Ekaterina Olegovna Vedeneeva (russian: Екатерина Олеговна Веденеева; ; born 23 June 1994) is a Russian 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 co ...

competing for

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

since 2018. She made her debut for Slovenia in August 2018 at the World Cup event in Kazan, Russian Federation. On national level, she is a three-time (2019, 2021, 2022) Slovenian National All-around champion. In 2021, she became the first

to compete at Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She is the first Slovenian rhythmic gymnast and first Slovenian gymnast of any discipline to win a medal in the history of The World Games.

Career

Her mother, Julia Vedeneeva, has coached rhythmic gymnastics and encouraged her to take up the sport. She started training rhythmic gymnastics in her hometown Irkutsk in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. In 2015, Vedeneeva was selected to represent

together with Maria Titova at the

2015 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 143 , Athletes participating = 12,885 , Events = 272 in 21 sports , Opening ceremony = , Closing ceremony = , Officially opened by = Park Geun-hye , Athlete's Oath = Kim Seong-yeon and Kim Kuk-young , Judge's Oath = ...

in Gwangju,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. She finished on 5th place in All-around competition, tied with

Elizaveta Nazarenkova Elizaveta Sergeyevna Nazarenkova (russian: Елизавета Сергеевна Назаренкова; born 27 August 1995) is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast who competed for Uzbekistan. She is a two-time all-around silver med ...

. She qualified to finals with two apparatuses, placing 5th in Ball final with score 17.550 and 7th in Clubs final with score 17.250.

2017-2021 Olympic cycle

In 2018, she chose to represent

. On July 31, she officially received her

n citizenship. This gave her the opportunity to start competing at international competitions. In August, she competed at

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

. Katya placed 8th in All-around and qualified to two apparatus finals, where she placed 5th with Hoop (18.950) and 7th with Ball (17.800). In September, she competed at the 2018 World Championships, which was her first one. She helped

to achieve the best result in Team competition so far, placing 11th together with teammates Aleksandra Podgoršek and Anja Tomazin. She also placed 17th in All-Around Qualifications and qualified to the All-Around Final where she placed 13th, which is also the best result for

. In April 2019 she became the first Slovenian to earn a medal at the

Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup is a competition for rhythmic gymnastics sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the few tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics officially organized by FIG, as well as the W ...

, a bronze medal in the ribbon final at the Tashkent World Cup. At the 2019 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, in Baku, Azerbaijan, she qualified for the club final finishing in 7th place. That same year she became the first Slovenian to win a medal at the

Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix The Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix is an annual competition of tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics open to athletes from all over the globe. The series consists of a number of stages, culminating in the final event, usually referred to as ''Grand Pri ...

, a silver medal in the ball final at the Holon Grand Prix in Israel. At the 2019 World Championships in Baku,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

she qualified to the Individual All-Around Final, where she placed 17th with total score of 78.650 and secured

the first ever

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 ...

spot in history of rhythmic gymnastics. In 2020, she started the season at

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, where she placed 6th in All-Around competition. The next day, she competed in all Apparatus Finals and won bronze medal in ribbon final with a score of 19.900. This was her second

medal. She represented

at the 2020 European Championships in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and finished on 13th place in All-around. In 2021, she started the season at

, where she placed 8th in All-Around competition. On Sunday, she qualified to all apparatus finals and won bronze medal in ribbon final with score 22.050, repeating her 2020 success. During the 2021 World Cup series, Vedeneeva qualified for an Olympic berth. She was the highest ranked eligible gymnast, in front of Uzbekistan's

Sabina Tashkenbaeva Sabina Tashkenbaeva (born 27 November 2000 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) is an Uzbekistani rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2019 Asian Championships all-around gold medalist. Career Tashkenbaeva began training in gymnastics in 2006. She became a member ...

and Japan's

Chisaki Oiwa Chisaki Oiwa (大岩千未来 ''Ōiwa Chisaki'' born 20 November 2001) is a Japanese rhythmic gymnast. She represented Japan at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished nineteenth in the qualification round for the individual all-around. She is a t ...

. At the Moscow World Challenge Cup she won bronze in the All-around - the first World Cup all-around medal for Slovenia. The following day she added 3 more bronze medals in ball, clubs and ribbon. At the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, Vedeneeva finished sixteenth in the qualification round for the individual all-around, behind

Alexandra Agiurgiuculese Alexandra Ana Maria Agiurgiuculese (born January 15, 2001) is a Romanian-Italian individual rhythmic gymnast who represents Italy and was coached by Špela Dragaš. She is a four-time medalist at the 2016 European Junior Championships. At the ...

. At the end of October, she competed at the

2021 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships The 2021 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships were held from 27 to 31 October 2021 in Kitakyushu, Japan. Dina Averina broke the record for the most medals won at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships with 22 total medals and also became ...

in Kitakyushu, Japan, making it to the top 18 individual final, finishing in 12th place, behind Khrystyna Pohranychna. She also managed to qualify for the ribbon final, achieving 7th place. It was the first time that a Slovenian gymnast has managed to advance to a world championship apparatus final.

2022-2024 Olympic cycle

In June 2022, she won her third Slovenian National All-around title, almost 22 points ahead of silver medalist Brigita Krašovec. Competing at the

2022 World Games The 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions ...

in Birmingham, USA, she was the first

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

who competed at the

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

. She placed 4th in Hoop and Ribbon finals, and took historic bronze medal in Clubs final. On 14-18 September, Katja competed at her fourth

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, which were held 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 h ...

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 Macedo ...

. On first day of competition, she took 9th place in Hoop qualifications and did not advance into finals, but she did qualify to Ball final and placed 6th. Next day, she took 2nd place in Clubs qualifications, but ended on 8th place in Final after some mistakes. She did however, end on 3rd place in Ribbon final and won her first ever medal from

and also first medal for

Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships are the world championships for the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. The tournament is promoted and organized by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the three tournaments in r ...

. In Individual All-around Qualifications she took 6th place and advanced to Individual All-around Final, where she finished on 7th place, which was her best result so far.

Gymnastics technique

Vedeneeva is known for her routines which demonstrate a strong grounding in classical ballet technique, in particular for her well-executed pirouettes which are distinctively often performed a la seconde. Her signature moves in this position include pivots completed in arabesque, attitude and ring style. Vedeneeva, whilst incredibly talented, has also expressed the challenges of incorporating enough apparatus difficulty elements in a routine to both preserve the artistic integrity of the sport and to accumulate enough marks to be competitive and fair in the new open-ended marking system which, she believes, preferences the former.

Achievements

* First Slovenian

to win a medal in an individual apparatus final at the FIG World Cup series. * First Slovenian

to win a gold medal in an individual apparatus final at the FIG World Cup series. * First Slovenian

to win a medal in an individual All-around at the FIG World Cup series. * First Slovenian

to compete at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. * First Slovenian rhythmic gymnast or Slovenian gymnast of any discipline to win a medal at the

. * First Slovenian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. * First Slovenian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the European Championship.

Routine music information

Competitive highlights

''(Team competitions in seniors are held only at the World Championships, Europeans and other Continental Games.)''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vedeneeva, Ekaterina 1994 births Living people Russian rhythmic gymnasts Slovenian rhythmic gymnasts Sportspeople from Irkutsk Naturalized citizens of Slovenia Slovenian people of Russian descent Olympic gymnasts for Slovenia Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 2022 World Games World Games bronze medalists Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships