Nancy Usero is a retired Spanish rhythmic gymnast, member of the national group. She was also national head coach from 1998 to 2001.

Biography

Usero took up the sport at Escuela de Gimnasia Rítmica of Zaragoza. In 1982 she won bronze in the 2nd category of the

Spanish Championships The Barcelona Ladies Open was a tennis tournament for women held in Barcelona in Catalonia (Spain) and was played on outdoor clay courts. It was an International-level tournament on the WTA Tour with total prize money of $220,000. The tour ...

in Palencia. She became part of the Spanish national group, she would train at the Moscardó Gymnasium in Madrid under the orders of the national team coach Emilia Boneva and the group coach, Ana Roncero, Georgi Neykov was the team's choreographer. In 1984 she won the bronze medal in the all-around competition at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in Vienna along Pilar Domenech, María Fernández,

Virginia Manzanera Virginia Manzanera (born 26 March 1965) is a former Spanish Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast and coach. She won a European bronze medal in 1984. Biography Virginia began practicing rhythmic gymnastics when she was 9 years old at the Club ...

Eva Obalat Eva Obalat Mangrané (born 5 July 1969) is retired Spanish rhythmic gymnast and chief executive officer. As a gymnast she's a double European bronze medalist. Biography Eva took up gymnastics at the age of 6, later joining the Zaragoza Rhythm ...

and

Graciela Yanes Graciela (August 23, 1915 – April 7, 2010)
Accessed April 2010 was a Cuban-born American singer of Cuban music and ...

, with

Rocío Ducay Rocío is a Spanish female name, literally meaning " dew". Notable people with the name include: * Rocío Banquells (1958), Mexican pop singer and actress * Rocío Carrasco, Rociíto (1977), Spanish TV presenter and business woman *Rocío Comba (19 ...

and

Ofelia Rodríguez Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama '' Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends ...

as substitutes. After this achievement, they were all awarded the Medal of Gymnastic Merit of 1984 from the Royal Spanish Gymnastics Federation that was given to them in 1985 in a ceremony presided over by Alfonso de Borbón y Dampierre, Duke of Cádiz, then president of the COE. At the 1985 World Championships in Valladolid the group was 7th in the All-Around along Pilar Domenech,

, María Fernández and

Graciela Yanes Graciela (August 23, 1915 – April 7, 2010)
Accessed April 2010 was a Cuban-born American singer of Cuban music and ...

, in addition to Ester Domínguez,

, Laura Manzanera and

Estela Martín Estela may refer to: * Estela (Póvoa de Varzim), Portugal * Estela, Buenos Aires, Argentina * CD Estela, a Spanish basketball team People with the given name * Estela Perlas-Bernabe (born 1952), Philippine jurist * Estela de Carlotto (born 1 ...

as substitutes. After her retirement, she served as technical director of the Aragonese Gymnastics Federation and prepared gymnasts at her childhood club, eventually training

Esther Domínguez Esther Domínguez (April 23, 1981, Zaragoza, Province of Zaragoza) is a Spanish rhythmic gymnast. Dominguez competed for Spain in the rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. There she was ...

from 1994 until she was called by the individuals national coach Mar Lozano. In 1997, Nancy was selected as head of the national junior group. In September 1998, she was named national head coach for groups, replacing María Fernández Ostolaza. She had Dalia Kutkaite as assistant and coach of the junior group, and Cristina Álvarez as choreographer the first year. During 1999 and 2000, the two exercises were with 3 ribbons and 2 hoops and the one with 10 clubs, in the first they used "Zorongo gitano" and "Babelia" by Chano Domínguez, Hozan Yamamoto and Javier Paxariño for the second, as music during 1999. That year the group was made up of

Sara Bayón Sara Bayón (born 19 May 1981) is a Spanish former Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast, former team coach of the Spanish national rhythmic gymnastics group, and current coach of the French group. She is the only Spanish gymnast who has been wor ...

Marta Calamonte Marta Calamonte Márquez (born 30 July 1982) is a Spanish rhythmic gymnast, born in Mérida. She competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in bo ...

, Lorena Guréndez,

Carolina Malchair Carolina Malchair Selecque (born 31 May 1982) is a Spanish rhythmic gymnast, born in Marbella. She competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in ...

Beatriz Nogalez Beatriz Nogalez González (born 3 March 1983) is a Spanish rhythmic gymnast, born in Álava. She competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in bo ...

and Paula Orive. At the end of May at the

in Budapest, they were 7th in the All-Around, due to a poor score in the 10 clubs exercise. In the 3 ribbons and 2 hoops competition they won the bronze medal. In August the team won the silver medal in the mixed event at the DTB-Pokal in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

. At the end of September at the World Championships in Osaka they were 7th overall competition, which gave them qualification for the Sydney Olympic Games the following year. Subsequently, they took 6th place in both event finals. In 2000 they had two new routines, now with music by Los Activos and Vicente Amigo and, for the 10 clubs exercise, with a medley by The Corrs and Loreena McKennitt. The Spanish team, made up of Igone Arribas,

, Lorena Guréndez,

and Carmina Verdú, had the opportunity to revalidate the gold medal won four years before in Atlanta in the same competition. However, a series of errors in the execution of the two exercises, such as a knot in a ribbon and two falls of clubs, caused the Spanish group to be placed in the 10th and last position in the qualification phase, therefore who could not participate in the final. In October 2000 Nancy Usero was renewed as head coach, position she would keep until March 2001, date on which she was replaced by Nina Vitrichenko, who would be the head coach between March and September of that year. After Boneva's death on 20 September 2019, Nancy and other former national gymnasts gathered to pay tribute to her during the Euskalgym held on 16 November 2019. The event took place before 8,500 attendees at the Bilbao Exhibition Center de Baracaldo and was followed by a dinner in Boneva's honor.

Legacy and influence

The bronze medal at the European Championships in Vienna in 1984 was the first for the Spanish group since 1975, and then began a long period of winning international medals. In an interview in 2016, María Fernández highlighted the importance of that medal for Spanish rhythmic gymnastics:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usero, Nancy Living people Spanish rhythmic gymnasts Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships Sportspeople from Zaragoza Year of birth missing (living people) Gymnastics coaches