Margarita Mamun

The Bengal Tigress, Margarita Mamun, is one of the most incredible rhythmic gymnasts in history. During her career, she was the 2016 Olympic all-around champion, and won multiple silver medals at the European Games, European Championships, and World Championships.

Margarita Mamun is the current record holder for the highest all-around score of all time - a 77.150 - which she earned during her dazzling performance at the 2016 Baku World Cup. Mamun is an athlete who is truly in a class of her own.

From Russia with love

Margarita Mamun-Sukhorukova was born on November 1st, 1995 in Moscow, Russia to a Russian mother and Bangladeshi father. From a young age, Margarita was passionate about dancing and figure skating. Her mother, who was a rhythmic gymnast herself, encouraged Margarita to take up rhythmic gymnastics.

Margarita Mamun began training as a rhythmic gymnast from the age of seven. In her first year, Mamun represented Bangladesh, and quickly proved herself as one of the best junior gymnasts around. She had natural talent for the sport, and was effortlessly graceful and flexible.

Soon, rhythmic world champion Amina Zaripova took notice. Zaripova reached out to mentor Mamun, and the rest was history.

An international sensation

Under the tutelage of Amina Zaripova, Margarita Mamun blossomed. She entered her first international tournament, the Miss Valentine Cup, in 2005. Now, she represented Russia - and she did her country proud.

In 2011, Mamun became a senior gymnast, and made her international breakthrough. She earned herself the gold in the ball finals and bronze in the all-around at the Montreal World Cup. By the end of the year, she ranked 22nd in the world. It was only up from there.
Margarita Mamun continued to train rigorously and earned herself the all-around gold at the Sofia World Cup and the team gold at the Aeon Cup in 2012. By then, she had edged herself into 17th place in the world rankings.

In 2013, Mamun won countless gold medals - and ranked 1st in the world. She was unstoppable.

 

The year of the Tiger

Margarita Mamun rewrote the record books in 2016. At the 2016 Baku World Cup, she achieved the highest score of all time during the all-around - a score of 77.150. This broke the record of 76.450 previously held by Yana Kudryavtseva, a fellow Russian rhythmic gymnast.

To no one’s surprise, Yana and Margarita both qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, where Yana was expected to take the gold. In fact, Yana might have, if it weren’t for her club routine.

Up until that point, Yana was in the lead, showing incredible artistry with the hoop and ball. But when Yana dropped her club at the very end of her routine, Margarita Mamun saw her opportunity - and she took it.

Mamun performed with everything she had, pulling out a much higher score in her routine than in the qualifying round. All that was left was the ribbon routine, where she needed to leave it all on the floor to win. And she did.

Margarita Mamun channeled all her emotions into a stunning Black Swan routine. Every bit of anguish she felt at her father’s recent cancer diagnosis, she put into her artistry. That game-changing routine was so heartfelt, so flawless, and so powerful that it left the audience in tears.

Mamun took the gold, and set the new Olympic record with a score of 76.483. Unfortunately, her celebration was short-lived. Just a few days later, Margarita Mamun’s father passed away.

 

Going over the limit

Deciding that she had achieved everything she wanted in her sport, and wanting to explore more in her life, Margarita retired from gymnastics in 2017. She got married, had children, and starred in the documentary film “Over the Limit.”

Now, Margarita Mamun is enjoying time with her family, and supporting the rhythmic gymnastics champions of the future.