Marina González Lara (born 15 December 2002) is a Spanish

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

and

social media personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

. She represented

Spain at the 2020 Summer Olympics Spain competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 but postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's official debut in 1920, Spanish a ...

. She won the gold medal on the floor exercise at the 2019 Szombathely World Challenge Cup. She competed at the 2019 World Championships and helped Spain qualify as a full team for 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 ...

Personal life

Marina González was born on 15 December 2002, in

Malgrat de Mar Malgrat de Mar is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the Costa Brava between Santa Susanna and Blanes. A local road runs from the town to the main N-II road, while ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Spain. She speaks both

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. She trained in athletics and

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

before gymnastics, and competed at the Catalan regional taekwondo championships, but she switched to gymnastics when she was eight.

Career

Junior

González made her international debut at the 2015 Elite Gym Massilia, and she finished forty-sixth in the all-around. She then finished nineteenth in the all-around at the 2016 Spanish Cup and twelfth at the Spanish Championships. She then finished twentieth in the all-around at the 2017 Spanish Cup.

Senior

González became age-eligible for senior international competition in 2018. won a silver medal with her club at both the 2018 1st and 2nd Spanish League. She was supposed to compete at the

2018 Mediterranean Games The 2018 Mediterranean Games ( es, Juegos Mediterráneos de 2018), officially known as the XVIII Mediterranean Games ( es, XVIII Juegos Mediterráneos) and commonly known as Tarragona 2018, was an international multi-sport event held from 22 Jun ...

, but she injured her elbow and was out of competition for the rest of the year. González finished fifth with her club at the 2019 1st Spanish League and fourth at the 2nd Spanish League. She then won the silver medal in the all-around behind

Laura Bechdejú Laura Bechdejú Coll (born 9 May 2000) is a Spanish Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She represented Spain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2018 World Championships. She is a 2019 Europea ...

at the Spanish League Finals. She won the silver medal in the all-around at the 2019 Spanish National Championships behind Ana Pérez. She won the gold medal on the floor exercise at the Szombathely World Challenge Cup with a score of 12.866. At the 2019 World Championships, González competed with teammates Cintia Rodríguez,

Roxana Popa Roxana Daniela Popa Nedelcu (born June 2, 1997 in Constanța) is a Romanian-born Spanish artistic gymnast who has represented Spain in all her international competitions. Popa first came into contact with gymnastics in her native Romania, where ...

, Ana Pérez, and

Alba Petisco Alba Petisco de San Fulgencio (born 1 February 2003) is a Spanish artistic gymnast. She represented Spain at the 2020 Olympic Games and the 2018 Youth Olympics where she was part of the Mixed NOC team who won gold in the mixed multi-disciplin ...

. They finished twelfth as a team during qualifications, and although they did not qualify for the team final, they qualified a team to the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, giving Spain its first team berth at the Olympic Games since

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. González won the bronze medal in the all-around and finished fourth with her club at the 2020 1st Spanish League. Then at the 2020 Spanish National Championships, she won the all-around bronze medal behind Alba Petisco and Ana Pérez. González competed at the 2021 FIT Challenge and helped the Spanish team finish fifth. Individually, she finished fifteenth in the all-around and sixth in the balance beam final. She was selected to the Spanish women's artistic gymnastics team for the postponed

2020 Summer Olympics 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 ...

alongside

and

. The team finished twelfth in

qualifications Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

and did not reach the final. In August 2021, González signed with

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, joining their gymnastics team for the 2021–2022 season. She missed her entire freshman season due to a foot injury. She returned to competition at the 2022 Spanish Championships, only competing on the balance beam. While training for the 2022 World Championships, she tore her ACL and missed the entire 2023 NCAA season.

Social media

González created an account on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

in 2018. As of January 2023, she has over 1.4 million TikTok followers, and she is the most followed Spanish athlete on the platform.

Competitive history

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:González, Marina 2002 births Living people Spanish female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts from Barcelona Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Spain Iowa State Cyclones women's gymnasts 21st-century Spanish women