She Starts Her Routine On The Floor, But The Audience Is Blown Away As She Gets Up

Nov 25, 2020 by apost team

Rhythmic gymnastics is a type of sport that astounds viewers with the physical prowess and ability of the performing athletes and their grace and elegant movements. The combination of athletic performance and accompanying music is often breath-taking to watch. Back in 2011, during the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Montpellier, France, Russian athlete Daria Kondakova gave an incredibly captivating performance for her Individual Qualifications opener. The fantastic set has thankfully been captured on video and can be enjoyed even today.

At the time, Daria Kondakova, currently 29 years old, was already an accomplished gymnast. The Russian born athlete started practicing rhythmic gymnastics at a young age and was trained by the renowned rhythmic gymnastics trainer Anna Shumilova. Shumilova, a current member of the Russian National Rhythmic Gymnastics Trainers, has trained several world-class champions and Olympic medalists.

At the age of 18, Kondokova became one of them when she earned the all-around silver medal at the 2009 World Championships in Mie, Japan. The win was Kondakavas great breakthrough immediately after she entered her first season as a senior contestant. In 2010, Kondakova repeated the performance, again placing second overall and taking home the all-around silver medal. 2011, the year this recording was made, was the third year that Kondakava took part in the World Championships.

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The recording features her qualification performance for the Ball segment. In rhythmic gymnastics, a mix of calisthenics, gymnastics, and dance, athletes perform a set of moves while incorporating items into their performance. The internationally accepted items are the ball, hoop, ribbon, rope, or clubs. Staying in tune to the music while keeping track of your item and your body's movement requires tremendous focus and concentration.

Kondakova starts her routine spread across the ground, lying slightly on top of her ball. As soon as the song's first notes begin to play, however, she snaps into action. Within seconds, she twirls around, changes position from lying on her back to lying on her front by throwing her legs high in the air atop her head. 

Then, using her neck to secure her golden ball tightly against her skin, she gets on her knees with a flourish. As soon as the ball has rolled down her back, she catches it with one hand and stands up. This is only the start of a dizzying, fast-paced performance. Kondakava spins, jumps, twirls, and gracefully poses while she keeps the ball aloft using her body. She doesn't seem to be in any danger of losing track of it for even one second, despite the speed at which she goes through the gymnastic sets. Even during the moments when she throws the ball up high, her steps never falter. Once it comes back down, she is exactly where she needs to be in order to catch it and seamlessly move on with her performance.  To the audience, it seems as if the ball has become just another part of her body.

The judges on that day were just as impressed with Kondakava's performance as today's viewers. According to the official YouTube video's description, her set scored 29 out of 30 points, the second-highest result of that day of the World Championships. Over the next days, Kondakava went on to win the overall silver medal as well as second place in all four single categories, missing first place by a mere 0.05 points. This was the third World Championship in a row she had won second place.

Kondakava was all set to go on and improve her performance even more in 2012. She took part in the test qualifications for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and managed to win it. Then she went on to win Gold at the 2012 World Cup event. All signs were pointing towards Kondakava having a real shot at an Olympics win. However, in the middle of the 2012 season and before the Olympics took place, she suffered from an accident and resulting knee injury. It soon became apparent that she would not recover in time for the Olympics and sadly could not participate. Instead, Kondakava underwent knee surgery in Germany after the injury caused the relapse of an older injury to her knee's ligament. In the end, Kondakava had to retire from rhythmic gymnastics in 2012 at the age of 21. She now teaches others in her sport.

What do you think of Kondakava's amazing performance in this video? Do you have aspiring or currently competing gymnasts in your family, and what do they think about this set? Let us know your thoughts and pass this story on to other sports enthusiasts!