Simona Peycheva

Simona Peycheva (, born 14 May 1985, in Sofia) is a rhythmic gymnast who represented Bulgaria at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. She is the 2001 World Championships all-around silver medalist and a World champion with hoop, ball and clubs as well as a Bulgarian national champion. She now works as a television host and a coach.

Personal life

Peycheva has a son born in 2009 named Alexei.

Career

Peycheva began artistic gymnastics in kindergarten after being selected by a coach. She later switched to rhythmic gymnastics and began training with Marieta Dukova. In 2000, she won the Bulgarian senior all-around title.

In 2001, she won bronze at the 2001 Goodwill Games behind Irina Tchachina and Alina Kabaeva. After Tchachina and Kabaeva were stripped of their placements at the 2001 World Championships for positive doping tests, Peycheva won a total of six medals there: three gold (hoop, ball, and clubs), two silver (all-around and rope), and one bronze (team). She received a good reaction from the crowd, which Peycheva attributed to Bulgarian gymnastics emphasizing musicality and emotions when creating routines.

Peycheva competed on the Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix in 2002 and won silver in rope and bronze in hoop and clubs at the Moscow stage. She also won three more bronze medals at the World Cup also held in Moscow. Although Peycheva broke her foot in June, she continued to compete. That November, she won bronze in the all-around at the Grand Prix held in Holon. Later in the month, she won two gold medals in ball and clubs and a silver in rope at the World Cup Final in Stuttgart.

The next year, she competed at the 2003 European Championships, where she won bronze with clubs. She tested positive for diuretics in an out-of-competition doping test and withdrew from the 2003 World Championships. A new medal ceremony was held there for the medals being redistributed from the 2001 World Championships, but Peycheva declined to participate, although she was present. She did not feel comfortable receiving the new gold medals, and she gave one to Tchachina, returned one to Kabaeva, and kept one for herself. In November, she had surgery on her foot, which required a bone graft.

At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, she placed 6th in the final with a total score of 101.050. Peycheva dropped her ribbon, but she said of her performance, "I think that even if my program was perfect I would have been in the same position in the final ranking."

Peycheva stopped training for three months in 2005 and planned to retire. However, her coach, Dukova, persuaded her to return.

Peycheva began to suffer severe back pain before the 2007 World Championships; although she received painkillers, she could not train for a week before the competition due to the pain. Afterward, she went to Germany for surgery on her spine.

At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she finished 10th. It was her last competition, and she officially ended her career in December.

After her retirement from competition, Peycheva began a career as a television host. She briefly returned to competing in 2013 and won an internal control training, although she had conflicts with the Bulgarian federation. In early 2014, she announced her second retirement. Peycheva also founded her own gymnastics club in 2009, where she coaches, and began to run the "Simona Cup" in 2010.

Olympic results

References

External links

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Simona Peycheva
at Magical Action
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Peycheva, Simona
1985 births
Living people
Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts
Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic gymnasts for Bulgaria
Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships
Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships
Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games medalists in gymnastics

Doping cases in gymnastics