Rhythmic gymnastics, the new Italian technical director is Pashalieva

After a few weeks of waiting, the Italian Gymnastics Federation has chosen the new coach of the national rhythmic gymnastics team, following the well-known events that led to the dismissal of the historic technical director Emanuela Maccarani: from Monday 5 May she will be Mariela Pashalieva to take on the role of coach of the Blue Butterflies at the International Academy of Desio. While waiting for the decision, the new president of the federation Andrea Facci had taken on the role of technical director on an interim basis, now the announcement has arrived of the hiring of a coach with great international experience, who participated with Bulgaria in the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.

Born in 1970, raised at CSKA Sofia, Pashalieva boasts a European title as an athlete with the Bulgarian team in Helsinki 1988: she entered the national team at just eleven years old, in 1981. Once she stopped competing, she joined the team of Iliana Raeva, now president of the Bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics federation, winning with her quintet the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. As a coach, she followed the Bulgarian team to two Olympic finals and to the podium at the world championships in Patras, Moscow and Montpellier.

The investiture will take place in person on Monday, when the Italian delegation will return from the European Cup in Baku and President Facci will go to Desio with federal councilors Marta Pagnini, Oreste De Faveri and the number one of the FGI Lombardia Regional Committee Niccolò Maffei, to introduce the new manager to the gymnasts. Tuesday, May 6, check-up of all the athletes called up to begin planning the European Championships in early June in Tallinn, Estonia.