Carolina Pascual Gracia (born 17 June 1976 in

Orihuela Orihuela (; ''Corpus Toponímic Valencià''. Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. 2009, València.) is a city and municipality located at the foot of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain. The c ...

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

) is a former Spanish 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 ...

. She is the

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provença ...

silver medalist and the 1993 European all-around bronze medalist.

Career

Pascual was doing ballet when at age seven her ballet teacher told her mother that her daughter had excellent qualities for Rhythmic Gymnastics. There was not a club in her town so, her mother drove for around an hour to get Pascual to and from training sessions at the Escuela de Competición in

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

. Pascual later went to the Atlético Montemar in Alicante. Carolina Pascual 1991 Atenas 04

Pascual got her breakthrough in 1990 when Spain's head coach,

Emilia Boneva Emilia Boneva (21 July 1938 - 20 September 2019) was a Bulgarian coach in rhythmic gymnastics and head coach of the Spanish national team from 1982 to 1996. Her achievements included the Olympic gold won by the Niñas de Oro in Atlanta 1996, Car ...

, selected Pascual for the National Team. The newcomer was sent to the 1990 European Championships, where she helped the Spanish team win the bronze medal. She also placed 12th in the all-around and qualified for two event finals. All the sacrifices that were made paid off when in 1990 Emilia Boneva selected her for the National Team. Pascual was one of Spain's most successful Rhythmic Gymnasts, and the first to get an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

medal. At the awards ceremony, bronze medalist

Oksana Skaldina Oksana Valentinovna Skaldina (; ) is a retired Ukrainian individual Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast and current coach. She is the Gymnastics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's rhythmic individual all-around, 1992 Olympic bronze medalis ...

refused to acknowledge the podium results. Pascual is one of the few non-

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an rhythmic gymnasts to have successful career and medal at the Olympics. An injured Pascual sat out at the 1992 World Championships, but came back for a bronze All-around medal at 1993 European Cup. But she struggled at the 1993 World Championships and finished 7th in All-around. Still, she would take silver with clubs behind teammate

Carmen Acedo Carmen Acedo Jorge (born 10 February 1975 in Lérida, Spain) is a retired individual rhythmic gymnast from Spain. Biography Acedo competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Ol ...

. She retired from the sport after the Alicante World Championships in 1993. As a gymnast she stands out because of her difficult and expressive routines with great back flexibility, and inventive skills. She is now a coach, at Club IMD in Orihuela.

Notes

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External links

* * * * 1976 births Living people Spanish rhythmic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts for Spain Olympic silver medalists for Spain Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships 21st-century Spanish women People from Orihuela Sportspeople from the Province of Alicante 20th-century Spanish sportswomen {{Rhythmic-gymnastics-bio-stub