When I first read today’s theme I immediately thought in my favorite sport: Rhythmic Gymnastic.

It’s a discipline that combines dance and music, but without dancing, ballet and acrobatic movements, using implements, as ball, hoop, ribbon, or clubs. The gymnastic present a routine that can be grouped or individual, making beautiful figures with implements, exchanges, jumps, etcetera. The judges determinate the winner watching, for example, the execution and difficulty of the exercises, the creativity of the routine, perfection of movement, leaps or pirouettes that gymnastic do during the minutes they have to perform their routine.

Rhythmic Gymnastics starts as sport in the years 30, at the URSS. Newly in 1984, it became an Olympic Sport in Atlanta games.  It started as a sport just for women, but nowadays men can also practice it, though, it is not very popular, and it’s not accepted as Olympic sport.

The prominent exponents are Ukrainian, Russian, and Bulgarian young woman. They have won almost every Olympic Games. But Spanish and Italian girls have won and have very good gymnastic too.

My favorite is Anna Bessonova. She’s an Ukrainian Olympic medalist. Although she won bronze medal in all around individual in Athens and Beijing, I think the most beautiful routines were performed by her, with perfect movements and no mistakes with the implements. She retired in 2010, so she didn’t participate in London Olympics.

I like this sport because it shows an awesome synchronicity among music, gymnastics and artistic interpretation. I started practicing it when I was 7 years old at school, but when I moved to other school when I was 15, I quit practicing it. That’s a thing I still regret. But at least I can watch it at the Olympic Games, I guess.

Anna Bessonova at Beijing 

Groupal Routines