Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform 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.
Nikolai Yefimovich Andrianov was a Soviet and Russian gymnast.
Oksana Valentinovna Skaldina is a retired Ukrainian individual rhythmic gymnast and current coach. She is the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist and 1991 all-around world champion.
Hrant Shahinyan, also known as Grant Shaginyan, was a Soviet Armenian gymnast. Specializing in the still rings and pommel horse, he is a two-time Olympic Champion, two-time World Champion and seven-time USSR Champion.
Yelena Aleksandrovna Posevina is a Russian former group rhythmic gymnast. She is a two-time Group Olympic champion, who attended Olympic Games on 2004 and 2008. She is a two-time World Group All-around champion and a three-time European Group All-around champion.
Evgeniya Olegovna Kanaeva OMF is a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the only individual rhythmic gymnast in history to win two Olympic all-around gold medals, winning at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she finished with 3.75 points ahead of silver medalist Inna Zhukova, and at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she also became the oldest gymnast to win the Olympic gold. On 4 July 2013, Kanaeva received the International Fair Play Award for "Sport and Life".
Yuri Yevlampiyevich Titov is a former Russian gymnast, Olympic champion and four times world champion, who competed for the Soviet Union. He won a total of nine Olympic medals from three Olympic games.
Sport in Azerbaijan has ancient roots, and even now, both traditional and modern sports are still practiced. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's national sport, however today, the most popular sports in Azerbaijan are football and chess. Other popular sports are gymnastics, judo, futsal, weightlifting, and boxing. Azerbaijan's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Water sports are practiced on the Caspian Sea and in inland waters. Competitively, Azerbaijan has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Azerbaijan is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), European Athletics Association (EAA), International Olympic Committee (IOC), among many others. It has also hosted the first European Games and 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games.
Darya Andreyevna Dmitriyeva is a Russian rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all-around silver medalist, the 2010 World ribbon champion, the 2012 Grand Prix Final all-around champion, 2011 Grand Prix Final all-around silver medalist and 2010 Grand Prix Final all-around bronze medalist.
Irina Alexandrovna Viner, formerly Irina Alexandrovna Viner-Usmanova, is an Uzbek-born Russian rhythmic gymnastics coach who is head coach of the Russian national team, president of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, and former vice president of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation.
Son Yeon-jae KTM is a South Korean retired individual rhythmic gymnast. She is a former member of the South Korean national gymnastics team, based in Taereung, Seoul. She is the 2014 Asian Games All-around Champion, the 2010 Asian Games All-around bronze medalist, three-time Asian Championships All-around Champion. She is the first and only South Korean individual rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships, FIG World Cup series, Universiade and the Asian Games.
Ksenia Dzhalaganiya is a Russian group rhythmic gymnast, who is now the founder and director of Dubai Youth Olympic school of rhythmic gymnastics in the United Arab Emirates.
Arina Alekseyevna Averina is a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is 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 is 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. Ashram announced her retirement from competitive gymnastics at a press conference in Tel Aviv on 4 April 2022.
The Russia women's national artistic gymnastics team represents Russia in FIG international competitions. Additionally, they have competed as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Gymnastics Federation (RGF) due to the World Anti-Doping Agency imposing sanctions on Russia in the aftermath of the doping scandal. While competing under the Russian Olympic Committee designation, they won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games. They also won the team gold medal at the 2010 World Championships and at the inaugural Junior World Championships in 2019.
Yevgeniya Yevgenivna Gomon is a Ukrainian group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2013 World bronze medalist in 10 clubs and 2015 Universiade champion in 6 clubs + 2 hoops.
Daria Sergeyevna Trubnikova is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2018 European Junior Clubs and Team champion. On national level she is a 2018 Russian Junior all-around bronze medalist. She is the 2018 Youth Olympic Games individual all-around champion, the 2019 Grand Prix Final all-around gold medallist and the 2021 World Cup Baku all-around gold medallist. In January 2023, Daria announced her retirement from sports.
Samira Arastunovna Mustafaeva is a Russian and Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnast. She is a multiple time medalist of the World Team Championships, a champion in St. Petersburg, “Master of Sport” in Russia, and a world-class gymnast according to FIG. She was part of the national team of Azerbaijan, and later became part of the Russian national team. She retired from her career in professional rhythmic gymnastics in 2013.
Anastasiya Aliaxandrauna Malakanava is a Belarusian group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2021 World team and group all-around bronze medalist. She represented Belarus at the 2020 Summer Olympics where she finished fifth in the group all-around. She won a silver medal in the team event at the 2021 European Championships.
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