Maria Gigova ( bg, Мария Гигова; born 24 April 1947) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

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 a three-time (1969, 1971, 1973) World All-around champion.

Biography

She was the first gymnast to become a triple world champion in rhythmic gymnastics with her titles in 1969, 1971, and 1973. Gigova has a total of four gold medals in hoop (1967, 1969, 1971 and 1973), an achievement still unmatched by any other gymnast, as well as one title in rope (1971) and free exercise (1969). As a member of the Bulgarian Team, she also earned team titles at the rhythmic gymnastics world championships in 1969 and 1971. Gigova shared the world crown in the all-around in 1971 with Soviet Galima Shugurova, Both of their ribbon routines at this Championship were to the same music – a piece from

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...

's ballet ''"

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the ...

"''. She was Bulgaria's first World champion and helped expand and influence the growth of rhythmic gymnastics in

. Gigova retired from gymnastics in 1974. After she finished her education at the National Sports Academy in

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 h ...

, She became a member of the

FIG The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

Technical Committee, a post she held from 1978 to 1992. In 1978 she was appointed vice-president of the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, to become the federation's president in 1982. Gigova served on the Administrative Council of the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation from 1989 to 1999 when she was elected president of the federation again. Since 2000, Gigova has again been a member of the Technical Committee of FIG. On 4 May 2017, Gigova received the Order of Stara Planina (1st class) from

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev ( bg, Румен Георгиев Радев ; born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who is the current president of Bulgaria since 22 January 2017. Radev previously served as higher comman ...

for her contributions to developing Bulgarian sport.

Achievements

* Gigova was the first rhythmic gymnast to win 3 consecutive world titles in (1969, 1971 tied with Galima Shugurova, 1973). She was later equaled by fellow countrywoman Maria Petrova (1993, 1994, 1995 tied with Ekaterina Serebryanskaya) and Russian gymnasts

Evgenia Kanaeva Evgeniya Olegovna Kanaeva OMF (russian: Евгения Олеговна Канаева; born 2 April 1990) is a Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the only individual rhythmic gymnast in history to win two Olympic all-around gold meda ...

(2009, 2010, 2011),

Yana Kudryavtseva Yana Alexeyevna Kudryavtseva (russian: Я́на Алексе́евна Кудря́вцева; born 30 September 1997) is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic All-around silver medalist, three-time World Champi ...

(2013, 2014, 2015) but they won their titles when the world championships were held every year. * First Bulgarian to win 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, ...

. * In 1972 she was awarded the title of Merited Master of Sport of the USSR.

References

External links

* *
NSA Bulgarian gymnasts
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gigova, Maria 1947 births Living people Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts Gymnasts from Sofia Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships