Virginia Manzanera (born 26 March 1965) is a former Spanish
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 Vallisoletano in Valladolid, the only rhythmic club that existed in the city at the time. Her sister
Laura
Laura may refer to:
People
* Laura (given name)
* Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert
Places Australia
* Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula
* Laura, South Australia
* Laura Bay, a bay on ...
followed her footsepts, later joining her into the national team.
In 1978 she won gold in freehands in the 2nd category in the
Spanish Individual Championship. In 1979 she won All-Around silver in the 2nd category of the Spanish Championship in
Madrid. In 1980 she was 5th in the All-Around of the 1st category at nationals held in
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...
.
She was then scouted to join the national team, training at the Moscardó Gymnasium in Madrid under the orders of
Emilia Boneva and the group coach, Ana Roncero. Georgi Neykov was the team's choreographer and Violeta Portaska was the pianist in charge of providing live music for the routines.
In 1982, Manzanera participated as part of the Spanish group along
Mónica Alcaraz,
Elena García, Isabel García,
Victoria García and
Dolores Tamariz, with
Pilar Domenech,
María Fernández, María Martín and Sonia Somoza as substitutes, in 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
Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
, where Spain placed 4th.
In 1983 she competed in the
World Cup Final in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, where the group finished 4th, and in the
World Championships in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
, getting 5th place.
In 1984 Virginia was part of the Spanish group that won bronze at the
European Championship in
Vienna. The members of the group were Virginia,
Pilar Domenech,
María Fernández Ostolaza ,
Eva Obalat,
Nancy Usero and
Graciela Yanes, in addition to
Rocío Ducay and
Ofelia Rodríguez 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.
The following year she competed as an individual in the
World Championships held in her native
Valladolid, taking 22nd place in the All-Around.
After her retirement she became a coach, eventually training the national team's gymnasts Alicia Martín and
Amaya Cardeñoso at the then recently inaugurated Technical Center of Castilla y León. She currently runs a company that manufactures wooden wine boxes. Her nieace María Arthaud, Laura's daughter, competes in rhythmic gymnastics at the national level.
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 Ostolaza highlighted the importance of that medal for Spanish rhythmic gymnastics:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manzanera, Virginia
1965 births
Living people
Spanish rhythmic gymnasts
Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships
Sportspeople from Valladolid