How a 22-year-old Belarusian gymnast is preparing for the Olympics

Belarussian rhythmic gymnast Melitina Staniouta is 22 years old.

She started rhythmic gymnastics when she was 5 years old.

Right now, she's training to compete in her second Olympic games.

In London, she placed 12th in the individual competition. But this year, she's ranked sixth in the entire world — and she placed first in an Olympic qualifying tournament earlier this year.

Source: International Federation of Gymnastics

She's currently training about 8 hours a day in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

She does intense stretching.

And she builds strength by swimming.

She's spending time in the sauna, too.

And she recently took a break from her rigorous schedule to try out the official uniform for Belarusian Olympic athletes.

Staniouta won't be heading to Rio alone, though.

The Belarusian rhythmic gymnastics team, pictured here, will be going for gold as a group. (In both the Beijing and London Olympics, the Belarus team won bronze.)

Source: olympic.org

But Staniouta and the team have tough competition: For the past four Olympic games, Russian gymnasts have swept the podium, picking up every gold medal in the group and individual contests.

Source: olympic.org

This could be the year that Staniouta breaks the Russian winning streak. Find out on August 19, when the rhythmic gymnastics competition begins in Rio.

Follow Staniouta on Instagram for more updates from her road to Rio.