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Isabel Gómez Pérez
Personal information
Born	(1976-02-28) 28 February 1976 (age 48) Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Rhythmic Gymnastics
Country represented	Spain
Years on national team	1990-1992
Level	International Elite
Club	Escuela Municipal de Tenerife
Head coach(es)	Emilia Boneva
Assistant coach(es)	Ana Roncero
Choreographer	Georgi Neykov
Retired	yes
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd European Championships 2 0 1 World Championships 1 3 1 Total 3 3 2 Rhythmic Gymnastics Representing  Spain World Championships 1991 Athens All-Around 1991 Athens 6 Ribbons 1991 Athens 3 Balls + 3 Ropes 1992 Brussels All-Around 1992 Brussels 6 Ribbons European Championships 1992 Stuttgart All-Around 1992 Stuttgart 3 Balls + 3 Ropes 1992 Stuttgart 6 Ribbons

Isabel Gómez Pérez (born 28 February 1976) is a former Spanish rhythmic gymnast. She is a European and World medalist.

Biography

She began rhythmic gymnastics at the age of 8 at the Tenerife Municipal School. With her club, she participated in several Spanish Championships and Spanish Cups, both individually and in groups. In the Spanish Group Championship, she was fourth in the pre-junior category in 1987. She won silver in the second category in 1988, and she then won gold in the first category in both 1989 and 1990. In 1990, as an individual, she was fourth overall and won bronze with hoop in the first category. At the end of 1990, she was invited by Emilia Boneva to join the national rhythmic gymnastics team of Spain, of which she would be a part until 1992.

In 1991, the two exercises for groups were 6 ribbons for the single-apparatus exercise and 3 balls and 3 ropes for the mixed-apparatus one. Their ribbon exercise used "Tango Jalousie", composed by Jacob Gade, for the music, while their mixed-apparatus one used the song "Campanas" by Víctor Bombi. To choreograph the dance steps of the 6 ribbons exercise, they had the help of Javier "Poty" Castillo, then a dancer with the National Ballet, although the team's usual choreographer was the Bulgarian Georgi Neykov. Before the World Championships, they won gold in the Karlsruhe tournament (ahead of the USSR and Bulgaria) and three bronzes at the Gymnastic Masters in Stuttgart.

On October 12 of that year, the Spanish group (consisting Gómez, Débora Alonso, Lorea Elso, Teresa Fuster, Montserrat Martín and Gemma Royo, with Marta Aberturas and Cristina Chapuli as the substitutes) won the gold medal in the all-around of the World Championship in Athens. This medal was described by the media as historic, since it was the first time that Spain had won the World Championships in rhythmic gymnastics. The next day, they would also win silver in the two apparatus finals. After this achievement, at the end of 1991 they would tour Switzerland.

In 1992 they won silver in a tournament in Karlsruhe, and later they were invited to give an exhibition at one in Corbeil-Essonnes. In June, with new exercises, they participated in the European Championships in Stuttgart, where they shared the gold medal in the all-around with the Russian team, in addition to winning another gold in the 3 balls and 3 ropes final and bronze in 6 ribbons She did not compete in the 1992 Olympic Games because rhythmic gymnastics was an individual-only sport at the Olympics at that time, although she participated with the rest of her teammates in the opening ceremony, leading the parade of participating nations.

Shortly after, they won gold at both the Asvo Cup in Austria and the Alfred Vogel Cup in the Netherlands, where they also won silver in 6 ribbons and gold in 3 balls and 3 ropes. An injury led to Gómez becoming a substitute for the World Championships in Brussels, which took place in November 1992. Bito Fuster was also injured, and the two of them were kept as the group subtitues while Alicia Martín, Cristina Martínez and Bárbara Plaza replaced them in the competing lineup. In this competition, the team won silver in the all-around, with their score just one tenth of a point away from allowing them to retain the world title they had won the previous year. In addition, on November 22 they won bronze in the 6 ribbons final and were 8th with 3 balls and 3 ropes After this, Isabel retired from competition, as would the rest of the group that had been world champions in Athens the previous year.

After Emilia Boneva's death on 20 September 2019, Gómez and other former national gymnasts gathered to pay tribute to her during the Euskalgym held on 16 November 2019, the event took place before 8,500 attendees at the Bilbao Exhibition Center de Baracaldo and was followed by a dinner in Boneva's honor.

References

1. Valle, Aurora Fernández del (October 1996). Gimnasia Ritmica Deportiva: Aspectos y Evolucion (in Spanish). Lib Deportivas Esteban Sanz. ISBN 978-84-85977-60-4.
2. "RG music list". 2019-11-09. Archived from the original on 2019-11-09. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
3. "Pozuelo IN - Poty: "Mi vida cambió cuando España queda campeona del mundo por primera vez en la historia en gimnasia rítmica"". 2019-09-05. Archived from the original on 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
4. "2.Gymnastic Masters in Stuttgart, Germany (7.-8. September 1991)". r-gymnast.bplaced.net. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
5. "29 años del oro en el Mundial de 1991 de gimnasia ..." COE TV (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-02-23.
6. "Historical gold in rhythmic gymnastics". hemeroteca.elmundodeportivo.es.
7. "The Spanish team makes history by winning the Athens Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup". hemeroteca.abc.es.
8. "Spain world champion in rhythmic gymnastics in groups". hemeroteca.abc.es.
9. "España cerró su actuación con otras dos medallas de plata". lavanguardia.com. 14 October 1991. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
10. "Two more silver for the group". mundodeportivo.com. 14 October 1991. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
11. "The gold that couldn't be (Part 1/2)". mundodeportivo.com. 16 October 1991. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
12. "The gold that couldn't be (Part 2/2)". mundodeportivo.com. 16 October 1991. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
13. "8.European Championships in Stuttgart, Germany (4.-7. June 1992)". r-gymnast.bplaced.net. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
14. "Spain won gold at the rhythmic gymnastics European Championships". www.abc.es. 26 August 2019.
15. "Spain won gold and bronze at the European Championships". hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com.
16. "16.World Championships in Brussels, Belgium (13.-15. November 1992)". r-gymnast.bplaced.net. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
17. "Emilia Boneva: "With Carmen Acedo and Carolina Pascual we would have swept"". hemeroteca.abc.es.
18. "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2024-01-31.

• 1976 births
• Living people
• Spanish rhythmic gymnasts
• Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships
• Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships