Marina Malpica (born 4 January 2000) is a Mexican

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 first gymnast from Mexico to qualify for a final 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 ...

Personal life

She is studying at

National University of Costa Rica The National University of Costa Rica (in Spanish, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, abbreviated UNA) is one of five public universities in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. The main campus is located in the city of Heredia. Acc ...

in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Career

She took up the sport at age five in

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

2014

As a junior, Malpica competed at the

2014 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships The 2014 Pacific Rim Championships were held from 9 April to 12 April 2014 in Richmond, British Columbia. Overall medal table Medalists Artistic gymnastics Men's events Women's events Rhythmic gymnastics #^Medals were also awarded f ...

in April. She placed 7th in the all-around and qualified to all four event finals. In May, she competed at the Junior Pan American Championships. As a member of the Mexican team, she contributed to the team silver medal, and she finished 6th in the all-around.

2016

Malpica debuted in senior international competition at the 2016 Pan American Championships, where she won bronze in the all-around behind

Natália Gaudio Natália Azevedo Gaudio (born 18 December 1992) is a Brazilian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2018 South American Games, 2018 South American Games all-around gold medalist, and the Gymnastics at the 2019 Pan American Ga ...

and

Karla Diaz Karla Diaz is an American artist who collects recipes from prison inmates and recreates them in performance using only ingredients and utensils available to those incarcerated. Her multi-media participatory performance piece ''Prison Gourmet'' co ...

. In the apparatus finals, she won silver with clubs and bronze with ball.

2017

Malpica again competed at the 2017 Pan American Championships, where she won silver in teams and bronze in the all-around. In the apparatus finals, she was 4th with hoop, 4th with ball, 7th with clubs and 7th with ribbon. In August, she performed at her first

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

, finishing 49th in the all-around, 38th with hoop, 48th with ball, 68th with clubs and 39th with ribbon.

2018

In 2018 Malpica participated in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

stages in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. She took 28th place in the all-around and 25th with hoop, 35th with ball, 35th with clubs, 29th with ribbon. At the World Cup in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, she placed 22nd in the all-around. She was then selected for the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for 32 countries and ...

, where she won gold with hoop and ball and silver in the all-around and with clubs. In September, she competed at the

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 she was 18th in teams with

and

Rut Castillo Rut Castillo Galindo (born 16 September 1990) is a Mexican individual rhythmic gymnast. She represented Mexico at the 2020 Summer Olympics and became the first Mexican rhythmic gymnast to compete at an Olympic Games. She is the 2021 Pan Americ ...

. Individually, she was 68th in the all-around, 56th with hoop, 105th with ball and 50th with clubs. Later that months, she also competed in the Pan American Championships in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. There she won silver in the all-around behind Laura Zeng and bronze with hoop behind Zeng and

Lili Mizuno Lili Mizuno (born February 4, 2001) is an American rhythmic gymnast. She is the Pan American Championships 2021 Group All-around bronze medalist and 2017 All-around silver medalist. She competed in the group all-around at the 2020 Summer Olympic ...

2019

Malpica competed in the

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(29th in the all-around, 28th with hoop, 26th with ball, 31st with clubs and 29th with ribbon) and

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

(26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 24th with ball, 32nd with clubs and 25th with ribbon). 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 ...

, she only performed with ribbon. She was 58th place with the apparatus and 25th in the team competition.

2021

Malpica was again selected for the Mexican team that took part at the

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, 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 Fuk ...

. She contributed to Mexico's team score on two apparatuses, ball and clubs, which ranked 30th and 40th respectively.

2022

Marina started her 2022 season at the

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro (district), Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2022 was 63,079 in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão. In ...

, where she finished 26th in the all-around, 31st with hoop, 36th with ball, 17th with clubs, and 19th with ribbon. A few days later, she was in

for another World Cup where she ranked 26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 29th with ball, 20th with clubs, and 32nd with ribbon. In July, she performed at the

Pan American Gymnastics Championships The Pan American Gymnastics Union organizes Pan American Gymnastics Championships in different disciplines of gymnastics: men's and women's artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics, trampolining, trampoline and tumbling (gymna ...

, where was 5th in the all-around and won gold with hoop and bronze with ribbon. In August, she competed at the last World Cup of the season in

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, ending 26th in the all-around, 17th with hoop, 22nd with ball, 36th with clubs, and 15th with ribbon. She made history at the

in Sofia by qualifying for the all-around final, becoming the first individual from Mexico qualify for a final at the tournament, and ending in 14th place. Marina Malpica 2024 Sofia World Cup Hoop QF 2

Marina Malpica 2024 Sofia World Cup Hoop QF 2

2023

Malpica qualified to the ribbon final at Baku World Cup and finished in 8th place. In early June, she won the ball final at the Pan American Championships and finished 6th in the all-around. In late June, she competed at the

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

, where she won five golds and a silver - a gold in the team event with

Ledia Juárez Ledia Juárez (born 29 August 2001) is a Mexican rhythmic gymnast. She's a multiple Pan American medalist. Personal life Ledia was born into a family with a rhythmic gymnastics tradition as her mother is a coach and her aunt is a judge. At an ea ...

, and the senior group, and every individual final except for the clubs final, where she was silver behind Juárez. She represented Mexico at the 2023 World Championships in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Spain; she finished in 29th place in the all-around qualifications and did not qualify to the final. Her best result was 13th place with ribbon. In November, she competed at the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games (), officially the XIX Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santiago 2023, were an international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, held in Santiago, Chile from 20 October to 5 Novem ...

. There was one Olympic berth available at the competition, which Malpica narrowly lost to

Evita Griskenas Evita Griskenas ( ; born December 3, 2000) is an American individual rhythmic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She previously represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, finishing 12th in t ...

. She ended the all-around in 4th place. Although she had qualified for all four event finals, she did not medal in any of them, which were dominated by the Brazilian gymnasts. Malpica made comments on her social media criticizing the Brazilian gymnasts and accusing the judges of bias based on nationality. She later apologized to the Brazilian gymnasts and deleted her comments, but she did not take back her comments about the judges.

2024

Malpica competed at the 2024 World Cup in

, where she placed 30th. At the 2024 Pan American Championships in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

, she won bronze in the ribbon final behind Maria Eduarda Alexandre and

Bárbara Domingos Bárbara de Kassia Godoy Domingos (born 2 March 2000) is a Brazilian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2023 Pan American Championships all-around champion, the 2023 Thiais Grand Prix ribbon gold medalist, and the first Brazilian rhythmic gy ...

2025

On 4-6 April, she competed at the Sofia World Cup, where she took 35th place in the all-around. On April 18-20, she competed at the Baku World Cup and finished 42nd in the all-around.

Achievements

* First Mexican

to qualify for a World Championships final when she participated in the 2022 edition of the tournament in

Routine music information

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malpica, Marina 2000 births Living people Mexican rhythmic gymnasts Sportspeople from Quintana Roo Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Mexico Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games Gymnasts at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Pan American Championships 21st-century Mexican sportswomen