Bianka Panova

Infobox Gymnast
gymnastname= Bianka Panova


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birthdate= birth date and age|1970|05|27
birthplace=Sofia
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Bianka Panova ( _bg. Бианка Панова) (born May 27, 1970 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian individual rhythmic gymnast. She was the first rhythmic gymnast to get a clean sweep of all 5 (All-Around, Ribbon, Clubs, Hoop, Rope) gold medals at the 1987 world championships in Varna with the perfect score of 40.00 points.

She retired from the sport in 1989 and became a coach in Italy where she coached the Italian National Champion, Katia Pietrosanti, who is the only Italian to medal at a world championships. Bianka tried to make a comeback in 1992 but failed to make the Bulgarian olympic team. She returned to coaching in 1993, this time in Belgium.

She concentrated on artistic gymnastics and acrobatics choreography. Up until 2001 she was head coach at the Happy Gym club in Ghent, and is responsible for many of Belgium's finest athletes, among them National Champion Elke De Backer. She has also introduced her own method of flexibility conditioning for non-gymnast athletes.

She now lives in Belgium with her husband, physiotherapist and now physician, Tchavdar Ninov, and their two sons Steven and Richard.

External links

*fig|id=2109|name=Bianca Panova
*http://www.gymnpics.com/gymnasticgreats/rsg/panova.htm
*http://lesgymnastesdegr.ifrance.com/pages/44.html (en Français)