From a series of publications by Sportbox.ru dedicated to the upcoming Olympics in Rio, which introduces readers to athletes who, in the opinion of Sportbox.ru, will not leave Brazil without a medal.

Rhythmic gymnastics is one of the most graceful sports in which participants perform exercises to music with objects - a jump rope, hoop, ball, clubs or ribbon. In group exercises, five identical objects or two different objects are used simultaneously. At the Olympic Games, the strongest gymnast is determined by the results of the all-around - completing all five exercises with apparatus. The decision on the distribution of places is made by judges who evaluate performances using a twenty-point system. By the way, four years ago in London the rating scale was higher - up to 30 points. However, in 2013, the system was reformed to place more emphasis on the technical component of the programs.

Where judges decide everything, scandals often break out. The most famous happened in 2000 at the European Championships, where six referees were convicted of biased judging of a Ukrainian gymnast. Moreover, it later turned out that one of the lobbyists for this situation was the famous Ukrainian coach Irina Deryugina, who was trying to promote her students. Convicted gymnast Elena Vitrichenko belonged to a different school.

Gymnastics as we know it originated in Russia in the 1900s. In Moscow, a decision was made to include her in the Olympic program, but by chance, Soviet gymnasts did not take part in the drawing of the first set of awards due to the USSR boycott of the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. But four years later they took their toll. Since 1988, Soviet, Russian and former USSR athletes have consistently won the Olympics.

At the last Games, the best gymnast was Evgenia Kanaeva, the first ever two-time Olympic champion in this sport. The fight for second place actually began even before the start of the competition. The decision to include Daria Dmitrieva in the lineup was made two days before the start. The head coach of the Russian national team, Irina Viner, gave preference to her over Alexandra Merkulova. Thus, Dmitrieva won silver. Our gymnasts in the group also became Olympic champions.

This time, Wiener decided not to delay announcing the lineup. Although there were at least three contenders for two places. Already on July 25, it was officially announced that Yana Kudryavtseva and Margarita Mamun would go to Rio. Alexandra Soldatova was left out of the Olympic team. This was predictable, because even in terms of titles, Soldatova is still far from her teammates - the 18-year-old gymnast won two world championship golds as part of the national team. Mamun, in turn, is a seven-time world champion, Kudryavtseva is a 13-time champion. It is she who is considered by many, and probably by Wiener herself, to be the main contender for the next Russian Olympic gold. Kudryavtseva is the youngest absolute world champion in gymnastics in history. She conquered this peak at the age of 15, in 2013, creating a tangible foundation for her Olympic future. Although Kudryavtseva herself tries not to think in this way.

“You should never immediately put a gold medal in your pocket,” the Russian woman noted. “Even if I’m 100% ready, I still won’t be sure that I’ll win or that something won’t happen.”

But if Kudryavtseva makes a mistake, logically, Mamun should come to her backup. Year after year, the 20-year-old daughter of a Bengali was mostly inferior to Kudryavtseva at the main competitions. However, she has two victories at the world championships over her teammate. Although Mamun’s mistakes at important starts are quite common, she has no equal in artistic terms and pressure when working with objects. If the President of the International Gymnastics Federation Bruno Grandi compared Kudryavtseva to an angel, then Mamun is fire in its purest form.

“I consider it a great achievement to even just get to the Olympic Games - this is a very high bar in our sport,” Mamun noted. “And I don’t dream about a medal, but just about getting into the Olympic team.” And perform with dignity, so that you have nothing to reproach yourself for later.

Due to the serious competition in the team, until the last moment the gymnasts think not about Olympic medals, but about selection for the team. This competition creates both a nerve-wracking and highly motivating environment.

Russia will be represented in the individual all-around by two gymnasts, so it is obvious that at least one of the medals will go to a representative from another country. And there are not very many contenders here. The main competitors will be Belarusian Melitina Stanyuta and Anna Rizatdinova from Ukraine. A year ago, it was Stanyuta who was third in the all-around at the World Championships, and in 2014 it was Rizatdinova. In addition, this season the Ukrainian has often reached the podium at the World Cup stages, indicating her Olympic ambitions. Song Young-Jae and Neta Rivkin look like slightly less obvious contenders for bronze. In group exercises, the Russian team is not as ideal as our gymnasts in the individual all-around. At the final stage of the World Cup in Kazan, for example, the Russians did not win all programs, although they became first in the all-around. Therefore, Bulgarian and Spanish women cannot be discounted here.

