Bulgaria's Maria Petrova domineered the world of rhythmic gymnastics in the course of three years. She became World Champion in 1993, 1994, and 1995. Photo by Wikipedia
Bulgaria's triple World Champions Maria Gigova and Maria Petrova were placed in Top 10 global gymnasts of all times in a FIG ranking.
The two graceful Maria made history in the international rhythmic gymnastics by reaching the tops at international competitions when the dominance of Russia was still believed to be invincible.
Gigova and Petrova received awards and recognition at a gala ceremony of FIG (the International Gymnastics Federation) held in celebration of its 125-th anniversary.
Bulgarian aerobics judge Antonia Toplijska was recognized for best judge 2001-2004.
Maria Gigova became world champion in 1969, 1971, and 1973. During this period the Bulgarian school was in the initial stage of its development, but the progress of the Bulgarian competitors was characterized by the concurrence of the Soviet gymnasts only.
Twenty-four years later, in 1993, 1994, and 1995, Maria Petrova repeated the triumph of Maria Gigova. During these years, however, there were already numerous teams such as Ukrainian, Belorussian, Spanish, French, etc. on the horizon, which made the competition rather stronger, the struggle more difficult, and thus the success much more valuable.