Valeria Vatkina (born 28 March 1981) is an Individual

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 started competitive rhythmic gymnastics in 1986.

Career

Born in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, Vatkina was the 1995 European Junior All-around Champion and took part with the senior Belarusian team at the 2000 European Championships in Zaragoza, Spain. Vatkina was twice silver medalist with the Belarusian Team at the

World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships are the world championships for the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. The tournament is promoted and organized by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the three tournaments in rhy ...

in 1997

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany and 1999 in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan. She placed a podium at the 1997 Grand Prix Final in

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

, Netherlands after winning the all-around silver medal for Belarus behind Russia's

Natalia Lipkovskaya Natalia Lipkovskaya (russian: Наталья Викторовна Липковская, born 26 April 1979) is a Russian retired individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 1997 World All-around silver medalist and the 1997 Grand Prix Final All-ar ...

. Vatkina competed at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

where she qualified in the rhythmic gymnastics All-around finals finishing in 8th place ahead of Spain's

Almudena Cid Almudena Cid Tostado (born 15 June 1980 in Vitoria, País Vasco, Spain) is a former Spanish individual rhythmic gymnast who competed on the Spanish national team. She is the only rhythmic gymnast who has competed in four Olympic finals. She beca ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vatkina, Valeria 1981 births Living people Belarusian rhythmic gymnasts Gymnasts from Minsk Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships