Gymnastics in Azerbaijan
# Gymnastics in Azerbaijan

Gymnastics (Azerbaijani: Gimnastika) is a popular sport in Azerbaijan.

## History

Gymnastics was introduced to Azerbaijan in the Soviet period when Azerbaijani gymnast Lina Vinnikova participated in the 1961 world tournament in Germany.

Aside from artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics started to develop in Azerbaijan after the 1984 Summer Olympics. Rhythmic gymnastics was particularly boosted after Mehriban Aliyeva become President of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation in 2002.

Azerbaijan has produced many notable and talented gymnasts including Valery Belenky, Aliya Garayeva, Anna Gurbanova, Dinara Gimatova and hosted big competitions like the 2005 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, 2007 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, 2009 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships and 2014 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships. As of November 2013, Yulia Inshina and Anna Pavlova will be representing Azerbaijan.

In 2015, the National Gymnastics Arena was built in Azerbaijan.

## Events

The first sporting championship in 5 disciplines of gymnastics (Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics, Trampoline Gymnastics, Acrobatic Gymnastics and Aerobic Gymnastics) – the Joint Gymnastics Championships in Azerbaijan – was organized in August 2014. In December 2014, an Inter-regional Cup was conducted in the framework of Azerbaijan and Baku Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship. In March 2015, the Open Joint Azerbaijan Championship in Gymnastics was organized as a test event before Baku 2015.

Azerbaijan hosted several international championships in gymnastics:

| Competitions | Date |
| - | - |
| World Cup series in Rhythmic Gymnastics (A category) | August 2003 |
| World Cup series in Rhythmic Gymnastics (A category) | April 2004 |
| The World Cup A series (“AGF” Cup) in Rhythmic Gymnastics | May 2005 |
| The 27th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship | October 2005 |
| The 23rd European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship | June–July 2007 |
| 25th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | May 2009 |
| 30th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | June 2014 |
| FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup AGF Trophy | February 2016 |
| FIG World Trampoline Gymnastics Cup AGF Trophy | March 2016 |
| The FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup AGF Trophy | July 2016 |
| FIG Trampoline Gymnastics and Tumbling World Cup AGF Trophy | February 2017 |
| FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup AGF Trophy | March 2017 |
| FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series AGF Trophy | April 2017 |
| FIG Artistic Gymnastics Individual Apparatus World Cup AGF Trophy | March 2018 |
| 26th European Championships in Trampoline, Tumbling and Double Mini-Trampoline | April 2018 |
| FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup, AGF Trophy | April 2018 |
| FIG Acrobatic Gymnastics World Cup, AGF Trophy | November 2018 |
| FIG World Cup in Trampoline Gymnastics and Tumbling, AGF Trophy 2019 | February 2019 |
| FIG Artistic Gymnastics Individual Apparatus World Cup, AGF Trophy 2019 | March 2019 |
| FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup, AGF Trophy 2019 | April 2019 |
| 35th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | May 2019 |
| The 11th European Aerobic Gymnastics Championships | May 2019 |
| FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships | September 2019 |

## Medal winners

| Championship | Individual/Team | Rank | Event | Year |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 23rd European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship | Aliya Garayeva | | Rope | June–July 2007 |
| 23rd European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship | Team of Aliya Garayeva, Dinara Gimatova, and Anna Gurbanova | | | June–July 2007 |
| 28th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship | Team of Aliya Garayeva, Dinara Gimatova, Anna Gurbanova, Zeynab Javadli | | | September 2007 |
| "AEON Cup" Worldwide Rhythmic Gymnastics Club Championship | Team of Aliya Garayeva, Zeynab Javadli and Samira Mustafayeva | | | October 2008 |
| 25th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Team of Aliya Garayeva and Anna Gurbanova | | | May 2009 |
| 25th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Anna Gurbanova | | Final of Ball | May 2009 |
| 25th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Junior Team of Sabina Abbasova, Nigar Abdusalimova, Yevgeniya Zhidkova, Ayelita Khalafova, Kamilla Mammadova, Lala Maharramova | | Final of Ribbons | May 2009 |
| 8th World Game | Aliya Garayeva | | Final exercise with a Ribbon at Rhythmic Gymnastics | July 2009 |
| 8th World Game | Women's Pair - Ayla Ahmadova and Dilara Sultanova | | Final of Combined exercises at Acrobatic Gymnastics | July 2009 |
| 29th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Aliya Garayeva | | Final with a Ball | September 2009 |
| 29th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Team of Aliya Garayeva, Anna Gurbanova, Zeynab Javadli | | | September 2009 |
| 24th European Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships | Women's Pair of Ayla Ahmadova and Dilara Sultanova | | Dynamic Balance All-Around Final | October 2009 |
| 26th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Aliya Garayeva | | All-Around | April 2010 |
| 26th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Lala Yusifova | | Final of Ball | April 2010 |
| 26th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Team of Irada Ahadzada, Madina Hasanova, Mansura Mehdiyeva, Aliya Pashayeva | | in total of two performances (4 Hoops, 4 Ribbons) | April 2010 |
| 30th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Aliya Garayeva | 3 | Final exercises with a Hoop, a Ball and a Ribbon | September 2010 |
| 30th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Team of Aliya Garayeva, Anna Gurbanova, Samira Mustafayeva | | | September 2010 |
| 27th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Junior Team of Lala Yusifova, Aysha Mustafayeva, Mansura Bagiyeva, Aynur Jabbarli, Sabina Garatova, Siyana Vasileva | | Final with 5 Ropes | May 2011 |
| 26th World Universiade | Aliya Garayeva | | Final with Clubs at Rhythmic Gymnastics | August 2011 |
| 31st World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Aliya Garayeva | | All-Around Final | September 2011 |
| 28th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Aliya Garayeva | | All-Around Final | June 2012 |
| 28th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Nilufar Niftaliyeva (junior) | | Final of Hoop | June 2012 |
| 28th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Gulsum Shafizada (junior) | | Final of Ribbon | June 2012 |
| "Children of Asia" 5th International Sports Games | Nilufar Niftaliyeva | 2 1 | All-Around, Clubs Hoop | July 2012 |
| "Children of Asia" 5th International Sports Games | Mansura Bagiyeva | | Ribbon Ball | July 2012 |
| London Olympic Games | Aliya Garayeva | 4th | All-Around Final at Rhythmic Gymnastics | August 2012 |
| 29th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Junior Team of Gulsum Shafizada, Nilufar Niftaliyeva, Sabina Hummatova, Aleksandra Platonova, Emilya Bagiyeva, Aynur Mustafayeva | | Final with 5 Hoops | June 2013 |
| European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships | Anna Pavlova | | | May 2014 |
| 30th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Team of Siyana Vasileva, Aliya Pashayeva, Diana Doman, Aleksandra Platonova, Aynur Mustafayeva | | Final with 3 Balls and 2 Ribbons | June 2014 |
| 30th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Zhala Piriyeva | | Final with a Hoop | June 2014 |
| 30th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Junior team of Zhala Piriyeva and Zuleykha Ismayilova | | | June 2014 |
| 31st Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships | Marina Durunda | | Final with a Ribbon | May 2015 |
| Baku 2015 | Oleg Stepko | | Final on Parallel Bars | June 2015 |
| Baku 2015 | Oleg Stepko | | All-Around | June 2015 |
| Baku 2015 | Oleg Stepko | | on Pommel Horse | June 2015 |
| Baku 2015 | Oleg Stepko | | on Vault Artistic Gymnastics | June 2015 |
| Baku 2015 | Team of Oleg Stepko, Petro Pakhnyuk, Eldar Safarov | | Artistic Gymnastics | June 2015 |
| Baku 2015 | Marina Durunda | | Final with a Ribbon at Rhythmic Gymnastics | June 2015 |
| Baku 2015 | Ilya Grishunin | | Final Trampoline Gymnastics | June 2015 |
| 34th World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships | Marina Durunda | 6th | All-Around Final | September 2015 |
| 8th European Age Group Competitions in Acrobatic Gymnastics | Men's Pair of Seymur Jafarov and Murad Akparov | | Final Combined exercises | September 2015 |
| 8th European Age Group Competitions in Acrobatic Gymnastics | Mixed Pair of Aghasif Rahimov and Nurjan Jabbarli | | | September 2015 |
| 46th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships | Oleg Stepko | | Final on Parallel Bars | November 2015 |
| 9th World Acrobatic Gymnastics Age Group Competitions | Men's Pair (Seymur Jafarov-Murad Akparov) | | Final Combined exercises | March 2016 |
| 9th World Acrobatic Gymnastics Age Group Competitions | Mixed Pair (Aghasif Rahimov-Nurjan Jabbarli) | | Final Combined exercises | March 2016 |
| 25th European Championships in Trampoline Gymnastics, Tumbling and Double-mini Trampoline | Dmitri Fedorovski | | Double-mini Trampoline | April 2016 |
| 2017 World Games | Synchro Pair of Veronika Zemlianaia and Sviatlana Makshtarova | | Trampoline | July 2017 |
| 2017 Acrobatic Gymnastics European Championships | Mixed pair of Aghasif Rahimov and Nurjan Jabbarli | | final of All-Around and Balance exercises among juniors | October 2017 |
| 25th Trampoline Gymnastics World Age Group Competitions | Mikhail Malkin | | Tumbling | November 2017 |
