2003 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships

2003 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships
2003 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships
Location	Budapest, Hungary
Start date	24 September 2003
End date	29 September 2003
	← New Orleans 2002 Baku 2005 →

The XXVI World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships were held in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, during 24–29 September, 2003.

The Championships acted as a qualifying event for the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the event, the qualifying round, apparatus finals, and team event were held concurrently; after all gymnasts competed during the day, the top eight gymnasts on each apparatus competed again in the evening for apparatus finals.^[1]

At the event, a medal ceremony was held for medals from the 2001 World Championships that were reallocated as a result of Alina Kabaeva and Irina Tchachina having their results nullified due to testing positive for diuretics at the 2001 Goodwill Games. One of the recipients of the new medals, Simona Peycheva, had herself recently tested positive for diuretics in an out-of-competition test and though she was present at the event, refused to participate in the medal ceremony.^[2]

Kabaeva was allowed to return to competition in time to compete. The rivalry between Russian and Ukrainian gymnasts was exemplified by the performance of her and Anna Bessonova, a rising Ukrainian gymnast. In the early part of the competition, they split the four apparatus titles with two each, and though the Russian team won the team competition, Bessonova outperformed Kabaeva in the qualifying round, scoring 1.7 points over her. However, in the all-around final, Kabaeva competed more cleanly, with only small mistakes in her ball and club routines, while Bessonova lost the ball at the end of her first routine and finished without her apparatus, a larger mistake. Though she performed more strongly in her other routines, including receiving the highest score of the day during her hoop routine, it was not enough to overcome the point deficit. Kabaeva won the gold, Bessonova finished with the silver, and Tchachina won bronze.^[2]

Tchachina also won two of the apparatus medals, a silver with clubs and bronze with ball. Inna Zhukova also won a bronze with ball, and Elizabeth Paisieva won Bulgaria's only individual medal of the competition with a bronze in ribbon.^[2]

Russia dominated the group competition, winning all three gold medals, while Bulgaria won all three silvers. Belarus won bronze in the all-around, while the Italian group won both apparatus final medals.^[2]

Medal winners

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Team Competition
All-Around details	Russia Alina Kabaeva Vera Sessina Olga Kapranova Irina Tchachina	Ukraine Anna Bessonova Tamara Yerofeeva Natalia Godunko	Belarus Inna Zhukova Svetlana Rudalova Liubov Charkashyna Valeria Kurylskaya
Individual Finals
All-Around details	Alina Kabaeva (RUS)	Anna Bessonova (UKR)	Irina Tchachina (RUS)
Hoop details	Anna Bessonova (UKR)	Alina Kabaeva (RUS)	Irina Tchachina (RUS)
Ball details	Alina Kabaeva (RUS)	Anna Bessonova (UKR)	Inna Zhukova (BLR)
Clubs details	Anna Bessonova (UKR)	Irina Tchachina (RUS)	Alina Kabaeva (RUS)
Ribbon details	Alina Kabaeva (RUS)	Anna Bessonova (UKR)	Elizabeth Paysieva (BUL)
Groups Finals
All-Around details	Russia Olesia Beluguina Natalia Lavrova Tatiana Kurbakova Olessia Manurova Elena Murzina Elena Posevina	Bulgaria	Belarus
5 Ribbons details	Russia Olesia Beluguina Natalia Lavrova Tatiana Kurbakova Olessia Manurova Elena Murzina Elena Posevina	Bulgaria	Italy Elisa Blanchi Marinella Falca Daniela Masseroni Pamela Mastroianni Francesca Pasinetti Elisa Santoni
3 Hoops + 2 Balls details	Russia Olesia Beluguina Natalia Lavrova Tatiana Kurbakova Olessia Manurova Elena Murzina Elena Posevina	Bulgaria	Italy Elisa Blanchi Marinella Falca Daniela Masseroni Pamela Mastroianni Francesca Pasinetti Elisa Santoni

