Erika Rosenova Zafirova ( bg, Ерика Росенова Зафирова; born 7 May 1999) is a Bulgarian

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 coord ...

. She is the 2020 Olympic group all-around champion. She is the 2019 World group all-around bronze medalist and 5 balls silver medalist. She is the 2021 European 5 balls champion and 3 hoops + 4 clubs silver medalist. She won two silver medals and one bronze medal at the

2019 European Games , translation: Time for bright victories! , nations participating = 50 , athletes participating = 4,082 , events = 200 in 15 sports , opening ceremony = 21 June , closing ceremony = 30 June , officially opened ...

Career

Zafirova began rhythmic gymnastics when she was seven years old.

Individual

Zafirova competed at the 2014 Junior European Championships with

Boryana Kaleyn Boryana Nikolaeva Kaleyn ( bg, Боряна Николаева Калейн; born 23 August 2000) is a Bulgarian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 European Champion with Ball, Ribbon and in the Team competition, Twice (2021 & 2022 ...

and

Katerina Marinova Katerina Marinova ( bg, Катерина Маринова, born 13 July 1999 in Varna) is a Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast. Personal life Katerina's mother, Blagovesta, designs her leotards. Her favorite rhythmic gymnasts are fellow Bulgarians M ...

, and they finished fourth in the team competition. In the 2016 season, Zafirova became age eligible for senior competition. At the Moscow International Tournament, she finished eighth in the all-around. She then finished sixth in the all-around at the Corbeil Essonnes Cup. Zafirova competed in her first World Challenge Cup at the 2017 Portimao World Cup where she finished sixth in the all-around and ball and fifth in the hoop. She won a silver medal in the ribbon behind Israeli gymnast

Victoria Veinberg Filanovsky Victoria Filanovsky ( he, ויקטוריה פילנובסקי ויינברג) (born February 23, 1995 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) is a retired Israeli individual rhythmic gymnast. Personal life Filanovsky speaks Hebrew, Russian and English. ...

Group

2019

In 2019, Zafirova joined Bulgarian senior group with Stefani Kiryakova,

Madlen Radukanova Madlen Milenova Radukanova ( bg, Мадлен Миленова Радуканова; born 14 May 2000) is a Bulgarian group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic group all-around champion and the 2018 World 5 hoops champion. She is a two-ti ...

Laura Traets Laura Jean Pierre Traets ( bg, Лаура Жан Пиер Траатс, born 13 December 1998) is a Bulgarian group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic champion in the group all-around. She is the 2018 World and 2021 European champion i ...

, and

Simona Dyankova Simona Dyanova Dyankova ( bg, Симона Дянова Дянкова; born 7 December 1994) is a Bulgarian former group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic group all-around champion and the 2018 World 5 hoops champion. She is a two-time ...

, replacing the injured

Elena Bineva Elena Slavcheva Bineva ( bg, Елена Славчева Бинева) (born 18 September 1999) is a retired Bulgarian group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2018 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, 2018 European and 2018 Rhythmic Gymnastics ...

. The group won the gold medal in the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final and the silver medal in the group all-around at the Pesaro World Cup. Then at the Sofia World Cup, they won the group all-around gold medal. She represented Bulgaria at the 2019 European Games where the Bulgarian group won silver in the group all-around by only 0.050 behind Belarus. They also won the silver medal in the 5 balls final, this time behind Russia. In the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final, they won the bronze medal behind Belarus and Ukraine. She then competed 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, ...

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 an ...

where the Bulgarian group won the bronze medal in the group all-around behind Russia and Japan. They then won the silver medal behind Japan in the 5 balls final, and they placed fifth in the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final.

2021

The Bulgarian team began their year at the Sofia World Cup, where the team won gold in the group all-around and in both apparatus finals. They once again swept the gold medals at the Baku World Cup. She then competed 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, ...

Varna, Bulgaria Varna ( bg, Варна, ) is the third-largest city in Bulgaria and the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in the Northern Bulgaria region. Situated strategically in the Gulf of Varna, the city has been a m ...

. The Bulgarian team of the senior group,

, and

Katrin Taseva Katrin Yankova Taseva ( bg, Катрин Янкова Тасева; born November 24, 1997) is a retired Bulgarian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2017 European Silver medalist with Ribbon, 2019 Grand-Prix Final All-around bronze medalist ...

finished in fourth place. The Bulgarian group finished fifth in the all-around, but they won gold in the 5 balls final and won silver in the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final behind Israel. Zafirova was selected to represent Bulgaria at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside

, Stefani Kiryakova,

, and

. In the qualification round, the group qualified in first place after receiving the highest scores for both of their routines. In the group all-around final, they once again received the highest scores for both routines and won the gold medal with a total score of 92.100, 1.400 points ahead of Russia. This marked the first time a non-Russian team won the Olympic gold medal in the group all-around since Spain won in 1996, and it was the first time Bulgaria won the Olympic group all-around competition. The Bulgarian group withdrew from the

Kitakyushu, Japan is a 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 Fukuoka. It is on ...

, four days before the start of the competition, after an injury to Traets.

Personal life

Zafirova is engaged to

David Huddleston David William Huddleston (September 17, 1930 – August 2, 2016) was an American actor. An Emmy Award nominee, Huddleston had a prolific television career, and appeared in many films including:'' Rio Lobo'', ''Blazing Saddles'', '' Crime Buste ...

, a Bulgarian artistic gymnast who also competed at the

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 ...

Detailed Olympic results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zafirova, Erika 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Kyustendil Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2019 European Games European Games competitors for Bulgaria European Games medalists in gymnastics European Games silver medalists for Bulgaria European Games bronze medalists for Bulgaria Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Bulgaria Olympic medalists in gymnastics Olympic gold medalists for Bulgaria Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Bulgarian women 21st-century Bulgarian people 20th-century Bulgarian women 20th-century Bulgarian people