Mónica Alonso (born 19 May 1998) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

former

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coor ...

who was a member of Spain’s national group. In 2012 she was the national junior champion.

Personal life

Alonso was born in the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

town of

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality. ...

, she has two brothers, her being the middle one. Her cousin Celia Pascual Alonso competes in aerobic gymnastics. At age 9, in 2007, she entered the club C.G.R. District III, where she was trained by Olga Hinojosa. Her first participation in an Individual Spanish Championship was in 2009, where she was runner-up in the pre-junior category. By 2010 she began to be a gymnast in follow-up for the national team.

Career

Junior

In 2012 she became Spain's national champion in junior category, also winning gold in the four finals. That same year she was selected to participate as a substitute gymnast in the 2012 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

. In 2013, was the vice national champion and won silver in three finals. He participated in the Euskalgym Gala of 2014.

Senior

In May 2014 she was selected, along with

Polina Berezina Polina Berezina Ksenofontova (born December 5, 1997) is a Russian-born Spanish individual rhythmic gymnast. She is a five-time (2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022) all-around champion at the Spanish Rhythmic Gymnastic Championships. Personal life S ...

, to represent Spain as a senior individual in the

Corbeil-Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture build ...

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 concept i ...

, where she competed for the first time as a member of the national team, finishing 45th in the All-Around. That same year she was awarded a scholarship from the Royal Spanish Federation of Gymnastics to be included within the sports program of the CSD. Although Monica had the option of training in the Hig Performance Center of San Cugat or in the CEARD of León, she chose the latter. As of September 2014, he went on to train at CEARD under the orders of Ruth Fernández, along with other international individual gymnasts of the team, such as

Carolina Rodríguez Carolina Rodríguez Ballesteros (born 24 May 1986 in León) is a retired Spanish rhythmic gymnast. She is a veteran of the sport who started her senior career in the early 2000s. She competed in three Olympic cycles: at the 2004 Athens wher ...

Sara Llana Sara Llana García (21 August 1997) is a Spanish rhythmic gymnast who competed in the national team. She has participated in four World Championships (Izmir 2014, Stuttgart 2015, Pesaro 2017 and Sofia 2018), and two Europeans (Nizhni Nóvgorod ...

and Andrea Pozo. In April 2015, Alonso competed at the ''Copa de la Reina'' in Guadalajara, where she won bronze in team, hoop and ball, and silver with clubs. In June of that year, in the Spanish Clubs and Autonomies Championship in

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the ''Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality wh ...

, together with her teammates from Club Distrito III Mónica won the bronze in the senior teams competition, thus it was promoted in the first category. In addition, she won silver in the same championship along with the clubs of Torrejón and Alcobendas Chamartín. In the Individual Championship of Spain also in

, she was 5th in the All-Around, won silver with final ball and bronze with hoop. On October 5, 2015 it was confirmed that Alonso was incorporated into the senior Spanish team in the CAR of

under the orders of

Anna Baranova Anna Baranova (born 3 March) is a rhythmic gymnastics coach, former Spanish national coach and current coach of the French national team. She has held the position of coach of the Spanish group in two stages: the first from 2004 to 2008, and the ...

and

Sara Bayón Sara Bayón (born 19 May 1981) is a Spanish former Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast, former team coach of the Spanish national rhythmic gymnastics group, and current coach of the French group. She is the only Spanish gymnast who has been wor ...

, training with the successful generation of gymnasts known as the Equipaso. On July 23, 2016, Mónica made two exhibitions with the Spanish junior team at the 20th Anniversary Gala of the Gold Medal in Atlanta '96, held in

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

. Subsequently, in September the group held exhibitions during the European Week of Sport held in the

Plaza de Colón Plaza de Colón (''Columbus Square'', in English) is located in the encounter of Chamberí, Centro and Salamanca districts of Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabita ...

and at the Glamour Sport Summit in Madrid, and in October, in the open days of the CAR of Madrid and in the International Tournament City of

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. In 2017, she became a full-time gymnast for the senior Spanish group. This year she would usually be a starter in both routines. On 25 March, he made his debut as at the

Thiais Thiais () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name Thiais comes from Medieval Latin ''Theodasium'' or ''Theodaxium'', meaning "estate of Theodasius", a Gallo-Roman landowner. The ...

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

. In this competition the team was 8th overall and 4th in the 3 balls + 2 ropes final. In April they competed in the

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the March ...

(18th place in the All-Around), the

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

World Cup (All-Around 9th place and 6th place in the balls and ropes final), and the Baku World Cup (7th in the All-Around, 7th with 5 hoops and 5th with 3 balls + 2 ropes). On 14 May Alonso won her first official international medal, winning bronze with 5 hoops at the World Cup in

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,614, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão (). In 1924, it was ...

. In the All-Around the team was 4th, the same position they achieved in the 3 balls + 2 ropes final. The team consisted of Mónica,

Victoria Cuadrillero Victoria Cuadrillero (born 6 July 2000) is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast who competed with the national group of Spain. Personal life Daughter of Juan Manuel Cuadrillero, Victoria took up gymnastics at age 7. Her idols are the girls of t ...

Clara Esquerdo Clara Esquerdo (born 8 May 2000) is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast who competed with the national group of Spain. Personal life Esquerdo took up gymnastics in 2010, her idols are the girls of the Spanish group that won Olympic silver in 201 ...

Ana Gayán Ana Gayán (born 22 May 2000) is a former Spanish rhythmic gymnast who competed with the national group of Spain. Personal life Gayán took up the sport at age seven at Club Pucol in Valencia. She then switched to rhythmic gymnastics because ...

Lía Rovira Lía Rovira (born 17 November 2000) is a former Spanish rhythmic gymnast who competed with the national group of Spain. Personal life Rovira took up gymnastics at the Club Mabel of Benicarló. Her idol is Evgeniya Kanaeva, her ambition was to ...

and

Sara Salarrullana Sara Salarrullana (born 5 October 2001) is a former Spanish rhythmic gymnast who competed with the national group of Spain. Career Salarrullana took up rhythmic gymnastics at the Barajas Club in Madrid. Junior She entered the national juni ...

. Since the Guadalajara World Cup the Spanish team was formed by Mónica,

Alba Polo Alba Polo (born 17 May 2001) is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast who competed with the national group of Spain. Personal life Alba took up gymnastics when she was 7 at the Club Vallecas, her idols are the girls of the Spanish group that won O ...

and

. In the All-Around they finished in 6th and in the final of the mixed routine they finished in 8th. From 11 to 13 August they participated in the last World Cup before the World Championship, held in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering ...

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. There, the team got the 5th position in the All-Around and the 8th position in the 5 hoops final and the mixed routine. On 2 September, the team participated in

World Championship 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, ...

in Pesaro, their first World Championship. In the 3 + 2 routine they scored 16,150, and 14,500 with 5 hoops after two drops of apparatus, which placed them in the 15th position in the All-Around and did not qualify for apparatus finals. In March 2018, the team began the season at the City of

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Trophy, disputing a bilateral match with

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in which they won silver. An injury to

’s foot in mid-March meant that the team could not participate in the Grand Prix de

. She then competed in the

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) 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 parts of the country. ...

, ranking 10th overall. In mid-April, at the

World Cup, the team was 6th All-Around, 8th with 5 hoops and 7th with 3 hoops + 2 ropes, while in May, at the Guadalajara World Cup they were 10th in the All-Around and 6th 3 balls + 2 ropes. In early June Alonso participated in the Guadalajara European Championship, the first European Championship held in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

since 2002. In the same they finished 5th in the All-Around and 6th in both event finals. In late August she competed in the

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

World Cup event, where they placed 6th overall, 7th with 5 hoops and 6th in the mixed routine. A week later, in the

World Cup event, they took All-Around 10th place and 7th place with 5 hoops. In mid-September the team participated at the

. In the exercise with 5 hoops they scored 14,450 after several drops of apparatus, while in the mixed routine they scored 19,150, which placed them in the 20th in the All-Around. In the 3 + 2 final they finished in 8th place with 19,800. The group in this championship was formed by Alonso,

and

. On 27 September 2018, she underwent surgery at the Cemtro Clinic in

. Doctors Manuel Leyes and Tomás Roca performed an arthroscopy on her right foot, intervening a trigonum that irritated the

flexor hallucis longus muscle The flexor hallucis longus muscle (FHL) is one of the three deep muscles of the posterior compartment of the leg that attaches to the plantar surface of the distal phalanx of the great toe. The other deep muscles are the flexor digitorum longu ...

. The recovery time was estimated to be about three months.

Retirement

On 29 May 2019, the RFEG officially announced her retirement alongside gymnasts

and Tania Kaute.

Routine music information

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Mónica 1998 births Living people Spanish rhythmic gymnasts 21st-century Spanish women