The "Golden Girls" of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Златните момичета на България) refers to the generation of female rhythmic gymnasts who represented Bulgaria from 1976 to 1999 when the team was coached by Neshka Robeva.[1] In this period, the Golden Girls won 14 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships titles in individual and ensemble performances; 14 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships titles, and an assortment of other world and European titles.[2]
The most prominent gymnasts of the Golden Girls are Adriana Dunavska, Anelia Ralenkova, Bianka Panova, Diliana Georgieva, Elizabeth Koleva, Iliana Raeva, Julia Baicheva, Lilia Ignatova, and Maria Petrova.[3] Among them, they won over 200 medals in 20 years. Bianka Panova became the first rhythmic gymnast to win all five individual events at a world championship. She was entered into the Guinness World Records for receiving full 10 marks in all eight routines at a world championship. Maria Petrova, along with earlier gymnast Maria Gigova, were both three-time world all-around champions; Petrova is also a three-time European all-around champion.[4]
Nowadays all golden girls have different coaches.The most popular from 2016-2022 are Neviana Vladinova, Katrin Taseva, Boryana Kaleyn, Stiliana Nikolova, Eva Brezalieva and Tatiana Volozhanina in Senior individual.
References
edit- ^ Bulgaria. 1987.
- ^ Radio Free Europe Research. Radio Free Europe. 1984.
- ^ "PANTALONI A ZAMPA E LE PRIME COMPETIZIONI DI GINNASTICA RITMICA | Storia della ritmica 2". Donne e Sport | Outdoor (in Italian). 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ^ Tzvetkova, Juliana (2017-10-12). Pop Culture in Europe. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-4466-9.
Further reading
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