before she quit. Soon after she joined the CIT program for a year and then started officially coaching in 2020. She strives to help kids find their love for gymnastics and be the best gymnast they can be!

Pre-Competitive (Gemini Gems) Coaches

Ashlyn Hayward

Competitive and Pre-Competitive Coach

Ashlyn started gymnastics at 4 years old and joined Gemini in 2013 at the age of 5. When she was 6 she joined the Gemini Gems program and at the age of 7 she began competing. At the Provincal Championships in 2019 at age 12 she came in 1st place on bars, beam and was the All Around Champion! Ashlyn started CIT-ing in 2021 and became a Coach in 2022. She absolutely loves it!

Lia Kaiser
Competitive and Pre-Competitive Coach

Lia has been a part of Gemini since she was 7 years old. She joined the competitive program when she was 8 and competed until she was 14. Lia began coaching in 2018 and has loved every minute of it!

Alise Kaiser

Competitive and Pre-Competitive Coach

Alise has been at Gemini since she was 5 years old. She competed at Gemini until she was 16 years old. Alise has won Ontario Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019. She also attended Eastern Canadian Championships and placed second all around. Alise started coaching rec in 2022 and started coaching gems in 2023. She has been learning and helping her sister with competitive as well. She has loved watching the kids grow and progress!

Alyssa Gaston

Pre-Competitive Coach & Associate Coach

Alyssa is a former Provincial Level 8 Gymnast with over 10 years of competitive experience. Since retiring from gymnastics at the age of 16, she has begun to coach both recreational and competitive gymnasts. Alyssa also has experience teaching acro and tumbling skills to dancers. Alyssa is trained in Level 1 artistic gymnastics and is thrilled to be able to share her passion and love for gymnastics with the athletes at Gemini. Athletes will love her energetic personality and sense of humor.

Recreational Coaches:

Abigial Cherkas
Alla Yahchybekova
Ashley McBeth
Callie Sioui
Landon Vilord
Myah Tabinga
Quinn Nettleton
Sahar Narlidis

Seasonal Coaches:

Evelyn Smaglinskie
Abby Stewart
Annabelle Kortner Iacobet
Emily Colbourne
Farah Elhaloty
Ella Zamudio
Ireland Murphy

Competitive Coaches

Kaleigh Hutchings

Hayley Ardiel

Callie Sioui

Alyssa Gaston