Russian national team composition

Yana Kudryavtseva, Margarita Mamun (individual all-around), Vera Biryukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Maksimova, Anastasia Tatareva, Maria Tolkacheva (group)

Sportbox.ru forecast: Kudryavtseva will win the individual all-around, Mamun will be second; Russia will also become the champion of the Games in group exercises

Russian rhythmic gymnastics is the absolute pride of our sport. Alina Kabaeva, Irina Chashchina, Yana Kudryavtseva, Laysan Utyasheva, Margarita Mamun, Daria Dmitrieva, Yana Batyrshina - all of Russia knows these names. Stars of world rhythmic gymnastics, who also became successful in life after their professional career. And also – real sexy world sports.

But they are already the past, and who is our present? Let's get acquainted. The preliminary composition of the Russian national team for the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, which will be held from September 10 to 16 this year in Sofia. Beauty level 90.

Dina Averina

Absolute world champion in 2017, multiple European champion and winner of the World Cup and Grand Prix stages. By the age of 20, she had won almost everything except the Olympics. We hope that Dina Averina will definitely have a chance in two years in Tokyo. Again we have to repeat the phrase “if we are allowed there.”

Arina Averina

Dina's twin sister. The girls were born in the Volga region and from the age of four they were engaged in gymnastics and even studied according to individual programs in a regular secondary school. The efforts were not in vain. Arina can also boast of a scattering of awards, including victories at the World and European Championships.

Alexandra Soldatova

Soldatova’s star lit up even earlier than the star of the Averin sisters. The native of Sterlitamak also turned 20 this year. At 16, she already became the European champion in the team, and a year later she repeated the achievement. Last year, Alexandra was unable to compete at the world championship due to injury, but is now determined to compete seriously.

Anastasia Bliznyuk

By the age of 24, Anastasia Bliznyuk had already won two Olympics - London 2012 and Rio 2016. Football fans probably remember the Ukrainian goalkeeper of “Rostov” Ilya Bliznyuk, who rocked the Russian championship in the early and mid-2000s. Anastasia is his daughter. Bliznyuk has repeatedly won the World and European Championships, so there is no point in talking about the seriousness of her ambitions at the upcoming World Cup.

Maria Kravtsova

17-year-old Maria Kravtsova from Omsk is already an Honored Master of Sports. Actually, like all the other girls we talked about earlier. Maria is the 2017 absolute world champion in group exercises and our bright future.

Evgenia Levanova

Another 17-year-old wonderful athlete who has already won the world championship in rhythmic gymnastics twice. A native of Cheboksary, at the age of 12, she entered the Nizhny Novgorod Olympic Reserve School and since last year has been a member of the national team under the strict leadership of Irina Viner-Usmanova.

Ksenia Polyakova

17 years is a great age for rhythmic gymnastics. Ksenia Polyakova began playing sports before she even reached the age of four. This was due to the discovery of flat feet, which marked the beginning of an excellent career in rhythmic gymnastics. In 2016, Ksenia became the European champion, and a year later added the title of world champion to this title.

Maria Tolkacheva

Maria was born in Zhukovsky near Moscow 21 years ago and has already become an Olympic champion in group exercises. This happened, as you understand, in Brazil in 2016. Tolkacheva, together with Bliznyuk, are our most experienced athletes at the upcoming World Championships, so they will be given additional responsibility.

In my last post, many people wanted to know more about our wonderful artists. So who is the number one of the national team now?

Personalities

Alexandra Soldatova.

Alexandra Sergeevna Soldatova(born June 1, 1998) - Russian gymnast, member of the Russian national team, two-time world champion in the team event (2014, 2015), two-time European champion in the team event (2015,2017), Russian champion in the individual all-around (2016), bronze medalist in the all-around championship of Russia in rhythmic gymnasium (2014).

Programs 2017.

Hoop:

In my opinion, this is Sasha’s most beautiful exercise. I think many people remember the beautiful Yulia Barsukova at the 2000 Olympics, and now, 17 years later, a new wonderful swan appears in the world of gymnastics.

Sasha is often called the most flexible gymnast in the country.

