Amina Vasilovna Zaripova (; , born 10 August 1976) is a retired Russian individual

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, fle ...

who now works as an elite coach; she is the head coach of the Chinese individual rhythmic gymnastics program. She is the 1994 World all-around silver medalist, 1993 World all-around bronze medalist and a two-time (1996, 1994)

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

all-around bronze medalist. She finished fourth at the

1996 Olympic Games 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Personal life

Amina Zaripova is of

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

descent. She is married to Alexei Kortnev, lead singer of ''

Neschastny Sluchai ''Neschastny Sluchai'' (, literally "Unfortunate Event") is a Russian rock band that was formed by Valdis Pelsh and Alexey Kortnev in 1983, while both men were students at Moscow State University. Despite being popular in Russia, the band is v ...

'', with whom she has two sons, Arseniy and Afanasiy, and two daughters, Aksiniya and Agafiya.Amina Zaripova Profile
r-gymnastics.com She speaks Russian and English.

Gymnastics career

Zaripova studied ballet until the age of ten, when she caught the eye of then-Uzbek head coach

Irina Viner Irina Alexandrovna Viner (; born July 30, 1948), formerly Irina Alexandrovna Viner-Usmanova (), is a Russian rhythmic gymnastics coach, former head coach of the Russian national team, former president of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federatio ...

. When Viner relocated to Moscow to become the Russian head coach, Zaripova followed. Early in her career, she was called the second Zaripova, as she shares a last name with Viner's first international gymnast,

Venera Zaripova Venera Zinurovna Zaripova (; born 5 April 1966 in Tashkömür, Kyrgyz SSR, USSR) is a former individual Soviet rhythmic gymnast. She is a two-time all-around silver medalist and 4-time gold medalist in the USSR Championships. Career Venera wa ...

. At the 1991 European Junior Championships, Zaripova won her first set of medals—gold for the team event and bronze in the all-around and clubs final. After the death of Oxana Kostina, Zaripova became the leader of the Russian national team. Zaripova, along with Julia Rosliakova and Inessa Gizikova, won bronze in the team event at the 1993 World Championships. Individually, she also won bronze in the all-around. The following year, she placed second at Corbeil-Essonnes International and third at the 1994 European Championships. There she earned four medals in the apparatus finals, gold with ball and clubs and bronze with hoop and ribbon. She also won three titles at the

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relatio ...

in the all-around and with hoop and ball, as well as a silver medal (clubs) and a bronze medal (ribbon). At that year's

World Championships 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 ...

, Zaripova placed second in the all-around. She also came in third with clubs and second with ribbon. She was the lead gymnast going into the final apparatus of the all-around, but a mistake in her final routine cost her the gold medal, which went to the reigning World champion, Maria Petrova. In the following years, she was overshadowed by rising Russian stars

Yanina Batyrchina Yanina "Yana" Farkhadovna Batyrshina (; born 7 October 1979) is a former individual rhythmic gymnast who competed for Russia. She is the 1996 Olympics all-around silver medalist, two time (1995,1997) World all-around bronze medalist, two-time ...

and

Natalia Lipkovskaya Natalia Lipkovskaya (; 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-around champion. She was coached by Olga Buyanova. Personal life ...

. At the 1995 World Championships, Batyrchina won the bronze medal, while Zaripova finished fourth. Zaripova finished 4th in the all-around 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, ...

, narrowly losing to both Ukrainian

Olena Vitrychenko Olena Ihorivna Vitrychenko (, ; born 25 November 1976), also known as Elena Vitrichenko, is an Individual Ukrainian Rhythmic Gymnast. She is the 1996 Olympics bronze medalist, the 1997 World All-around champion and 1997 European All-around cha ...

and her teammate Yanina Batyrchina, who controversially held on for silver after she made a mistake in her final routine. She finished less than a tenth of a point behind both the silver and bronze medalists. At the end of 1996, Zaripova underwent surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon. She briefly returned to competition in 1997 as part of the Russian team that won the bronze at the 1998 European Championships. Zaripova's final event was the Schmiden International, where she won a gold medal for her ball exercise and silver for hoop. She then retired from competition.

Coaching career

Zaripova was invited by the Greek Gymnastics Federation to coach their team. She helped prepare the team for the 1999 World Championships, but she ended up returning to Russia shortly afterwards. In addition to publishing her own rhythmic gymnastics magazine, she worked as a coach in Moscow. She gave up coaching for a time after the birth of her fourth child to spend more time with her children. At the end of 2023, she was asked to coach in China. Zaripova accepted the offer and became the head of the national individual team, on the stipulation that she could take her athletes to compete abroad, as Chinese gymnasts rarely performed either within China or at international competitions. Notable trainees include: *

Margarita Mamun Margarita Mamun (; born 1 November 1995) is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic All-around champion, two-time (2015, 2014) World All-around silver medalist, the 2015 European Games All-around silver medalist ...

– 2016 Olympic champion, twice all-around World silver medalist and three-time Russian National all-around champion. * Daria Trubnikova –

2018 Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international multi-sport event, sports, cultural, and educational event held from 6 to 18 October 2018 ...

Champion, 2018 European Junior clubs champion and 2019 Grand Prix Final all-around gold medalist. * Maria Sergeeva – 2018 Grand Prix Final all-around bronze medalist and 2016 European Junior hoop champion. * Yana Lukonina – 2010

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

team gold medalist and 2010 Russian National all-around bronze medalist.

Detailed Olympic results

References

External links