Teodora Aleksandrova (, born 17 July 2001) 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 2017 World group all-around silver medalist and a 2015 European Junior group bronze medalist.

Biography

Aleksandrova began gymnastics at age 4. She competed at the 2015 European Championships as a member of the junior group, which won bronze with 5 balls. In 2017, she competed as part of the national senior group. The group competed at the 2017 World Championships in

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, where they won silver in the all-around and bronze with 3 balls + 2 ropes. The 2018 World Championships were held in Aleksandrova's home country of Bulgaria, and in an interview at the beginning of the year, the members of the group noted excitement of the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd. Aleksandrova said that the group worked well together because the members had good relationships with each other. Although she had pain in her leg, she competed with the rest of the group at 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 ...

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 ...

, held 30 March to 1 April. They won the all-around and the 5 hoops final as well as bronze in the 3 balls + 2 ropes final. Later in April, however, Aleksandrova was diagnosed with a fractured foot and was forced to miss 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 ...

. She underwent surgery, but after she returned to training in July, she began to suffer pain again, and it was determined that she needed a second surgery. In January 2019, it was announced that her career was over due to her injury and that she was replaced in the national group by Galateya Gerova. Aleksandrova accused the Bulgarian federation of telling her that she had faked the pain from her broken foot and of being uncaring about her physical and mental health. The federation said that competing on her injury had been her decision and that they had maintained contact while she recovered from surgery. Later that year, she was entered in the Turkish national championships as an individual, but she ultimately did not switch countries.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksandrova, Teodora Living people Bulgarian rhythmic gymnasts Gymnasts from Sofia 2001 births Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships