Maria Dimitrova Petrova ( bg, Мария Димитрова Петрова; born 13 November 1975) is a Bulgarian

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 (1993, 1994, 1995)

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

All-around champion and a three-time (1992, 1993, 1994) European All-around champion.

Career

Born in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the ...

, Bulgaria, Petrova began her training at the age of five at local club Trakia Plovdiv Club, coached by Natalia Moravenova. By 1991, she was coached by Neshka Robeva at the Levski Sofia Club. In her first World Championship appearance, Petrova placed second in the team competition after a hoop drop. Petrova was one of the favorites to win gold but found herself finishing in fifth in the all-around finals at the Barcelona Olympics after a penalty of .20 was imposed due to the zipper on the back of her

leotard A leotard () is a unisex skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso from the crotch to the shoulder. The garment was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard (1838–1870). There are sleeveless, short-sleeved, an ...

that had broken during her hoop exercise. A few months later, at the World Championships, Petrova took second place behind Russia's

Oxana Kostina Oksana Alexandrovna Kostina (russian: Оксана Александровна Костина; 15 April 1972 – 11 February 1993) was a Soviet and Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She was the 1992 World All-around champion and 1992 Europ ...

and ahead of Belarusian Larissa Lukyanenko. In 1993, Petrova performed with her Panovaesque ball to an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n melody. She also competed in a ribbon exercise, and a small-toss filled clubs routine to

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered th ...

's ''"

Tom's Diner "Tom's Diner" is a song written in 1982 by American singer and songwriter Suzanne Vega. It was first released as a track on the January 1984 issue of '' Fast Folk Musical Magazine''. Originally featured on her second studio album, '' Solitude St ...

"''. Her final performance to Carmina Burana caused a great crowd ovation. She went on to win the all-around World title, 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 Kateryna Serebrianska (born 25 October 1977 in Simferopol) is a Ukrainian former individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 1996 Olympics gold medalist, the 1995 World All-around champion, a two time (1995,1996) European All-around champion, and ...

), tying her with countrywoman Maria Gigova for the most wins in the latter category. Competing in her second Olympics, Petrova was one of the front runner to win the gold at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, however a series of mistakes left her finishing in 5th place in the All-around Finals behind Russia's Amina Zaripova. 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 Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

collapse. Petrova shares the world record for most individual world all-around rhythmic gymnastics titles with Maria Gigova,

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Petrova's three titles were earned in 1993, 1994, and 1995 (shared). She is currently a judge in rhythmic gymnastics.

Personal life

In 1998, Petrova married Bulgarian footballer

Borislav Mihaylov Borislav Biserov Mihaylov ( bg, Борислав Биcepoв Михайлов; born 12 February 1963) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper, and President of the Bulgarian Football Union (2005 – 2019; 2021 � ...

Achievements

* Petrova has who won 3 world titles for three consecutive years (1993, 1994, 1995 tied with Ekaterina Serebrianskaya) equaled only by fellow countrywoman Maria Gigova (1969, 1971 tied with Galima Shugurova, 1973) and Russian gymnasts

(2009, 2010, 2011) and

(2013, 2014, 2015).

Routine music information

References

External links

*
NSA Bulgarian gymnasts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrova, Maria 1975 births Living people Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts Sportspeople from Plovdiv Olympic gymnasts of Bulgaria Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships Universiade medalists in gymnastics Universiade gold medalists for Bulgaria Medalists at the 1995 Summer Universiade