Laura Jean Pierre Traets (, born 13 December 1998) 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 ...

n group

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 champion in the group all-around. She is the 2018 World and 2021 European champion in 5 balls and the 2018 European champion in 3 balls + 2 ropes. She is a two-time (2018, 2019)

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 ...

group all-around bronze medalist and the 2017 World group all-around silver medalist. On the junior level, she is the 2013 European group all-around bronze medalist.

Career

Traets started

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop, ball (rhythmic gymnastics), ball, Clubs (rhythmic gymnastics), clubs, ribbon (rhythmic gymnastics), ...

at the age of four in Levski Triaditza Sports Club.

2013

Traets competed with the Bulgarian junior group 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 ...

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. The group won the all-around bronze medal behind the Russian and Belarusian groups. They then placed fifth in the five hoops final.

2017

Traets began competing with Bulgaria's main senior group in 2017. At the Pesaro World Cup, Traets won the gold medal in the group all-around and the silver medal in the 5 hoops final. The Bulgarian group won another group all-around gold medal at the Baku World Cup and a silver medal in 3 balls + 2 ropes and a bronze medal in 5 hoops. Then at the Sofia World Cup, they won another group all-around gold and silver medals in both apparatus finals behind Ukraine. She competed at the 2017 World Championships alongside

Elena Bineva Elena Slavcheva Bineva () (born 18 September 1999) is a retired Bulgarian group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2018 European and 2018 World Group 5 Hoops champion, the 2017 World Group All-around silver medalist and the 2014 Youth Olympic Group ...

, Madlen Radukanova, Simona Dyankova and

Teodora Aleksandrova Teodora Aleksandrova (, born 17 July 2001) is a Bulgarian group rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2017 World group all-around silver medalist and a 2015 European Junior group bronze medalist. Biography Aleksandrova began gymnastics at age 4. Sh ...

. They won the silver medal in the group all-around behind Russia and the bronze medal in the 3 balls + 2 ropes final behind Russia and Japan. They also placed fourth in the 5 hoops final.

2018

At the Sofia World Cup, Traets and the Bulgarian group won gold in the group all-around and in 5 hoops and bronze in 3 balls + 2 ropes. Then at the Baku World Cup they won gold in both apparatus finals but lost the group all-around to Italy. They won another group all-around gold medal at the Guadalajara World Challenge Cup in addition to winning gold in 3 balls + 2 ropes and silver in 5 hoops. She then competed at the

alongside

, Madlen Radukanova, Simona Dyankova, and Stefani Kiryakova. They won the bronze medal in the group all-around behind Russia and Italy and placed fourth in the 5 hoops final. In the 3 balls + 2 ropes final, they won the gold medal, and they won a team bronze medal with the individual juniors. Then at the Kazan World Challenge Cup, they won the group all-around bronze medal behind Italy and Russia, and they won silver in 5 hoops behind Russia. The same group 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 ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

where they won the group all-around bronze medal behind Russia and Italy and qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games. They then won the gold medal in the 5 hoops final and placed sixth in 3 balls + 2 ropes.

2019

Traets competed with Stefani Kiryakova, Madlen Radukanova, Simona Dyankova, and

Erika Zafirova Erika Rosenova Zafirova (; born 7 May 1999) is a Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast. 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 bal ...

during the 2019 season. 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

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

Traets and 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

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,

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 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. Traets was selected to represent Bulgaria at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Simona Dyankova, Stefani Kiryakova, Madlen Radukanova, and

. 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, because Traets was injured. It was later revealed that Traets had a cervical discal hernia for several years that was now causing severe pain in her right arm. She traveled to Switzerland for surgery in December.

Personal life

Traets' father is from the Netherlands, and until adulthood, she held both Bulgarian and Dutch citizenships. In October 2021, Traets became an honorary citizen of

Velingrad Velingrad ( ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality and one of the most po ...

, where she had grown up, the youngest person to date to receive this distinction. On July 7, 2023 she announced on her Instagram profile that she got engaged to her boyfriend, Martin Stefanov. In December 2023, she launched her own YouTube

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

, 'Beyond the Podium'. It features

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

s with successful rhythmic gymnastics coaches or champions after their sports careers have ended.

Detailed Olympic results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Traets, Laura Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts 1998 births Living people Bulgarian people of Dutch descent Gymnasts at the 2019 European Games European Games medalists in gymnastics European Games silver medalists for Bulgaria European Games bronze medalists for Bulgaria Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships 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 Gymnasts from Sofia 21st-century Bulgarian sportswomen