Crown element

Alexandra went to the Olympics in Rio as a reserve

Sasha is trained by Anna Vyacheslavovna Dyachenko (Shumilova)

Excerpts from the interview

Without perseverance, hard work and patience, one does not become a champion. Your coach Anna Dyachenko said that there was a time when you and she drove from Dmitrov by car to Novogorsk every morning and you slept in the back seat. This is true?

Yes. I didn’t start living and training in Novogorsk right away; I had to leave Dmitrov early in the morning to get to Novogorsk on time. Anna Vyacheslavovna put me in the back seat, I had a pillow there, I fell asleep on the way and woke up already at the entrance to the gate of the base. But it's okay, these are minor things. If you want to achieve something, you will have to deny yourself a lot and be patient.

Sasha, why rhythmic gymnastics? This is love at first sight?

No. It turned out really funny. In Sterlitamak, where I’m from, my mother brought... my brother to the rhythmic gymnastics section to sign up. We simply didn’t know then that gymnastics can be different - sports and artistic. We were told that where they wanted to send my brother, everything was only for girls, then my mother was not at a loss and said: “I have a girl too, take it!” I don’t remember my first training sessions; I was little; the awareness of gymnastics came to me only when I was already in third grade.

You have excellent physical data for gymnastics, I can assume that everything worked out the first time?

Far from it. I agree that I have flexibility, stretch, and good feet, but for example, I lack dexterity. Dina and Arina Averina, in terms of working with the subject, are stronger than me, they are like that by nature.

Which subject is more difficult for you?

I can’t say that some are more difficult and some are easier. I'm still at the stage of perfecting my skills and comprehending something new.

To get into the Russian national team, you have come a long way. Sterlitamak - Dmitrov - Novogorsk.

They forgot Pushkino! From Sterlitamak my family moved to Pushkino, from there I ended up in Dmitrov, where I waited with bated breath... for me to be sent back to Pushkino. First training, second, week, second, third, and then they told me: “You stay here!” My emotion was lightning fast, but meager: “Yes. Good!” I’ll say right away that I didn’t experience any longing for my mother and family, as many girls do at the age of 12. I calmly accepted the fact that I would live separately from my parents and without their care. She was independent!

First meeting with your coach Anna Dyachenko. Did you expect to fall under her care?

I didn’t expect it, but from the first day we had a wonderful duet. From the first day, I caught her every remark. The girls and I even competed to see who would stand closest to her during training, who would be the first to ask about something, who would write or call her. She is wonderful in every way!

Sasha, how did you get to the training camp with Irina Viner?

It didn’t happen to me that I somehow unexpectedly saw Irina Alexandrovna at a training session or she unexpectedly came to the gym, and there I was. She knows who trains with her. We came to the training camp, I saw how Irina Aleksandrovna worked with other gymnasts, how she communicated. Then, when she became part of the Russian national team, she began to pay more attention to me and, naturally, there was more communication. Irina Aleksandrovna is a strict and very attentive mentor.

Photoshoot:

Arina and Dina Averina

Arina.

Arina Alekseevna Averina August 13, 1998 - Trans-Volga region) - Russian rhythmic gymnast, member of the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team, International Master of Sports. Multiple winner and prize-winner of all-Russian and international tournaments, three-time European champion.

Programs

Dina

Dina Alekseevna Averina(August 13, 1998 - Trans-Volga region) - Russian rhythmic gymnast, member of the Russian gymnastics team, Three-time European Champion 2017, Absolute Champion of Russia 2017, Master of Sports of international class. Multiple winner and prize-winner of all-Russian and international tournaments.

Programs

Joint demonstration

Dina in pink, Arina in blue

The sisters are trained by Vera Nikolaevna Shatalina. She also trained Alina Kabaeva.

Excerpt from interview with Irina Alexandrovna Viner-Usmanova:

Can we say that in some places Dina and Arina even exceeded their capabilities, in others they surprised us with their results?

The fact is that from an early age Dina and Arina were, as we say, “stunt performers,” and now the program is such that all this counts. Previously, we also had very strong girls, and Alina Kabaeva did amazing things, but not everything counted. Therefore, their time has come. But they lacked a little feeling, lacked expressiveness, they did it all like a thread. And now they do it expressively, they try to make all the exercises very “characteristic” and these movements, tricks, these risks, these interesting masterful elements merge with the music. So that they organically emphasize it, and in Budapest they succeeded.

Arina Dina

private photos

With parents and older sister Polina

Dina on the left, Arina on the right

Together with the team doctor - Dmitry Ubogov

Arina on the right, Dina on the left

Dina, Arina, sister Polina, mother Ksenia
Arina on the right, Dina on the left

Arina Dina

The girls dreamed of standing in group exercises, but due to their short stature they were not accepted.

Arina on the left, Dina on the right

Photoshoot

Group exercises

(Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasia Tatareva, Anastasia Maksimova, Maria Tolkacheva, Vera Biryukova - Rio 2016)

Programs

3 balls + 2 jump ropes

5 hoops

Now it’s difficult to talk about the main composition, since it is constantly changing. But most often the following gymnasts are included.

Anastasia Bliznyuk

Anastasia Ilyinichna Bliznyuk(born June 28, 1994, Zaporozhe, Ukraine) - Russian gymnast. Two-time Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics in group all-around (2012, 2016); world and European champion.

Nastya returned to sports after a serious illness - leptospirosis.

The whole country was worried when you got sick, you found yourself in a difficult situation. How did you manage to continue your career?
“I didn’t even know I was so seriously ill.” My kidneys failed...Irina Aleksandrovna Wiener treated me in Germany. At first they said that perhaps the kidneys would not start. There is very little chance that I will always live on dialysis.

But thank God I recovered. And she started working in Novogorsk as a second-team coach. Somehow it turned out that I decided to lose weight and get in shape. And this grew into the training process.

I got into the second team. I proved to everyone that I can and want to. I will stand on this team! And made it to the main team.

In general, there is a lot of competition in Russia. Only when it was the last week before the Olympics did I realize that I would compete in Rio. Every start is a very big struggle. If you make any mistake even during training, you will be removed at any moment. It doesn’t matter that I was an Olympic champion and that the girls won the World Championships. The road started from scratch

More excerpts from the interview:

Nastya! You are the second two-time Olympic champion in the group in our history. There was also London gold.
- Third – there are also Elena Posevina and Natalya Lavrova... Of course, I am incredibly happy and grateful to Irina Aleksandrovna Viner for this victory. I was able to overcome myself, recover from illness, and return with faith in my strengths and capabilities. Thanks to the whole team who helped a lot. This road was extremely difficult. But when you realize that you did everything, the taste of victory becomes the sweetest.

- And for five Olympics in a row we take two golds in rhythmic gymnastics.
- I think that only Irina Alexandrovna. Everything rests on Wiener.

For me she is like a mother. Because she saved my life when I got sick. I was born again! And they gave me the chance to perform in Rio.

- How to prepare yourself mentally for the new Olympic cycle?
- You know why you are doing this. But our training is insanely hard. And this medal was more difficult for me than the first one. Apparently I was younger then. And now I thought: “Maybe I can still do this? Maybe that's not all?

I left gymnastics in 2013 after the World Championships. Now she's back. And I think: “But I can do more!”

Photoshoot

Anastasia Tatareva

Anastasia Alekseevna Tatareva(born July 19, 1997) - Russian gymnast. Olympic champion (2016). Honored Master of Sports of Russia. World and European champion.

Excerpts from the interview

– The life of gymnasts is very short. Many people have only one Olympics, then they have to end their career... Doesn’t this scare you?
– Life is beautiful, and there are so many interesting things in it! I'm not afraid that I'll have to say goodbye to sports. This is fine. I study at the university - at the correspondence department of the Institute of International Relations. So this is probably what I will do later. Life will show.

- Interesting choice. Perhaps you speak a foreign language well?
- English. Not bad, but I need to learn more - that’s what I’ll do. There is a lot of language practice at competitions!

– Do you still have time to study?
- All my energy goes into training. Especially when preparing for competitions. We have to study on Skype... And they send us assignments, we complete them and send them back.

– Teachers don’t give discounts, don’t they simplify the task?
- No. And who am I to make my task easier? (laughs).

– You compete in the team all-around. Don't want to go into private view?
– By the way, I started in the personal. Then they invited me to join the team... No, I don’t want to - I like it better on a team - here, of course, there is greater responsibility. But you feel that we are together. There is something called “team spirit”. We have a very friendly team. If we quarrel, it’s rare. And we quickly make up.

