Carolina Pascual Gracia (born 17 June 1976 in

Orihuela Orihuela (; ca-valencia, Oriola ) is a city and municipality located at the feet of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Spain. The city of Orihuela had a population of 33,943 inhabitants at the beginning of 2013. The mun ...

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

) is a former Spanish 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 ...

. She is the 1992 Olympics silver medalist and the 1993 European all-around bronze medalist.

Career

Pascual was doing ballet when at age seven her ballet teacher told her mother that her daughter had excellent qualities for Rhythmic Gymnastics. There was not a club in her town so, her mother drove for around an hour to get Pascual to and from training sessions at the Escuela de Competición in

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

. Pascual later went to the Atlético Montemar in Alicante. Carolina Pascual 1991 Atenas 04

Pascual got her breakthrough in 1990 when Spain's head coach, Emilia Boneva, selected Pascual for the National Team. The newcomer was sent to the 1990 European Championships, where she helped the Spanish team win the bronze medal. She also placed 12th in the all-around and qualified for two event finals. All the sacrifices that were made paid off when in 1990 Emilia Boneva selected her for the National Team. Pascual was one of Spain's most successful Rhythmic Gymnasts, and the first to get an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medal. At the awards ceremony, bronze medalist

Oksana Skaldina Oksana Valentinovna Skaldina ( uk, Оксана Валентинівна Скалдіна; russian: Оксана Валентиновна Скалдина) is a retired Ukrainian individual rhythmic gymnast and current coach. She is the 1992 Ol ...

refused to acknowledge the podium results. Pascual is one of the few non-

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

an rhythmic gymnasts to have successful career and medal at the Olympics. An injured Pascual sat out at the 1992 World Championships, but came back for a bronze All-around medal at 1993 European Cup. But she struggled at the 1993 World Championships and finished 7th in All-around. Still, she would take silver with clubs behind teammate

Carmen Acedo Carmen Acedo Jorge (born February 10, 1975 in Lérida, Spain) is a retired individual rhythmic gymnast from Spain. Biography Acedo trained with Rosa Menor as a junior at club Patricia. She was first selected for the Spanish junior group in 1 ...

. She retired from the sport after the Alicante World Championships in 1993. As a gymnast she stands out because of her difficult and expressive routines with great back flexibility, and inventive skills. She is now a coach, at Club IMD in Orihuela.

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External links

* * * * 1976 births Living people Spanish rhythmic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of Spain Olympic silver medalists for Spain Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships 20th-century Spanish women 21st-century Spanish women {{Rhythmic-gymnastics-bio-stub