Julia Baicheva
| Julia Baicheva | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Юлия Байчева | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
,_Paris-Bercy,_1990.jpg?lang=en) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 12 February 1972 Plovdiv, Bulgaria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Rhythmic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Bulgaria (1989-1993) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Neshka Robeva | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Julia Baicheva (Bulgarian: Юлия Байчева; born 12 February 1972) is a Bulgarian former rhythmic gymnast. She is the 1990 European champion and also won medals at the World championships. She now works as a coach.
Personal life
[edit]Baicheva was born in Plovdiv on 12 February 1972. She married Georgi Dukov, a fellow athlete, but became widowed in 1996 after he died in a car accident. She later remarried.[1]
Career
[edit]Baicheva trained under Neshka Robeva and Lilia Ignatova at the Levski club.[1]
Baicheva debuted internationally at the World Championships in Sarajevo in 1989, where she won gold in the team event along with Adriana Dunavska and Bianka Panova. Individually, she won silver with ribbon.[2]
She attempted to quit gymnastics twice in 1990.[3] However, her best competition was that year at the European Championships in Gothenburg, where she won the all-around title. She won medals in every event final, winning silver with hoop and clubs and bronze with rope and ball. In the team event, she also won silver with her teammates Dimitrinka Todorova and Neli Atanassova.[4]
In 1993, she participated in the World Championships in Alicante, where she was 9th in the all-around and won bronze in the rope final. She also qualified for the hoop and clubs finals; she was 8th in both. She won gold in teams along with Maria Petrova and Branimira Dimitrova.[5]
After her competitive career, she began to coach at Levski.[6] In 2016, a member of the national group, Tsvetelina Stoyanova, attempted suicide, and Baicheva commented on the incident to condemn allegations that the gymnastics federation had pushed her too hard or had removed her from the group to add a new member with better connections.[3] In 2017, she moved to teach at the "Sofia Sport" club founded by Kristina Shikerova.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Златните момичета на България, които спираха дъха ни!" [The golden girls of Bulgaria who take our breath away!]. Woman.bg (in Bulgarian). 12 September 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
- ^ "14. World Championships in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (27. September-1. October 1989)". rsg.net. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Юлия Байчева: Режимът на гимнастичките не е толкова строг, че да ги докара до крайности" [Yulia Baycheva: The gymnasts' regime is not so strict as to drive them to extremes]. trud.bg (in Bulgarian). 16 June 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
- ^ "1990 European Championships Result Book" (PDF). European Gymnastics. 2 November 1990. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
- ^ "World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 1993 - Results Women". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
- ^ Turner, Amanda (March 2002). "Hoop Dreams". International Gymnast. Vol. 44, no. 3. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ "Опитни треньори и златно момиче с нов клуб по художествена гимнастика" [Experienced coaches and golden girl with a new rhythmic gymnastics club]. Blitz.bg (in Bulgarian). 29 September 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2025.