– Do you know that you are compared on forums with Alina Kabaeva?
- I have not heard about that! It seems to me that we are completely different. I’m not like her... I think you need to remain yourself, not strive to be like others.

Photoshoot:

private photos

Vera Biryukova

Vera Leonidovna Biryukova(born April 11, 1998 - Omsk) - Russian gymnast. Member of the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team. Master of Sports of Russia of international class. Champion of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Honored Master of Sports. European champion.

Interview

Vera Biryukova “burst” into the Rio Olympics with the speed of a meteor and almost at the last moment. Even a month and a half before the Games, neither numerous fans of rhythmic gymnastics, nor the Omsk “artist” herself even thought about such a development of events.

“If I had any hopes of getting into the main team, then a couple of months before the Olympics they almost disappeared,” says Vera. “I worked calmly in the second team, trained and didn’t really count on anything. Judge for yourself: there is nothing left before the Games, who will make changes to the existing group? But it turned out that one of the girls was injured, and the coaches decided to try me. And you know, it turned out well. Even Irina Aleksandrovna Viner praised me. She said, almost imperceptibly, that a new person had joined the group. “You’ll go to Kazan, and we’ll see there,” were her words. There were only two starts left before the Olympic Games: the World Cup stages in Kazan and Baku. To be honest, I thought that after Kazan I would be removed from the team. But this did not happen either after Kazan or after Baku! But I was able to believe that I was going to Rio only on the plane flying to Brazil.

- Did you manage to have a good rest after the Games?
- Yes, the whole team sent us to the sea, we vacationed in Sardinia, it was great. Then each went to their hometown. I also enjoyed spending a week at home.
- Did you remember with your mother how it all began?
- From the sea and Turkey! We rested there, and my mother only had time to make sure that I didn’t climb where I shouldn’t. The energy was overflowing! Well, I always loved to dance, I “bent” in all directions. Then my mother suggested that I try gymnastics. I immediately agreed, although I actually had no idea what it was! Maybe I saw it on TV a couple of times. When we returned home, my mother brought me into the hall. And that’s how I started training at the age of five. My mother said that parents were not allowed to attend training so that the children would not be distracted. But she managed to peek out the window. He says I always tried, I didn’t slack. I trained conscientiously, even if the coach left the gym. Although I myself don’t remember that time well.

- And the first medal?
-I remember. At school competitions I shared first place with another girl.

- You once mentioned that as a child, your idol in gymnastics was Laysan Utyasheva. But Omsk residents traditionally call Irina Chashchina, Evgenia Kanaeva...
- Irina and Evgenia are great gymnasts. But it’s true: I admired Laysan. I always liked the way she moves, works with the subject, her emotionality. Yes, for me she was the best gymnast. And over time, this has not gone away; she is still my idol. And not only as an athlete, but also as a person.
- Before the Olympics, didn’t you turn to her for advice?
- Unfortunately, before the Olympics I was not yet familiar with her. My childhood dream came true after the Games. Nastya Bliznyuk introduced us. This happened when the girls and I performed at Alexei Nemov’s show in Moscow. Laysan also took part in it, we even changed clothes in the same locker room.

- Laysan, after completing her gymnastics career, found herself as a TV presenter. Have you already thought about the future?
- To be honest, this is a difficult topic for me so far. I have not yet decided on new goals in life, in gymnastics. Now sport takes up 100% of my time and with such a schedule it is very difficult to fit anything else into my life. Therefore, I cannot answer this question yet!

Photoshoot

private photos

Sofia Skomorokh

Sofya Pavlovna Skomorokh(born August 18, 1999 Omsk) - Russian gymnast, world and European champion.

Shortly before the Olympics, Sonya was injured and was unable to go there, although she was in the first team all year.

private photos

Maria Tolkacheva

Maria Yurievna Tolkacheva(born August 18, 1997 - Zhukov) - Russian gymnast, three-time world champion, three-time European champion, two-time European Games champion, Olympic champion (2016) in group exercises. Honored Master of Sports

In my opinion, Masha is the most beautiful gymnast on the team. Although, of course, they are all beautiful.

Masha and Nastya Tatareva are best friends

That's all! Thank you all for your attention, and new victories for the girls)

Today, stunning victories of Russian gymnasts at various competitions are familiar to contemporaries. But 30 years ago these achievements did not exist at the Olympic Games. The story of the Olympics, in its impeccable and victorious form, began not so long ago.

