stylistic:style_transfer, structural:reformatting
Early life

She was born as Larisa Semyonovna Diriy in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR. Her father, Semyon Andreyevich Diriy, left the family when she was 11 months old, and she was raised by her illiterate mother, who worked as a cleaner during the day, and as a watchman during the night. Her father was killed at the Battle of Stalingrad, where he served as a machine gun operator. Young Diriy-Latynina survived the occupation of Ukraine by the Nazi Germany in 1940s.

She first practiced ballet, but turned to gymnastics after her choreographer moved out of Kherson. Her first gymnastics coach was Mykhailo Sotnychenko. In 1950 young Diriy-Latynina received her first sports degree (rozriad) and became a member of the Ukrainian students team at the All-Union gymnastics' competitions in Kazan. She graduated from high school in 1953 with a gold medal, and moved to Kyiv. She attended the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI), and continued her training at the Burevestnik VSS under coaching of Oleksandr Mishakov. Her first notable success came at the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students in Bucharest where she won gold medals. At the age of 19, she debuted internationally at the 1954 Rome World Championships, winning the gold medal in the team competition. Following the second semester, Latynina switched to the Institute of Physical culture from KPI.