Maria Petrova (rhythmic gymnast)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since July 2006.

Maria Petrova (Bulgarian: Мария Петрова) (born November 13, 1975 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast. She shares the world record for the most individual world all-around rhythmic gymnastics titles of all time and has never placed lower than seventh in any competition in her entire career.

[edit] Career

Petrova began her training at the age of five at the Levski Club in Sofia, Bulgaria coached by Natalia Moravenova. In her first World Championship appearance in 1991, she came second in the team competition after a hoop drop.

Petrova found herself in fifth at the Barcelona Olympics after a penalty of .20 was imposed due to the zipper on the back of her leotard that had broken during her hoop exercise. A few months later, Petrova took second place behind Oksana Kostina and ahead of Larissa Lukyanenko.

In 1993, Petrova performed with her Panovaesque ball to an Indian melody. She also competed in a ribbon exercise, and a small-toss filled clubs routine to Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner". Her final performance to Carmina Burana caused a great crowd ovation. She went on to win the all-around, as well as three more gold medals (ball, hoop, ribbon) and a bronze medal (clubs).

She went on to win one more European title and two more world titles (shared in 1995 with Yekaterina Serebrianskaya), tying her with countrywoman Maria Guigova for the most wins in the latter category. Although she had tried to retire several times after her first World title, Petrova continued competing as a favor to the Bulgarian national team, which was in a rebuilding phase after the Eastern European Communist collapse.

Petrova shares the world record for most individual world all-around rhythmic gymnastics titles with Maria Gigova. Petrova's three titles were earned in 1993, 1994, and 1995 (shared).

In 1998 Petrova married Bulgarian footballer Borislav Mikhailov. She is currently a judge in rhythmic gymnastics.