Marina Malpica (born 4 January 2000) is a Mexican

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 first gymnast from Mexico to qualify for a final at the

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, ...

Personal life

She is studying at

National University of Costa Rica The National University of Costa Rica (in Spanish, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, abbreviated UNA) is one of five public universities in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. The main campus is located in the city of Heredia. Acc ...

in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Career

She took up the sport at age five in Veracruz.

2014

As a junior, Malpica competed at the

2014 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships The 2014 Pacific Rim Championships were held from 9 April to 12 April 2014 in Richmond, British Columbia. Overall medal table Medalists Artistic gymnastics Men's events Women's events Rhythmic gymnastics #^Medals were also awarded for ...

in April. She placed 7th in the all-around and qualified to all four event finals. In May, she competed at the Junior Pan American Championships. As a member of the Mexican team, she contributed to the team silver medal, and she finished 6th in the all-around.

2016

Malpica debuted in senior international competition at the 2016 Pan American Championships, where she won bronze in the all-around behind

Natália Gaudio Natália Azevedo Gaudio (born 18 December 1992) is a Brazilian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2018 South American Games all-around gold medalist, and the 2019 Pan American Games all-around bronze medalist. Personal life Gaudio speaks ...

and

Karla Diaz Karla Diaz is an American artist who collects recipes from prison inmates and recreates them in performance using only ingredients and utensils available to those incarcerated. Her multi-media participatory performance piece ''Prison Gourmet'' com ...

. In the apparatus finals, she won silver with clubs and bronze with ball.

2017

Malpica again competed at the 2017 Pan American Championships, where she won silver in teams and bronze in the all-around. In the apparatus finals, she was 4th with hoop, 4th with ball, 7th with clubs and 7th with ribbon. In August, she performed at her first

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

, finishing 49th in the all-around, 38th with hoop, 48th with ball, 68th with clubs and 39th with ribbon.

2018

In 2018 Malpica participated in the

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 ...

stages in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

. She took 28th place in the all-around and 25th with hoop, 35th with ball, 35th with clubs, 29th with ribbon. At the World Cup in

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 a ...

, she placed 22nd in the all-around. She was then selected for the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...

, where she won gold with hoop and ball and silver in the all-around and with clubs. In September, she competed at the

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 ...

, where she was 18th in teams with

and

Rut Castillo Rut Castillo Galindo (born 16 September 1990) is a Mexican individual rhythmic gymnast. She represented Mexico at the 2020 Summer Olympics and became the first Mexican rhythmic gymnast to compete at an Olympic Games. She is the 2021 Pan Americ ...

. Individually, she was 68th in the all-around, 56th with hoop, 105th with ball and 50th with clubs. Later that months, she also competed in the

Pan American Championships A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the most ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

. There she won silver in the all-around behind

Laura Zeng Laura Yihan Zeng (; ''Zeng Yi-Han''; born October 14, 1999) is an Americans, American former individual Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics, United States at the 2016 and United St ...

and bronze with hoop behind Zeng and

Lili Mizuno Lili Mizuno (born February 4, 2001) is an American rhythmic gymnast. She is the Pan American Championships 2021 Group All-around bronze medalist and 2017 All-around silver medalist. She competed in the group all-around at the 2020 Summer Olympics ...

2019

Malpica competed in the

World Cups 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 ...

(29th in the all-around, 28th with hoop, 26th with ball, 31st with clubs and 29th with ribbon) and

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

(26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 24th with ball, 32nd with clubs and 25th with ribbon). At the

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, she only performed with ribbon. She was 58th place with the apparatus and 25th in the team competition.

2021

Malpica was again selected for the Mexican team that took part at the

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuku ...

. She contributed to Mexico's team score on two apparatuses, ball and clubs, which ranked 30th and 40th respectively.

2022

Marina started her 2022 season at the

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,614, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão (). In 1924, it was ...

, where she finished 26th in the all-around, 31st with hoop, 36th with ball, 17th with clubs, and 19th with ribbon. A few days later, she was in

for another World Cup where she ranked 26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 29th with ball, 20th with clubs, and 32nd with ribbon. In July, she performed at the

Pan American Gymnastics Championships The Pan American Gymnastics Union organizes Pan American Gymnastics Championships in different disciplines of gymnastics: men's and women's artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, as well as aerobic ...

, where was 5th in the all-around and won gold with hoop and bronze with ribbon. In August, she competed at the last World Cup of the season in

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

, ending 26th in the all-around, 17th with hoop, 22nd with ball, 36th with clubs, and 15th with ribbon. She made history at the

in Sofia by qualifying for the all-around final, becoming the first individual from Mexico qualify for a final at the tournament, and ending in 14th place. Marina Malpica 2024 Sofia World Cup Hoop QF 2

Marina Malpica 2024 Sofia World Cup Hoop QF 2

2023

Malpica qualified to the ribbon final at Baku World Cup and finished in 8th place. In early June, she won the ball final at the

and finished 6th in the all-around. In late June, she competed at the

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

, where she won five golds and a silver - a gold in the team event with Ledia Juárez,

, and the senior group, and every individual final except for the clubs final, where she was silver behind Juárez. She represented Mexico at the 2023 World Championships in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Spain; she finished in 29th place in the all-around qualifications and did not qualify to the final. Her best result was 13th place with ribbon. In November, she competed at the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2023, links=no), officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, s ...

. There was one Olympic berth available at the competition, which Malpica narrowly lost to

Evita Griskenas Evita Griskenas (born December 3, 2000) is an American individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 USA national all-around champion. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished twelfth in the qualification round f ...

. She ended the all-around in 4th place. Although she had qualified for all four event finals, she did not medal in any of them, which were dominated by the Brazilian gymnasts. Malpica made comments on her social media criticizing the Brazilian gymnasts and accusing the judges of bias based on nationality. She later apologized to the Brazilian gymnasts and deleted her comments, but she did not take back her comments about the judges.

2024

Malpica competed at the 2024 World Cup in

, where she placed 30th. At the 2024 Pan American Championships in

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

, she won bronze in the ribbon final behind Maria Eduarda Alexandre and

Bárbara Domingos Bárbara de Kassia Godoy Domingos (born ) is a Brazilian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 South American Games All-around Champion. She is the first Brazilian rhythmic gymnast to qualify for All-around final at the World Championship ...

Achievements

* First Mexican

to qualify for a World Championships final when she participated in the 2022 edition of the tournament in

Routine music information

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malpica, Marina 2000 births Living people Mexican rhythmic gymnasts Sportspeople from Quintana Roo Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Mexico Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games Gymnasts at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Pan American Championships