Olympic history of rhythmic gymnastics

Rhythmic gymnastics as a type of competition came to the Olympics only in 1984. The decision to accept this sport as part of the Olympic tournaments was made at a congress held after the 1980 Olympics. 1984 became the starting point of the Olympic competitions in rhythmic gymnastics, where only women's teams took part. However, the USSR national team did not take part in these debut competitions - the Union declared a boycott and refused to participate in this Olympics. This was a response to the boycott by the United States at the 1980 Olympics.

The very first Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics was Canadian athlete Laurie Fung. Of course, without the participation of Soviet athletes, other countries of the world had significant chances of winning. But, having refused to participate in the games at the 1984 Olympics, many countries united and created an alternative tournament. Here, gymnasts from Bulgaria especially distinguished themselves in rhythmic gymnastics.

The golden age of Bulgarian gymnasts

The unofficial games of the Soviet countries were held in Sofia, and two Bulgarian gymnasts received the highest award. The debut performance of the USSR rhythmic gymnastics team was marked by second place.

Marina Lobach went down in history as the first Soviet Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics.

At the 1988 Olympics, the struggle for championship in gymnastics was already much more serious. Bets were placed on the brilliant performance of the Bulgarian athletes in the past, but the girls from the USSR national team did not plan to retreat and were excellently prepared. The final fight between two Bulgarians and girls from the USSR was brilliant, but Marina Lobach flawlessly completed the qualifying program, so she got the gold. And so began the triumphant march of Russian gymnasts across the Olympic podiums.

The victory at the 1988 Olympics was the final one for the gymnasts of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the USSR, a team formed from gymnasts from the CIS countries went to the 1992 Olympic Games. The team included Alexandra Timoshenko and Oksana Skaldina, both girls were from Ukraine. The gold medal of those games went to Alexandra, and the silver went to Spain.

The Summer Games in 1996 were not so victorious for the Russian team. The performances of Yana Batyrshina amazed the audience and the jury with their new elements and general approach to the performance. But Yana could only get silver in the individual all-around. In the group performance, Russia won bronze. This situation only spurred coach Irina Viner and the athletes, and already at the next Olympics Russia became the owner of the gold medal.

Wiener, Zaripova, Kabaeva, Batyrshina at competitions in Japan. 1997

The 2000 Sydney Olympics became “golden” for Yulia Barsukova, but unanimously the star of the games, according to journalists, was Alina Kabaeva. It is she who will get the gold medal at the next Olympic competitions. In 2004, the team will take home 2 medals in total - they will earn silver in these competitions.

Olympic champions

In 2008, the sports world met a unique Russian gymnast - Evgenia Kanaeva. The winners of the Beijing Games were, who took first place, and Anna Bessonova, who took home bronze. Returning to Moscow, the girls trained even more intensively, preparing for new Olympic heights. The next Olympics, held in London in 2012, left no chance for gymnasts from other countries to win. Both the highest awards - the gold and silver medals in the individual all-around - went to Russia with their owners - Zhenya Kanaeva and Dasha Dmitrieva. Ukraine earned gold in group exercises. Two-time winner and Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics Evgenia Kanaeva is almost finishing her sports career, but worthy athletes are already preparing to replace her.

The 2016 Rio Olympics made the Russian team the absolute winner in both types of performances - the girls took first place in both the group and individual all-around events. The amazing Russian exercises demonstrated by the gymnasts brought Yana Kudryavtseva to the finals with a silver medal. And in the group all-around, the victory was not easy - the number with ribbons barely brought the Russian team into the TOP-3 according to estimates, which made all the fans nervous. But a little later, in the routine with hoops and clubs, the athletes decisively took the lead, leaving no chance for other teams.

At the same Olympics, a new star of Russian gymnastics appeared on the sports horizon - Margarita Mamun. According to the results of the competition, the young, 19-year-old girl won an unconditional victory in the individual all-around.

Undoubtedly, rhythmic gymnastics and Russia are almost inseparable concepts in the world of sports. Being the winners of all Olympic competitions, Russian gymnasts do not stop, winning more and more titles in other tournaments. And many athletes in the standings, based on the results of all their victories, have titles with the prefixes “multiple,” “absolute,” or “record.” This speaks of the phenomenal diligence and hard work of fragile but strong girls.