‘People gasped’: Inside one of the ‘hardest’ Olympic sports

Contenders in one massively underated Olympics sport are left bruised and say they have the hardest training of all. Welcome to the bloodbath.

James Weir in Paris

3 min read

August 10, 2024 - 8:50AM

It’s the final days of the Olympics and all the other little sports that played out early on have really just been a warm up for the main event: the rhythmic gymnastics.

What a game! Too much attention is given to the swimming and athletics but those sports don’t hold a candle to these queens of the mat.

There’s so much involved. Like co-ordinating your hula hoop to your sequined leotard. Just ask Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva, who competed in the all-around qualifications this week.

“I am well known in the gymnastics arena for having memorable leotards,” she said.

“I came out in a unitard. It covers my complete body, head to toe. I have so many online comments on Instagram - the whole world was blown away by this unitard. People gasped.”

Kyle Chalmers could never.

Australia's Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva performing with the clubs as she competes in the rhythmic gymnastics' individual all-around qualification during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Picture: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP

At Friday’s individual all-around final at La Chapelle arena, 8000 hardcore rhythmic gymnastics fans piled in to watch the bloodbath. Most of them were little girls with high ponytails and bouncy skirts.

You better believe they screamed murder when, in the first round, Brazil’s Barbara Domingos fumbled the hula hoop but quickly recovered.

We were all willing to forgive the near-miss. The woman had marched onto the mat stone-faced, looking for a fight. Her backing music was a remix of that Lion King song.

“Ahhhhhhhhh! Zabenyaaaaaaaa!”

Her leotard was even embroidered with the fur face of a lion.

The rhythmic gymnastics is setting the standard in Olympic sport!

Brazil's Barbara Domingos performs with the hoop as she competes in the rhythmic gymnastics' individual all-around final. Picture: Loic Venance/AFP

“Rhythmic gymnastics is one of the hardest trainings there are. We train from six to 10 hours a day in the gym,” Kiroi-Bogatyreva said.

And it’s not like swimming or athletics where you get to opt out of things you’re not good at. You suck at butterfly? Then don’t do it.

But not in rhythmic gymnastics. There are four rounds: hula hoop, ball, baton and ribbon. And you must complete all, regardless of the carnage.

“Ribbon for me is one of the hardest apparatus,” says Kiroi-Bogatyreva. “It took me a lot of training and it gave me a lot of hard times and bruises.”

Then there’s the music choice. We all know the pressure of having to queue up songs to impress friends when we give them a lift home in the car. But to pick four songs to play at the Olympic Games? Your music taste is part of what you get judged on.

Kiroi-Bogatyreva performs with the ribbon. Picture: Loic Venance/AFP

“Me and my mum sit down and we decide with my coaches if the music matches me,” Kiroi-Bogatyreva explained.

“And then, based off the music, I will go to the leotard lady and choose the colours which match. I try to create a story with the leotard that I want the audience to perceive. I sit down and listen to (the song) many times - I try to imagine what I’m gonna do with it, if it matches me and my personality. Also, you’re gonna hear this song everyday, at least 20 times - are you gonna get sick of it by the end of the season?”

When China’s Zilu Wang hit the mat at Friday’s individual all-around finals, blaring out of the speakers was an urgent, pulsing orchestral song that could feature on the soundtrack of any Liam Neeson film. For a moment, we were all scared a man in a trench coat was going to run out and kidnap her.

Germany’s Margarita Kolosov opted for Redfoo’s “Party Rock Anthem”.

The beats echoed around the arena.

“Ever-y day I’m shuff-a-ling.”

Then the Ukraine’s Taisiia Onofriichuk ran out to “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, wearing a red sequined unitard inspired by the leather jacket in the iconic video clip.