On November 13, Maria Petrova turns 51. The gymnast born in Plovdiv remains one of the most recognizable names in Bulgarian sport, with a record that still defines her place among the great champions of rhythmic gymnastics.
Petrova won the world all-around title three consecutive years – in Alicante in 1993, Paris in 1994 and Vienna in 1995. She thus became the second Bulgarian woman, after Maria Gigova, to win three world titles in the most prestigious individual discipline. The Bulgarian National Television also lists her as one of the five gymnasts in the history of the sport to have achieved such a feat.
The titles that built her championship era
Before her world-title streak, Petrova won the European all-around title in Stuttgart in 1992 and repeated the success two years later in Thessaloniki. In 1993, she also added the European Cup in the all-around, won in Malaga.
The Olympic Games did not bring her a medal, but both in Barcelona in 1992 and in Atlanta in 1996, she finished fifth in the all-around. In an interview with the Bulgarian National Television, Petrova accepted the result without regret:
„You cannot have everything; to be an absolute world champion three times and a European champion twice, with many more medals, I think that is enough satisfaction,“ Maria Petrova says.From the competition floor to the rules of the sport
After ending her competitive career in 1996, Petrova graduated from the National Sports Academy and continued working in rhythmic gymnastics as a judge and administrator. In 2001, she became an international judge, and later held leadership positions in the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation and in the sport’s international bodies.
In 2021, she was elected vice president of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation. She is also vice president of the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation. For Petrova, working away from the competition floor is a continuation of the same responsibility that guided her as a gymnast.
„Rhythmic gymnastics first emerged as a dance, and then as a sport,“ she told bTV, defending the role of artistry alongside difficulty and precision.
On the occasion of her 50th birthday in 2025, President Rumen Radev awarded her the Honorary Insignia of the President for outstanding contributions to Bulgarian and world sport, the Olympic movement and the development of young talent. The distinction places an official seal on a career that began with medals on the floor and continued with work for the next generations of gymnasts.
Sources: bta.bg, bntnews.bg, btvnovinite.bg