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 history of rhythmic gymnastics at 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

Unofficial games 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.

Victory at the 1988 Olympics for gymnasts Soviet Union was final. 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 performers Yana Batyrshina and Amina Zaripova 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 - Irina Chashchina will win 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 Zhenya Kanaeva, 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. Karolina Sevastyanova from Ukraine won 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.

Elena SOBOL from Pesaro

The culmination of the individual tournament was the Olympic discipline - all-around. On the third day of the competition, the gymnasts showed all four of their programs again, gathering the full stands of the Adriatic Arena. That evening, the crowded stadium in a small Italian town was buzzing so loudly that the whole neighborhood could hear it - the best of the best were performing on the carpet. But perhaps the most warmly greeted were the Italians as hostesses and the Russians as the absolutely strongest.

Debutantes of the world championship Dina And Arina Averina became first and second in the all-around, having collected all five gold medals in the individual competition between them, and having already won ten medals in total in Italy. In addition to five gold, four silver and one bronze.

NEW LEADERS

To this success sisters Averina it's been a long time coming. Last year, the athletes were ready to perform at the highest level, which they proved at the Grand Prix and World Cup competitions, but remained in the shadow of the first numbers, the Olympians Yana Kudryavtseva And Margarita Mamun. However, after their older friends left the sport, the twin sisters did not give up and managed to firmly take leadership positions. So that they again remain out of reach of their rivals and win by a large margin.

After the judges announced the scores Dina Averina for the fourth exercise and it became clear that no one would beat her, Arina met her sister, ran out to her in the kiss and cry area, and hugged her warmly. Head coach Irina Viner-Usmanova I also couldn’t hide my smile - her athletes gave their all on the mat.

The fight for third place in the all-around took place between several gymnasts, but they did not miss their chance Linoy Ashram from Israel, who was third and qualified. For the Israeli gymnast, this award is a great success and a good foundation for the future.

MOST ELEGANT

The winners were awarded Alina Kabaeva- the official ambassador of this World Cup. She was present at all competitions and warmly congratulated the all-around winners, thanks to whom the crowded arena froze to the Russian anthem, and two tricolors immediately soared under the dome in their honor. After the award, the Olympic champion presented the Italian Milena Baldassarri award in his name - a small figurine in the form of a gymnast. The special prize "Miss Elegance" went to another Italian - Alexandre Adjirkulese.

Dina AVERINA: “WE HAVE COME DONE WITH THE TASK, WE ARE WELL DONE”

The absolute world champion talks about her emotions after the victory.

I'm happy that it's over and that everything turned out well. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone! Irina Aleksandrovna Viner-Usmanova congratulated me and said that we had coped with the task, that we were great, we tried. She is happy and content. When I found out that I was the first, there were even tears of joy. I'm Arina I met her, we hugged and that’s it... I cried with happiness that everything ended well.​

World Championship. Personal all-around. 1. D. AVERINA - 74,700 2. A. AVERINA - 73,450 3. Ashram (Israel) - 70,025.

The World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Bulgaria ended in the overall medal count. We have seven gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

Last impulse before the performance. Each has its own approach. Take a deep breath, exhale - and onto the carpet. Fans are greeted standing. Both the team and the coach have been under such tension all week. Now you can finally breathe out. The Russian team accomplished the maximum task - they received their first ticket to the Olympic Games.

“We are leaving with seven gold medals. Italy has one medal, Bulgaria has one medal, and we have seven! You can’t win everything. Otherwise, the sport should be closed if Russia wins everything. The championship should be divided, and the Olympics - to win,” says the head of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics Irina Viner-Usmanova.

The individual all-around competition is coming to an end. The last participants continue to warm up. Our Dina Averina is still the leader in the overall standings, and the performances of these gymnasts separate her from the fifth gold medal at this championship.

When it is clear that everything is over, the audience begins to chant the athlete’s name. It is this, the most expensive, medal that she will give to her sister. For the support. Arina performs less now - she was injured before the European Championships. But if another Averina takes to the mat, then the World Championship turns into a championship between two sisters.

The sisters do not understand why they are confused, because they are almost opposites. Eight medals, six of them gold. They say that they could not have achieved such success on their own.

Workout twice a day, six days a week. Champion elements. Along with the rhinestones there are also shiny plates that imitate the armor of Spartak. As a result, the viewer sees not exercises, but performances on the carpet.

“God loves the strong, and how much we trained was a lot. Our last training camp was in Latvia at 38 degrees in the gym. We trained for 9 hours,” recalls Irina Viner-Usmanova.

An emotional performance to the music of Alla Pugacheva brought Alexandra Soldatova her first personal gold at the World Championships.

The main goal of our gymnasts in the group tournament is to enter the top three. Strong rivals are the Italians and the hosts of the tournament from Bulgaria, who are greeted here like rock stars. But both programs were executed without a single error.

During the announcement of the scores, the gymnasts together with Irina Viner hold hands. Our girls rise to the highest step of the podium. They not only won the seventh gold medal at this championship for our team, but also won a ticket to the Olympics in Tokyo.

“There were no failures, there were no stops,” noted Irina Viner-Usmanova.

Out of a possible nine, the Russian team won 7 gold medals, as well as two silver and three bronze. But it’s not just about medals or even a ticket to the Olympics - our athletes showed truly rhythmic gymnastics.

Svetlana Khorkina twice won Olympic gold in artistic gymnastics, became a three-time absolute world champion and a three-time absolute European champion. Thanks to her performance of the most difficult combinations on the uneven bars, she received the unofficial title “Queen of the Uneven Bars.”

Alina Kabaeva- one of the most titled gymnasts in the world. Her name is inscribed in the Guinness Book of Records, since at the age of 15 Alina became the absolute European champion in rhythmic gymnastics among adults. Today she is known not only for her sporting achievements, but for her active political and social activities.

Evgenia Kanaeva became the first ever two-time Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics in the individual all-around. And at the 29th World Championships in the Japanese city of Mye, the athlete set an absolute record, winning 6 gold medals out of 6 possible.

Aliya Mustafina In Rio de Janeiro, she won Olympic gold for her country in artistic gymnastics for the second time. The first time this happened was at the 2012 Olympics in London - the same year Aliya was recognized as athlete of the year in Russia.

World champion, six-time European champion Laysan Utyasheva won many stunning victories; four elements of rhythmic gymnastics she invented were named after her. And although an injury suffered in 2002 forced her to give up big-time sports, she continues to be a media personality as a television and radio host.

Irina Chashchina achieved fame at the same time as Alina Kabaeva, which is why the athlete was in a “secondary role” for a long time. One such case is the Olympic Games in Athens, where Irina lost gold to Kabaeva.

Two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics 2000 Elena Zamolodchikova won many more victories at the world and European championships, but the title “Bride of Sydney” was assigned to her.

Two-time silver medalist at the 2016 Olympics Apiary Maria Currently performing the most difficult vault in the Russian artistic gymnastics team.

Margarita Mamun brought Russia a gold medal in the individual all-around in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The coach and fans call the girl the “Bengal Tigress”, since her father is from Bangladesh.

Yana Kudryavtseva, who brought Russia a silver medal at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, is the youngest absolute world champion in the history of rhythmic gymnastics.