Sofia Raffaeli (born 19 January 2004) is an Italian individual

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 ...

. She is the 2022 World All-around, hoop, ball, ribbon and team champion, as well as the 2022 European hoop and clubs champion. She is also the 2019 Junior World silver medalist with rope and clubs. She is the first Italian individual rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal 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, ...

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

and

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 ...

, and to win four All-around gold medals in the FIG World Cup circuit. At the national level, she is the 2022 Italian National All-around champion, 2021 Italian National All-around silver medalist, and 2020 Italian National All-around bronze medalist. As of 2022, she is the most decorated individual rhythmic gymnast from the Italian Gymnastics Federation.

Personal life

Raffaeli was born in Chiaravalle, Marche; Italy. Her mother Milena Martarelli is an engineer at the University of Ancona, while her father Ganni Raffaeli is an architect. She has a younger brother, Pietro Raffaeli who does fencing. Raffaeli got involved in artistic gymnastics at the age of three, and switched to rhythmic gymnastics four years later. In 2021, she joined the Sports Group of the

Fiamme Oro The Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro is the sport section of the Italian police force Polizia di Stato. The color of the competition jerseys of the athletes of the Fiamme Oro is crimson, therefore the athletes of the sports group are sometimes called '' ...

Career

Junior

She represented

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

at the 2018 Junior European Championships in

Guadalajara, Spain Guadalajara (, ) is a city and municipality in Spain, located in the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. It is the capital of the Province of Guadalajara. Lying on the central part of the Iberian Peninsula at roughly metres above se ...

, where she qualified to the clubs final and she finished in 5th place. In 2019, she competed at the 2019 Junior World Championships in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. She won three silver medals - Team, Rope and Clubs, she also placed 8th in Ball and 7th in Ribbon.

Senior

She won a bronze medal in All-Around finals at the 2020 Italian National Championships behind Milena Baldassarri and Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. And she also won a gold medal in clubs and a silver medal in ball.

2021

In the 2021 Season, Raffaeli made her senior international debut at the 2021 Sofia World Cup. She finished 10th All-Around behind Sabina Tashkenbaeva and qualified to two apparatus finals, where she won a silver medal with clubs and a bronze medal with ribbon. On April 16–18, Raffaeli competed at the 2021 Tashkent World Cup where she finished 4th All-around behind

Anastasiia Salos Anastasiia Maksimovna Salos ( be, Настасся Максімаўна Салас; russian: Анастасия Максимовна Салос; born 18 February 2002) is an individual rhythmic gymnast representing Belarus. She is the 2020 Eur ...

, and qualified to three apparatus finals, winning a silver medal with hoop and ribbon, and also placing 4th in clubs. In May, Raffaeli participated at the 2021 Pesaro World Cup where she placed 8th in the All-round behind Laura Zeng and qualified to 2 apparatus finals placing 6th in clubs and 5th in ribbon. In June, she won the silver medal in the All-around final at the 2021 Italian National Championships only behind Milena Baldassarri and in front of Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. She also managed to enter all four apparatus finals winning 1st in clubs, 2nd in hoop and 3rd in ball and ribbon. Raffaeli was then selected to compete at the 2021 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, in

Varna, Bulgaria Varna ( bg, Варна, ) is the 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, the city has been a maj ...

, along with Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. She qualified to the individual all-round final and the clubs final, where she finished both finals in 8th place. At the 2021 Marbella Grand Prix Final, Raffaeli placed 4th All-around behind Anastasia Simakova and she also placed 1st in clubs, 3rd in ball and ribbon, and 7th in hoop. She was selected to represent

at the 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, at her senior world championships debut, she won a bronze medal in the hoop final. Raffaeli also made it into the individual all-around final, finishing in 6th place behind Viktoriia Onoproenko. She also won a silver medal in the team competition, together with Milena Baldassarri, Alexandra Agiurgiuculese, and the Italian group.

2022

In the 2022 season, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Athens and won the gold medal in All-around, in front of Daria Atamanov, becoming the first (and only, to date) Italian individualist to win a gold medal in the All Around event of a FIG World Cup stage and qualified to three apparatus finals, winning two gold medals with ball and clubs, and a silver medal with hoop. On April 8–10, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Sofia where she finished 2nd All-around behind Boryana Kaleyn. She also won 3 silver medals with hoop, ball, clubs and she placed 6th in ribbon. On April 22–24, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Baku where she won her second all-around title in her career ahead of Boryana Kaleyn and teammate Milena Baldassarri. She also won a gold medal with hoop, two bronze medals with ball and clubs and she placed 5th in ribbon. On May 27–29, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 Italian National Championships where she won the gold medal in the general all-around competition and she also managed to win four gold medals in the speciality finals all in front of Milena Baldassarri. On June 3–5, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Pesaro where she won the gold medal in the all around competition. On top of that she won 3 gold medals in the hoop, ball and clubs final and a silver medal with the ribbon behind Viktoriia Onopriienko. Therefore she wins the trophy of the entire world cup circuit and she also wins 3 more trophies with hoop, ball and clubs. From June 15–19, Raffaeli competed at the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The tournament began three days after the conclusion of the 2022 Commo ...

Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

where she won 2 gold medals and 2 silver medals in the hoop, clubs, ball and team final respectively, making her the first Italian

to win a medal and the first Italian

to win a gold medal at the

. She even broke the record for the highest score ever for an individualist, achieving a score of 36.150 with hoop during qualifications. On July 12–13, Raffaeli competed at the World Games 2022 where she won the gold medal in the clubs final and two silver medals in the hoop and ball final, becoming the first Italian

to win a medal and the first Italian

to win a gold medal at the

. On August 26-28, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Challenge Cup Cluj-Napoca where she won the gold medal in the all around competition, becoming the first Italian

to win an all-around gold medal at a World Challenge Cup. During qualifications, she once again broke the record for the highest score for an individualist, achieving a score of 36.200 with hoop. On top of that she won 2 gold medals in the hoop and ribbon final and a bronze medal with clubs. From September 14-18, Raffaeli represented Italy at the

Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and 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. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, where she won 5 gold medals in the all-around, hoop, ball, ribbon and team competition and a bronze medal in the clubs final. Therefore she became the first and only Italian individual

to win a specialty gold medal, all-around medal and all-around gold medal at a

2023

In the 2023 season, Raffaeli competed at the Grand Prix RG Marbella 2023 where she won a gold medal in the all around and ribbon final, and a silver medal in the clubs final. In the all around competition she once again broke the record for the highest score for an individualist with a score of 36.650 with hoop. On March 18, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Athens and won the gold medal in the All-around competition. She also won a gold medal in the hoop final and a silver medal in the ball final. On April 1-2, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Sofia where she finished 2nd All-around. She also won a silver medal with ball, and two bronze medals with hoop and clubs. On April 15, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Tashkent and won 5 gold medals in the all-around, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon final. On April 22, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Baku where she finished 2nd All-around.

Achievements

* First, and only, Italian individual

to win an all-around gold medal at the FIG World Cup series. * First, and only, Italian individual

to win a medal with the hoop at the