María Jesús Alegre Etayo (17 December 1957), also known as Chus Alegre, is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast. She achieved, among other medals, the bronze in the general of the World Championship in Madrid in 1975, the first medal in an international competition for the Spanish national team and the only one in the individual All-Around of a World Championship to date. She won another three more medals in that World Cup and was also absolute champion of Spain in 1976 and 1977.

Career

After practicing ballet, she began rhythmic gymnastics at the Club Cuartel de la Montaña in Madrid. This and the Club Moscardó were the only two Madrid gymnastics clubs that existed at the time. Later, Alegre was part of the first national rhythmic gymnastics team in Spain, created by the Royal Spanish Gymnastics Federation in 1974. The team's selector was the Bulgarian Ivanka Tchakarova, who had the help of Carmen Algora as a coach. At first they trained in the gym of the National Sports Delegation, where there was no carpet, and later they went to the Moscardó Gymnasium in Madrid. They also held several concentrations before the competitions, such as the ones they had in

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

or in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

and

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

. In 1974 he participated in the Spain-Italy meeting in Madrid, her first international competition. At the end of April 1975, she participated in the 1st Spanish Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship, held in Madrid. In the same she won the silver medal, behind

Begoña Blasco Begoña Blasco (born 30 April 1960) is a former Spanish rhythmic gymnast. She won the bronze medal with ribbon at the World Championships in Madrid in 1975. That same year she became the first national champion of Spain. Career Blasco was par ...

and tied with

África Blesa África Blesa (born 14 December 1958) is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast. She was part of the first national rhythmic gymnastics team in Spain and participated in the World Championship in Madrid in 1975. Personal life África was born in 19 ...

. In the apparatus finals she won gold with hoop, ribbon and rope and bronze with clubs. In May 1975 she participated with Blasco and Blesa in the

Corbeil-Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture buildin ...

tournament and the Stoudenska Tribouna Cup in Sofia. On 24 November 1975, at the

World Championship 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 Madrid, she won the bronze medal in the All-Around, being the first official international medal in the history of the Spanish team and the only one in the individual All-Around to date. Later she also got bronze with both hoop and ball, and silver with clubs. The other Spanish representatives in the World Cup were Begoña Blasco, Africa Blesa and the Spanish group. Although the start of the competition was initially scheduled for 20 November, it had to be delayed due to the death of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. Alegre was then 17 years old. After this milestone, in 1976 she received numerous awards, such as the Sunbeam Trophy for the 2nd best Spanish athlete by

Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; ) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1929 daily. It is the oldest sports ...

, or the Joaquín Blume Trophy for the best Spanish athlete under 22 years in the National Sports Awards, which she received from

King Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Sp ...

. In an unofficial European Championships held in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in April 1976 attended by the individual team, she was 9th. In May she went back with the rest of the individuals to the Stoudenska Tribouna Cup in Sofia, where she finished 18th. During the tournament she suffered an injury. That year she participated with her teammates in an exhibition at the opening of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

1976. Alegre was also national champion in 1976 and 1977 in two championships held in Madrid and Gijón respectively, also making a gold clean sweep in the latter. In May 1977 she returned to the Stoudenska Tribouna Cup in Sofia, where she was 7th in All-Around, won bronze with ribbon and finished 5th in ball, 6th in hoop and 7th in rope. In October 1977 she participated in the

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, where she obtained 19th place in the All-Around. In addition, in this same championship she participated as a member of the Spanish team, being 7th with the same with ball, 6th with clubs, and 8th with rope. Although she intended to participate in the European Championships in Madrid in November, she became pregnant during the month of vacation and decided to withdraw. After her retirement she married that same year 1978 with the athlete Florencio Oliván, later also a coach. Alegre had combined her career as a gymnast with studies in Biology. For a time she worked for the national team, but in 1989 she was appointed instructor of rhythmic gymnastics in the City Council of

Aranjuez Aranjuez () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. Located in the southern end of the region, the main urban nucleus lies on the left bank of the Tagus, a bit upstream of the discharge of the Jarama. , the munici ...

, and later became director of the Municipal School of Rhythmic Gymnastics of that city, which she continues to direct today. She is the mother of three children, all of them athletes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alegre, María Jesús 1957 births Living people Spanish rhythmic gymnasts Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Gymnasts from Madrid 20th-century Spanish sportswomen