Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon or rope. 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.
Amina Vasilovna Zaripova is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast who now works as an elite rhythmic gymnastics coach. She is the 1994 World All-around silver medalist, 1993 World All-around bronze medalist and a two time European All-around bronze medalist. She finished fourth at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Carmen Acedo Jorge is a retired individual rhythmic gymnast from Spain.
Melitina Dmitryevna Staniouta is a Belarusian retired individual rhythmic gymnast. She is a three-time World all-around bronze medalist, the 2015 European Games all-around bronze medalist, the 2014 European Championships all-around silver medalist, and 2009 Grand Prix Final all-around bronze medalist.
Margarita Mamun is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast of Bangladeshi-Russian descent. She is the 2016 Olympic All-around champion, two-time World All-around silver medalist, the 2015 European Games All-around silver medalist, the 2016 European Championships All-around silver medalist, three-time Grand Prix Final All-around champion and a three-time (2011–2013) Russian National All-around champion.
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.
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).
Polina Sergeevna Shmatko is a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2016 European Junior Clubs, Ball champion and the 2018 European Junior Hoop champion. At national level she is the 2016 Russian Junior all-around silver medalist. She is 2018 European championships gold medalist in team event and in hoop finals. She retired because of health problems. Her father is the politician and entrepreneur Sergei Shmatko, who died on November 7, 2021 as a result of covid-19 disease.
Alexandra Ana Maria Agiurgiuculese is a Romanian-Italian individual rhythmic gymnast who represents Italy and was coached by Špela Dragaš. She is a four-time medalist at the 2016 European Junior Championships. At the national level, she is the 2019 Italian National All-around champion, three-time Italian National All-around silver medalist and a three-time Italian Junior National champion, and a bronze medalist with the ball at the 2018 World Championships. She competed at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Lala Dmitrievna Kramarenko is a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2019 junior world champion in ball and clubs and the 2018 European junior champion in ball and ribbon. At the 2021 European Championships she won team gold. Considered a "rising star" on the Russian team, she is a three-time junior national all around champion (2017-2019) and a two-time national all around silver medalist (2020-2021).
Katrin Yankova Taseva is a retired Bulgarian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2017 European Silver medalist with Ribbon, 2019 Grand-Prix Final All-around bronze medalist, the 2019 World Cup series All-around and Ball winner and the double World Cup series Ribbon winner. Taseva had won multiple medals at the European Games and is also the 2018 Bulgarian National Champion and a four-time Bulgarian National All-around silver medalist.
Sonia Abejón Esteban is a Spanish gymnast. She competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics. She currently trains the San Fernando de Henares Rhythmic Gymnastics Club in the city of the same name.
Sofia Raffaeli is an Italian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 All-around, hoop, ball, ribbon and team World Champion, as well as the 2022 European Hoop and Clubs champion. On Junior Level, she is the 2019 Junior World Silver medalist with Rope and Clubs. Moreover, Sofia is the first Italian individual rhythmic gymnast to medal and win a gold medal at the World Championships, European Championships, at the World Games, and also to win three All-around gold medals in the FIG World Cup circuit.
Adi Asia Katz is an Israeli rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 European bronze medallist in Ribbon, and Team Bronze medallist. As a Junior, She was the 2019 Junior World silver medalist with Ribbon and bronze medalist with Clubs.
Christina Dragan is a Romanian-American rhythmic gymnast.
Mónica Alonso is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast who was a member of Spain’s national group. In 2012 she was the national junior champion.
Ana María Pelaz Mota, also known as Ana Pelaz, is a former Spanish rhythmic gymnast who competed with the group at the Olympics in Beijing 2008. She won medals in various international competitions. From 2014 to 2020 she was the coach of the national junior group, and since September 2020 she is the coach of the senior group together with Alejandra Quereda at the CAR in Madrid.
Clara Esquerdo is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast who competed with the national group of Spain.
Sara Bayón is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast, former team coach of the Spanish national rhythmic gymnastics group, and current coach of the French group. She is the only Spanish gymnast who has been world champion as an athlete and as a coach, being world champion in 3 ribbons and 2 hoops in Seville 1998, and as a coach, in 10 clubs in Kyiv 2013 and Izmir 2014.
Débora Alonso Herrero is a former Spanish rhythmic gymnast, world group champion in Athens 1991, in addition to achieving numerous other medals with the Spanish national
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