Individual Events

Individual All-Around

Place	Nation	Name	Total
1		Alina Kabaeva	106.475
2		Anna Bessonova	106.150
3		Irina Tchachina	105.775
4		Inna Zhukova	98.825
5		Elizabeth Paisieva	97.650
6		Svetlana Rudalova	97.125
7		Aliya Yussupova	97.000
8		Dinara Gimatova	94.075
9		Eleni Andriola	93.050
10		Mary Sanders	91.800
11		Jennifer Colino	91.200
12		Lisa Ingildeeva	90.475
13		Almudena Cid Tostado	90.050
14		Tamara Yerofeeva	89.875
15		Zhong Ling	89.500
16		Alexandra Orlando	88.700
17		Laura Zacchilli	87.450
18		Katerina Pisetsky	87.300
19		Susanna Marchesi	86.275
20		Sun Dan	85.275
21		Theodora Pallidou	85.000
22		Magdalena Markowska	84.575
23		Irina Risenzon	84.400
24		Silviya Miteva	83.550
25		Dominika Červenková	83.025
26		Maria Ringinen	82.825
27		Yukari Murata	82.650
28		Joanna Mitrosz	80.250
29	Mex	Cynthia Valdez	80.000
30		Hannah McKibbin	79.450

Individual Hoop

Place	Name	Result
1	Anna Bessonova	26.375
2	Alina Kabaeva	25.900
3	Irina Tchachina	25.200
4	Aliya Yusupova	24.250
5	Elizabeth Paysieva	24.200
6	Inna Zhukova	24.050
7	Mary Sanders	23.475
8	Stergiani Pantazi	23.325

Individual Ball

Place	Name	Result
1	Alina Kabaeva	26.675
2	Anna Bessonova	26.550
3	Inna Zhukova	25.875
4	Tamara Yerofeeva	25.700
5	Irina Tchachina	25.625
6	Aliya Yusupova	25.325
7	Eleni Andriola	23.675
8	Dinara Gimatova	23.525

Individual Clubs

Place	Name	Result
1	Anna Bessonova	27.225
2	Irina Tchachina	27.000
3	Alina Kabaeva	26.475
4	Inna Zhukova	25.550
5	Aliya Yusupova	24.725
6	Eleni Andriola	23.950
7	Mary Sanders	23.775
8	Almudena Cid Tostado	23.650

Individual Ribbon

Place	Name	Result
1	Alina Kabaeva	26.525
2	Anna Bessonova	26.375
3	Elizabeth Paysieva	24.225
4	Irina Tchachina	23.825
5	Inna Zhukova	23.725
6	Svetlana Rudalova	22.800
7	Eleni Andriola	22.000
8	Laura Zacchilli	21.600

Groups Finals

Groups All-Around

Place	Nation	Result
1	Russia	50.325
2	Bulgaria	50.175
3	Belarus	46.450
4	Italy	46.450
5	Ukraine	45.625
6	Spain	45.150
7	China	44.150
8	Greece	42.675
9	Brazil	41.800
10	Poland	40.675
11	Hungary	40.250
12	Canada	39.350
13	Germany	39.150
14	France	39.025
15	Switzerland	37.950
16	Japan	35.100
17	Austria	34.875
18	South Korea	32.575
19	Lithuania	32.075
20	Finland	31.750
21	Estonia	31.000
22	Slovakia	30.700
23	Chile	24.675

Groups 5 Ribbons

Place	Nation	Result
1	Russia	25.200
2	Bulgaria	24.950
3	Italy	23.550
4	China	22.950
5	Belarus	22.650
6	Spain	22.250
7	Greece	21.500
8	Ukraine	20.800

Groups 3 Hoops + 2 Balls

Place	Nation	Result
1	Russia	25.275
2	Bulgaria	25.200
3	Italy	24.700
4	Ukraine	23.500
5	Belarus	23.375
6	Greece	21.975
7	Spain	21.800
8	Poland	20.200

Medal table

References

↑ Turner, Amanda (December 2003). "Spirit in the sky". International Gymnast. Vol. 45, no. 12. pp. 13–16. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
1 2 3 4 Turner, Amanda (November 2003). "Case closed". International Gymnast. Vol. 45, no. 11. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
"World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 2003 - Individual - Budapest, Hungary". Longines Timing. 27 September 2003. Archived from the original on 17 April 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2025.

[1] Turner, Amanda (December 2003). "Spirit in the sky". International Gymnast. Vol. 45, no. 12. pp. 13–16. Retrieved 3 July 2025.

[:0-2] 1 2 3 4 Turner, Amanda (November 2003). "Case closed". International Gymnast. Vol. 45, no. 11. Retrieved 8 April 2025.

[3] "World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 2003 - Individual - Budapest, Hungary". Longines Timing. 27 September 2003. Archived from the original on 17 April 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2025.

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