Erika Rosenova Zafirova (; born 7 May 1999) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

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 2020 Olympic group all-around champion. She is the 2019 World group all-around bronze medalist and 5 balls silver medalist. She is the 2021 European 5 balls champion and 3 hoops + 4 clubs silver medalist. She won two silver medals and one bronze medal at the

2019 European Games The 2nd European Games 2019 (, ''Jeŭrapiejskija huĺni 2019''; , ''Yevropeyskiye igry 2019''), also known as the 2019 European Games or Minsk 2019 (; ), were held in Minsk, Belarus, from 21 June to 30 June 2019. The games featured 200 events in ...

Career

Zafirova began rhythmic gymnastics when she was seven years old.

Individual

Zafirova competed at the 2014 Junior European Championships with

Boryana Kaleyn Boryana Nikolaeva Kaleyn (; born 23 August 2000) is a Bulgarians, Bulgarian retired individual Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2024 Paris Olympics, 2024 Paris Olympic all-around silver medalist. She is the 2023 Rhythmic Gymnast ...

and Katerina Marinova, and they finished fourth in the team competition. In the 2016 season, Zafirova became age eligible for senior competition. At the Moscow International Tournament, she finished eighth in the all-around. She then finished sixth in the all-around at the Corbeil Essonnes Cup. Zafirova competed in her first World Challenge Cup at the 2017 Portimao World Cup where she finished sixth in the all-around and ball and fifth in the hoop. She won a silver medal in the ribbon behind Israeli gymnast Victoria Veinberg Filanovsky.

Group

2019

In 2019, Zafirova joined

n senior group with Stefani Kiryakova, Madlen Radukanova, Laura Traets, and Simona Dyankova, replacing the injured Elena Bineva. The group won the gold medal in the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final and the silver medal in the group all-around at the Pesaro World Cup. Then at the Sofia World Cup, they won the group all-around gold medal. She represented Bulgaria at the 2019 European Games where the Bulgarian group won silver in the group all-around by only 0.050 behind Belarus. They also won the silver medal in the 5 balls final, this time behind Russia. In the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final, they won the bronze medal behind Belarus and Ukraine. She then competed at the

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 ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

where the Bulgarian group won the bronze medal in the group all-around behind Russia and Japan. They then won the silver medal behind Japan in the 5 balls final, and they placed fifth in the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final.

2021

The Bulgarian team began their year at the Sofia World Cup, where the team won gold in the group all-around and in both apparatus finals. They once again swept the gold medals at the Baku World Cup. She then competed at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Varna, Bulgaria Varna (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, third-largest city in Bulgaria and the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in the Northern Bulgaria region. Situated strategically in the Gulf of Varna, t ...

. The Bulgarian team of the senior group,

, and Katrin Taseva finished in fourth place. The Bulgarian group finished fifth in the all-around, but they won gold in the 5 balls final and won silver in the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final behind Israel. Zafirova was selected to represent Bulgaria at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Laura Traets, Stefani Kiryakova, Madlen Radukanova, and Simona Dyankova. In the qualification round, the group qualified in first place after receiving the highest scores for both of their routines. In the group all-around final, they once again received the highest scores for both routines and won the gold medal with a total score of 92.100, 1.400 points ahead of Russia. This marked the first time a non-Russian team won the Olympic gold medal in the group all-around since Spain won in 1996, and it was the first time Bulgaria won the Olympic group all-around competition. The Bulgarian group withdrew from the

Kitakyushu, Japan is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fukuoka. It is one o ...

, four days before the start of the competition, after an injury to Traets.

Personal life

Zafirova is engaged to

David Huddleston David William Huddleston (September 17, 1930 – August 2, 2016) was an American actor. An Emmy Awards, Emmy Award nominee, Huddleston had a prolific television career, and appeared in many films, including'' Rio Lobo'', ''Blazing Saddles'', '' ...

, a Bulgarian artistic gymnast who also competed at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Detailed Olympic results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zafirova, Erika 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Kyustendil Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2019 European Games European Games competitors for Bulgaria European Games medalists in gymnastics European Games silver medalists for Bulgaria European Games bronze medalists for Bulgaria Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Bulgaria Olympic medalists in gymnastics Olympic gold medalists for Bulgaria Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Bulgarian sportswomen Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships