Marina Malpica (born 4 January 2000) is a Mexican rhythmic gymnast.[1] She is the first gymnast from Mexico to qualify for a final at the World Championships.

Marina Malpica
Malpica in 2024
Full nameMarina Malpica Ramirez
Country represented Mexico
Born (2000-01-04) 4 January 2000 (age 24)
Quintana Roo, Mexico
DisciplineRhythmic Gymnastics
LevelInternational Elite
Years on national team2017-
Head coach(es)Eliza Meza
Medal record
Representing  Mexico
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Pan American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2023 Guadalajara Ball
Gold medal – first place 2022 Rio de Janeiro Hoop
Silver medal – second place 2017 Daytona Beach Team
Silver medal – second place 2018 Lima Team
Silver medal – second place 2018 Lima All-Around
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Daytona Beach All-Around
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Lima Hoop
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Rio de Janeiro Ribbon
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Ciudad de Guatemala Ribbon
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Barranquilla Hoop
Gold medal – first place 2018 Barranquilla Ball
Gold medal – first place 2023 San Salvador Team
Gold medal – first place 2023 San Salvador All-Around
Gold medal – first place 2023 San Salvador Hoop
Gold medal – first place 2023 San Salvador Ball
Gold medal – first place 2023 San Salvador Ribbon
Silver medal – second place 2018 Barranquilla All-Around
Silver medal – second place 2018 Barranquilla Clubs
Silver medal – second place 2023 San Salvador Clubs

Personal life

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She is studying at National University of Costa Rica in Heredia, Costa Rica.[1]

Career

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She took up the sport at age five in Veracruz.[2]

2014

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As a junior, Malpica competed at the 2014 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in April. She placed 7th in the all-around and qualified to all four event finals.[3][4] In May, she competed at the Junior Pan American Championships. As a member of the Mexican team, she contributed to the team silver medal, and she finished 6th in the all-around.[5][6]

2016

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Malpica debuted in senior international competition at the 2016 Pan American Championships, where she won bronze in the all-around behind Natália Gaudio and Karla Diaz. In the apparatus finals, she won silver with clubs and bronze with ball.[7]

2017

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Malpica again competed at the 2017 Pan American Championships, where she won silver in teams and bronze in the all-around. In the apparatus finals, she was 4th with hoop, 4th with ball, 7th with clubs and 7th with ribbon.[8][9] In August, she performed at her first World Championships in Pesaro, finishing 49th in the all-around, 38th with hoop, 48th with ball, 68th with clubs and 39th with ribbon.[10]

2018

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In 2018 Malpica participated in the World Cup stages in Guadalajara. She took 28th place in the all-around and 25th with hoop, 35th with ball, 35th with clubs, 29th with ribbon. At the World Cup in Kazan, she placed 22nd in the all-around.[11][12] She was then selected for the Central American and Caribbean Games, where she won gold with hoop and ball and silver in the all-around and with clubs.[13][14][15][16]

In September, she competed at the World Championships in Sofia, where she was 18th in teams with Karla Diaz and Rut Castillo. Individually, she was 68th in the all-around, 56th with hoop, 105th with ball and 50th with clubs.[17][18] Later that months, she also competed in the Pan American Championships in Lima. There she won silver in the all-around behind Laura Zeng and bronze with hoop behind Zeng and Lili Mizuno.[19][20]

2019

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Malpica competed in the World Cups in Guadalajara (29th in the all-around, 28th with hoop, 26th with ball, 31st with clubs and 29th with ribbon) and Tashkent (26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 24th with ball, 32nd with clubs and 25th with ribbon).[21][22][23][24] At the World Championships in Baku, she only performed with ribbon. She was 58th place with the apparatus and 25th in the team competition.[25][26]

2021

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Malpica was again selected for the Mexican team that took part at the World Championships in Kitakyushu. She contributed to Mexico's team score on two apparatuses, ball and clubs, which ranked 30th and 40th respectively.[27]

2022

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Marina started her 2022 season at the World Cup in Portimão, where she finished 26th in the all-around, 31st with hoop, 36th with ball, 17th with clubs, and 19th with ribbon.[28] A few days later, she was in Pesaro for another World Cup where she ranked 26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 29th with ball, 20th with clubs, and 32nd with ribbon.[29]

In July, she performed at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships, where was 5th in the all-around and won gold with hoop and bronze with ribbon.[30] In August, she competed at the last World Cup of the season in Cluj-Napoca, ending 26th in the all-around, 17th with hoop, 22nd with ball, 36th with clubs, and 15th with ribbon.[31] She made history at the World Championships in Sofia by qualifying for the all-around final, becoming the first individual from Mexico qualify for a final at the tournament, and ending in 14th place.[32][33]

 
Malpica at the 2024 Sofia World Cup

2023

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Malpica qualified to the ribbon final at Baku World Cup and finished in 8th place. In early June, she won the ball final at the Pan American Championships and finished 6th in the all-around.[34] In late June, she competed at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, where she won five golds and a silver - a gold in the team event with Ledia Juárez, Karla Diaz, and the senior group, and every individual final except for the clubs final, where she was silver behind Juárez.[35]

She represented Mexico at the 2023 World Championships in Valencia, Spain; she finished in 29th place in the all-around qualifications and did not qualify to the final. Her best result was 13th place with ribbon.[36]

In November, she competed at the 2023 Pan American Games. There was one Olympic berth available at the competition, which Malpica narrowly lost to Evita Griskenas. She ended the all-around in 4th place.[37] Although she had qualified for all four event finals, she did not medal in any of them, which were dominated by the Brazilian gymnasts. Malpica made comments on her social media criticizing the Brazilian gymnasts and accusing the judges of bias based on nationality. She later apologized to the Brazilian gymnasts and deleted her comments, but she did not take back her comments about the judges.[38]

2024

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Malpica competed at the 2024 World Cup in Sofia, where she placed 30th.[39] At the 2024 Pan American Championships in Guatemala City, she won bronze in the ribbon final behind Maria Eduarda Alexandre and Bárbara Domingos.[40]

Achievements

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  • First Mexican rhythmic gymnast to qualify for a World Championships final when she participated in the 2022 edition of the tournament in Sofia.

Routine music information

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Year Apparatus Music Title
2024 Hoop The Trail / Into the Light by Marcin Przybylowicz and District 78
Ball Gladiator Medley (Live) by Hans Zimmer
Clubs Conga (Psyk Remix) by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
Ribbon Hypnotic by Havasi
2023 Hoop The Trail / Into the Light by Marcin Przybylowicz and District 78
Ball Endangered Species by Dianne Reeves
Clubs Hip Hip Chin Chin by Club Des Belugas
Ribbon Hypnotic by Havasi
2022 Hoop Qué Nivel De Mujer by Luis Miguel
Ball Endangered Species by Dianne Reeves
Clubs Hip Hip Chin Chin by Club Des Belugas
Ribbon Boom Boom by 2WEI
2021 Hoop
Ball Crowds by Armand Amar & The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
Clubs Shame On Me by Avicii
Ribbon
2019 Hoop Akkadian Empire (Paul Dinletir Remix)
Ball Crowds by Armand Amar & The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
Clubs Shame On Me by Avicii
Ribbon Total Eclipse of the Heart by Westlife
2018 Hoop Prophecy by Full Tilt
Ball Soldier of Love by Sade
Clubs Echa Pa' Delante by Thalía
Ribbon
2017 Hoop Prophecy by Full Tilt
Ball Io Ti Penso Amore by David Garrett feat Nicole Scherzinger
Clubs Echa Pa' Delante by Thalía
Ribbon Carmen Fantasy Violin
2016 Hoop Prophecy by Full Tilt
Ball Merry-Go-Round (from "Howl's Moving Castle") by Joe Hisaishi
Clubs
Ribbon Buleria by David Bisbal

