Bianka Panova ( bg, Бианка Панова, born May 27, 1970 in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n individual

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordi ...

. One of the

Golden Girls of Bulgaria The "Golden Girls" of Bulgaria ( bg, 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. In this period ...

that dominated rhythmic gymnastics in the 1980s. She is the 1987 World All-around champion, 1989 World All-around silver medalist, 1985 World All-around bronze medallist and 1986 European All-around champion. She won a total of nine World Championship gold medals.

Personal life

Panova was born on May 27, 1970 in

, Bulgaria. She lives in Belgium with her husband, physiotherapist and physician, Tchavdar Ninov, and their two sons, Stefan and Richard.

Career

Panova won the Bulgarian national title three times. At the age of 15, Panova won her first gold medal at the 1985 World Championships in ribbon. Between 1985 and 1989, she won nine golds, two silvers, and one bronze at the World Championships, including a sweep of all five golds at the 1987 Worlds Championships. Panova competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics as the reigning World champion. She made a mistake in the preliminary round, dropping a club. She finished in fourth place behind gold medalist Marina Lobatch (USSR), Bulgarian teammate Adriana Dunavska who took the silver medal, and

Olexandra Tymoshenko Alexandra Alexandrovna Timoshenko, or Olexandra Olexandrivna Tymoshenko, ( uk, Олександра Олександрівна Тимошенко; born 18 February 1972) is a former Ukrainian individual rhythmic gymnast who competed for the Soviet ...

(USSR). Panova retired from competition in 1989 and became a coach in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. She coached the Italian national champion, Katia Pietrosanti, who is the 1993 European Junior silver medalist in clubs. Panova tried to make a comeback in 1992 but failed to make the Bulgarian Olympic team. She returned to coaching in 1993, this time in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. She concentrated on artistic gymnastics and acrobatics choreography. Until 2001, she was head coach at the

Happy Gym Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sinc ...

club in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, and is responsible for many of Belgium's finest athletes, among them National champion Elke De Backer. She has also introduced her own method of flexibility conditioning for non-gymnast athletes. In 2009, Panova was invited to compete in the Bulgarian edition of

Dancing With The Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

and won with the highest public vote.

Achievements

Panova is the first rhythmic gymnast to get a clean sweep of all five (All-around, Ribbon, Clubs, Hoop, Rope) gold medals at a World Championship. (The only other gymnasts to win all of the apparatus at a single World Championship are

Oxana Kostina Oksana Alexandrovna Kostina (russian: Оксана Александровна Костина; 15 April 1972 – 11 February 1993) was a Soviet and Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She was the 1992 World All-around champion and 1992 Euro ...

and

Evgenia Kanaeva Evgeniya Olegovna Kanaeva Order For Merit to the Fatherland, OMF (russian: Евгения Олеговна Канаева; born 2 April 1990) is a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the only individual rhythmic gymnast in history to wi ...

.) Panova also became the first rhythmic gymnast to get onto the Guinness Book of Records by her perfect performance of full 10 marks in all her routines (total of 8) at a World Championship and received the trophy personally from the President of the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

at that time,

Juan Antonio Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch (Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh Pre ...

. She achieved this at the 1987 World Championships in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

External links

*
NSA Bulgarian gymnasts
*https://web.archive.org/web/20110718150059/http://www.gymn.ca/gymnasticgreats/rsg/panova.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20060513231702/http://lesgymnastesdegr.ifrance.com/pages/44.html (en Français) {{DEFAULTSORT:Panova, Bianka 1970 births Living people Gymnasts from Sofia Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts Bulgarian expatriates in Belgium Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships