HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The "Golden Girls" of Bulgaria ( bg, Златните момичета на България) refers to the generation of female rhythmic gymnasts who represented
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 Maced ...
from 1976 to 1999 when the team was coached by
Neshka Robeva Neshka Stefanova Robeva ( bg, Нешка Стефанова Робева; born 26 May 1946) is a Bulgarian former Rhythmic Gymnast and coach. Biography Born in Rousse, Robeva graduated from the Bulgarian State Choreography School in "Bulgari ...
. In this period, the Golden Girls won 14
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 rh ...
titles in individual and ensemble performances; 14
Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships The Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships are the European championships for the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. They were first held in 1978. The European Championships and the European Junior Championships were united in 1993. Prior to 2006, ...
titles, and an assortment of other world and European titles. The most prominent gymnasts of the Golden Girls are Adriana Dunavska, Anelia Ralenkova,
Bianka Panova Bianka Panova ( bg, Бианка Панова, born May 27, 1970 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian individual rhythmic gymnast. One of the Golden Girls of Bulgaria that dominated rhythmic gymnastics in the 1980s. She is the 1987 World All-around champio ...
, Diliana Georgieva, Elizabeth Koleva,
Iliana Raeva ''Iliana'' is a genus of skippers in the family Hesperiidae. It was described in 1937 by Ernest Layton Bell, with ''Iliana romulus'' as type species. The genus has a neotropical distribution. Distribution Species mainly occur in Peru, Brazil ...
, Julia Baicheva, Lilia Ignatova, and Maria Petrova. 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 ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
for receiving full 10 marks in all eight routines at a world championship. Maria Petrova, along with earlier gymnast
Maria Gigova Maria Gigova ( bg, Мария Гигова; born 24 April 1947) is a Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast. She is a three-time (1969, 1971, 1973) World All-around champion. Biography She was the first gymnast to become a triple world champion in rhyt ...
, were both three-time world all-around champions; Petrova is also a three-time European all-around champion. 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


Further reading


The Golden Girls of Bulgaria by Neshka Robeva, Margarita Rangelova (1985), Sofia, Bulgaria: Sofia Press
Nicknamed groups of Olympic competitors Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts {{Gymnastics-stub