References

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  1. ^ a b "MALPICA Marina - FIG Athlete Profile". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  2. ^ "Club de Oro en espera del debut de Marina Malpica en los JCC 2018 – Al Calor Deportivo" (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  3. ^ "2014 Pacific Rim Championships – Team and AA" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  4. ^ "2014 Pacific Rim Championships – Junior Apparatus Finals" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  5. ^ "2014 Jr. Pan American Championships - Individual all-around" (PDF). USA Gymnastics.
  6. ^ "2014 Jr. Pan American Championships - Team results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics.
  7. ^ "Gaudio, Mexico golden at Pan American Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships". International Gymnastics Federation. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  8. ^ "2017 Pan Americans All-Around" (PDF). usagym.
  9. ^ "2017 Pan Americans event finals" (PDF). usagym.
  10. ^ "World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 2017 - Results Women". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  11. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Guadalajara 2018 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  12. ^ "2018 World Cup Kazan" (PDF). usagym.
  13. ^ "2018 Central American Games All-Around" (PDF).
  14. ^ "2018 Central American Games Hoop Final" (PDF).
  15. ^ "2018 Central American Games Ball Final" (PDF).
  16. ^ "2018 Central American Games Clubs Final" (PDF).
  17. ^ "2018 World Championships Teams" (PDF). usagym.
  18. ^ "2018 Worlds All-Around" (PDF). usagym.
  19. ^ "2018 Pan Americans All-Around" (PDF). usagym.
  20. ^ "2018 Pan Americans Event Finals" (PDF). usagym.
  21. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Guadalajara 2019 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  22. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Tashkent 2019 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  23. ^ "2019 Guadalajara World Cup event qualifier" (PDF). usagym.
  24. ^ "2019 Tashkent World Cup Event Qualifiers" (PDF). usagym.
  25. ^ "World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 2019 - Results Women". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  26. ^ "2019 Worlds team final" (PDF). usagym.
  27. ^ "2021 Worlds All-Around Qualification" (PDF). usagym.
  28. ^ "2022 Portimao World Cup" (PDF). usagym.
  29. ^ "2022 Pesaro World Cup All-Around" (PDF). usagym.
  30. ^ "2022 Rhythmic Pan American Championships". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  31. ^ "2022 Cluj-Napoca World Cup All-Around" (PDF). usagym.
  32. ^ "2022 Worlds Result Book" (PDF). usagym.
  33. ^ "Gymnastics history makers the toast of Sofia Rhythmic Worlds". gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  34. ^ "Gimnasta Marina Malpica gana oro en Campeonato Panamericano; México cierra con cuatro medallas" [Gymnast Marina Malpica wins gold in Pan American Championship; Mexico closes with four medals]. El Financiero (in Spanish). 2023-06-12. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  35. ^ Sura, Rodrigo (2023-07-04). "Mexico arrasa en el cierre de la gimnasia ritmica con Malpica como su principal ganadora" [Mexico sweeps the closing of rhythmic gymnastics with Malpica as its main winner]. San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  36. ^ "Results for 40th FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Valencia". International Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  37. ^ Aragón, Andrés (2 November 2023). "Marina Malpica quedó a un paso de obtener la cuota olímpica de gimnasia rítmica en los Juegos Panamericanos 2023" [Marina Malpica was one step away from getting the Olympic rhythmic gymnastics quota at the 2023 Pan American Games]. olympics.com (in Spanish).
  38. ^ "La mexicana Marina Malpica aclara malentendidos con Brasil y jueces en los Panamericanos" [Mexican Marina Malpica clarifies misunderstandings with Brazil and judges at the Pan Americans]. SWI swissinfo.ch (in European Spanish). 2023-11-04. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  39. ^ "Results for FIG World Cup 2024 Sofia". International Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  40. ^ "La mexicana Marina Malpica conquista medalla de bronce en el Campeonato Panamericano de Gimnasia Rítmica" [Mexican Marina Malpica wins bronze medal at the Pan American Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship]. Latin US (in Mexican Spanish). 2024-06-09. Retrieved 2024-06-15.