Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordinated. Rhythmic gymnastics is governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which first recognized it as a sport in 1963. It became an Olympic sport in 1984, with an individual all-around event. The group all-around competition was added to the Olympics in 1996. At the international level, rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only sport. The most prestigious competitions, besides the Olympic Games, are the World Championships, World Games, European Championships, European Games, the World Cup Series and the Grand Prix Series. Gymnasts are judged on their artistry, execution of skills, and difficulty of skills, for which they gain points. They perform leaps, balances, and rotations along with handling the apparatus.
Maria Dimitrova Petrova is a Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast. She is a three-time World All-around champion and a three-time European All-around champion.
Almudena Cid Tostado is a former Spanish individual rhythmic gymnast who competed on the Spanish national team. She is the only rhythmic gymnast who has competed in four Olympic finals.
Bianka Panova is a Bulgarian individual rhythmic gymnast. One of the Golden Girls of Bulgaria that dominated rhythmic gymnastics in the 1980s. She is the 1987 World All-around champion, 1989 World All-around silver medalist, 1985 World All-around bronze medallist and 1986 European All-around champion. She won a total of nine World Championship gold medals.
Alicia Marie Sacramone Quinn is a retired American artistic gymnast. She won a silver medal with the United States team at the 2008 Summer Olympics and is the 2005 World Champion on floor exercise and the 2010 World Champion on the vault. With a total of eleven World Championship and Olympic medals, Sacramone is the fourth most decorated U.S. female gymnast, behind Simone Biles (30), Shannon Miller (16), and Nastia Liukin (14).
Yanina "Yana" Farkhadovna Batyrshina is a former individual rhythmic gymnast who competed for Russia. She is the 1996 Olympics All-around silver medalist, two time (1995,1997) World All-around bronze medalist, two-time European All-around silver medalist, the 1998 European All-around bronze medalist and 1996 Grand Prix Final All-around champion.
Lorena Guréndez García is a Spanish rhythmic gymnast and Olympic Champion. She competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and won a gold medal with the Spanish group. The team was formed by Lorena, Estela Giménez, Marta Baldó, Nuria Cabanillas, Estíbaliz Martínez and Tania Lamarca. Also, she was twice world champion: one in 3 balls/2 ribbons and other in 3 ribbons/2 hoops.
Carolina Rodríguez Ballesteros is a retired Spanish rhythmic gymnast. She is a veteran of the sport who started her senior career in the early 2000s. She competed in three Olympic cycles: at the 2004 Athens where she was member of the Spanish group, at the 2012 London competing as an individual gymnast where she finished 14th in all-around qualifications and at the 2016 Rio competing again as an individual, finishing in 8th in the rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around final.
Janine Murray is a Zimbabwean born Australian rhythmic gymnast. She won a gold medal in the team event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Dina Alekseyevna Averina is a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic All-around silver medalist, the only four-time World All-around Champion, the 2018 silver and 2021 European All-around bronze medalist and the 2016 Grand Prix Final All-around silver medalist. On a National level, she is the 2017, 2018 and 2022 Russian National All-around champion and the 2013 Russian Junior All-around bronze medalist. Her identical twin sister, Arina Averina, is also a competitive rhythmic gymnast.
Reneta Petrova Kamberova is a Bulgarian Group rhythmic gymnast. She was a member of the Bulgarian winning team that won gold at the 2014 World Championships in the group all-around and a 2011 World and 2016 Olympic Group all-around bronze medalist.
Alexandra Claire McMurtry is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2013 Nastia Liukin Cup champion and the 2017 NCAA Champion. She competed in NCAA gymnastics for the Florida Gators and was the 10th person in NCAA history to record a Gym Slam.
Laura Yihan Zeng is an American former individual rhythmic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. She swept all of the events at the 2015 Pan American Games and at the 2018 Pan American Championships. She is the 2014 Youth Olympic and 2019 Summer Universiade all-around bronze medalist and the 2019 Grand Prix Final hoop bronze medalist. She is an eight-time national all-around champion, six times at the senior level and twice at the junior level (2013-14).
Mihaela Maevska is a Bulgarian Group rhythmic gymnast. She was part of the Bulgarian group that won bronze in group all-around at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She also won gold at the 2014 World Championships in Group all-around and bronze at the 2011 World Championships.
Tsvetelina Naydenova is a Bulgarian group rhythmic gymnast.
Hristiana Todorova is a Bulgarian politician and former group rhythmic gymnast.
Sayuri Sugimoto is a Japanese group rhythmic gymnast.
Pooja Surve is an Indian individual rhythmic gymnast. She represents India at international competitions. She competed at world championships, including at the 2009 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, Japan. In 2010, she was the only gymnast from India to be in the top 16 at the 2010 Commonwealth Games; she won Miss Exotic Performance award in World Cup Belarus 2010, becoming the first Indian to ever get this award; and she also participated in the 2010 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, held in Moscow.
Martens was a Canadian rhythmic gymnast who went on to found the only rhythmic gymnastics club in the Okanagan valley. As one of the only Canadian born coaches producing International level athletes. As of 2022 Camille has produced 22 members of the Canadian High Performance National Team Pool (2000-2022) and National Champions at every level. Her athletes have won medals at Jr. Pan Am Games, Pan Am Senior Championships, Pacific Rim Championships and many International Invitationals. In addition, her athletes have participated in World Championships, Grand Prix and World Cup events. She also founded the Cirque Theatre Company and has written, directed and produced over 20 original productions. Her club is known for its positive culture and whole person approach and is a leading example of safe sport and True Sport qualities.
Isabelle Connor is an American group rhythmic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She was the first student at the University of California, Santa Cruz to compete at the Olympics.
United States 
