Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and 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.
Alina Oleksandrivna Maksymenko is a retired individual rhythmic gymnast.
Veronika Vitenberg is an Israeli rhythmic gymnast who competed in the 2008 Olympics.
The 2012 Gymnastics Olympic Test Event took place between January 10 and January 18, 2012. The event featured the artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline disciplines. It qualified the last four artistic gymnastics teams for the 2012 Olympic Games, along with 34 individual female gymnasts and 27 individual male gymnasts selected through the all-around competition. Teams that finished 17th to 24th at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were able to take two individuals to the test event. Teams that finished 1st to 8th were invited to send two individual gymnasts, but they were not candidates for individual spots.
Neta Rivkin is a retired Israeli individual rhythmic gymnast.
Rahel "Raheli" Faiga-Vigdorchik is an Israeli Olympic rhythmic gymnast and a coach of the Israel women's national team.
Maria Savenkov is an Israeli Olympic rhythmic gymnast.
Olena Dvornichenko is an Israeli Olympic rhythmic gymnast.
Deng Senyue is a retired Chinese individual rhythmic gymnast. She finished 4th in All-around at the 2013 World Championships. She is the first Chinese rhythmic gymnast to qualify for apparatus final in the World Championships. She is the first Chinese rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in the World Cup series.
Jana Berezko-Marggrander is a German retired individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2010 Youth Olympic all-around bronze medalist.
Dina Alekseyevna Averina is a Russian former individual rhythmic gymnast. She was 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 was 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.
Arina Alekseyevna Averina is a Russian former individual rhythmic gymnast. She was a 2020 Summer Olympics finalist, a two-time world all-around silver medalist, a two-time European all-around champion and the 2016 Grand Prix Final all-around bronze medalist. She was a three-time (2019–2021) Russian national all-around champion and a three-time Russian national all-around medalist. Her identical twin sister Dina 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).
Linoy Ashram is a retired Israeli individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic All-around Champion, the 2018 World All-around silver medalist, two-time World All-around bronze medalist, the 2020 European All-around champion, and the 2019 European Games All-around silver medalist. She is the third Israeli athlete and first Israeli woman to win an Olympic gold medal in any sport, and the first Israeli rhythmic gymnast to win an Olympic medal. She became the first rhythmic gymnast from outside a post-Soviet republic to win a gold medal at an Olympics where former Soviet states participated.
Viktoriya Koshel is an Israeli group rhythmic gymnast. She represents her nation at international competitions.
Marina Shults is an Israeli group rhythmic gymnast. She represents her nation at international competitions.
Eliora Zholkovsky is an Israeli group rhythmic gymnast. She represents her nation at international competitions.
Nicol Zelikman is a former Israeli individual rhythmic gymnast. She is a two-time medalist at the 2016 European Junior Championships.
Alona Koshevatskiy is an Israeli female rhythmic gymnast. She's a two-time European Group All-Around bronze medalist and the 2015 European Games Group All-Around silver medalist. She retired in 2016, after competing in the 2016 Olympic Games.
Daria Atamanov is an Israeli individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 European all-around Champion, and the 2023 World Championship all-around bronze medalist. She is also the 2022 European Championship silver medalist in hoop, clubs, ribbon, and the team bronze medalist. On a national level, she is the 2022 & 2024 Israeli National all-around champion and a two-time Israeli Junior National all-around champion. Atamanov represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Women's rhythmic individual all-around, and came in fifth in her first Olympics.
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