Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix Series

The Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix Series is an annual competition of tournaments for rhythmic gymnastics, open to athletes from all over the globe. The series consists of a number of stages, culminating in the final event, usually referred to as Grand Prix Final. The final event has become one of ements in gymnastics by nation|most important]] rhythmic gymnastics events in the history of the sport, usually gathering some of the best gymnasts on the planet.^[1]

History

The person responsible for the creation of the Grand Prix Series was the then vice-president of the International Gymnastics Federation, Hans-Jürgen Zacharias, in 1993.^[2] The rules were drafted in the course of many meetings with the UEG, and in 1994 the first Grand Prix Series was organised in the Netherlands, Ukraine, France, Germany and Austria, with the Grand Prix Final event being held in Innsbruck.^[3] As of 2016, gymnasts from countries in Europe and Asia, including Russia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, have won medals at the Grand Prix Final. Gymnasts from countries in the Americas, like Brazil, have won medals at the Grand Prix stages.^[4]

Grand Prix Final

The final stage of the event, also commonly referred to as Grand Prix Final, is considered a prestigious event in which usually only the best ranked gymnasts from previous stages are allowed to compete.

Year	Event	Location
1994	Vienna Grand Prix	Vienna [5]
1995	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [6]
1996	Vienna Grand Prix	Vienna [7]
1997	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [8]
1998	Grand Prix Linz	Linz [9]
1999	Grand Prix Korneuburg	Korneuburg [10]
2000	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [11]
2001	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [12]
2002	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [13]
2003	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [14]
2004	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [15]
2005	Berlin Masters	Berlin [16]
2006	Berlin Masters	Berlin [17]
2007	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [18]
2008	Grand Prix Slovakia	Bratislava [19]
2009	Berlin Masters	Berlin [20]
2010	Berlin Masters	Berlin [21]
2011	Brno Grand Prix	Brno [22]
2012	Brno Grand Prix	Brno [23]
2013	Berlin Masters	Berlin [24]
2014	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [25]
2015	Brno Grand Prix	Brno [26]
2016	Grand Prix Eilat	Eilat [27]
2017	Grand Prix Eilat	Eilat [28]

Grand Prix Series

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Grand Prix Final medalists

Individual all-around

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1994[29]	Vienna, Austria	Kateryna Serebrianska	Olena Vitrychenko	Amina Zaripova
1995[30]	Deventer, Netherlands	Kateryna Serebrianska	Olena Vitrychenko	Yana Batyrshina Olga Gontar
1996[31]	Vienna, Austria	Yana Batyrshina Kateryna Serebrianska	N/A	Tatiana Ogrizko
1997[32]	Deventer, Netherlands	Natalia Lipkovskaya	Valeria Vatkina	Edita Schaufler
1998[33]	Linz, Austria	Alina Kabaeva	Olena Vitrychenko	Yulia Raskina
1999	Korneuburg, Austria	Yulia Raskina	Alina Kabaeva	Yulia Barsukova
2000	Deventer, Netherlands	Yulia Barsukova	Irina Tchachina	Tamara Yerofeeva
2001 [34]	Deventer, Netherlands	Alina Kabaeva	Laysan Utiasheva	Elena Tkachenko
2002	Innsbruck, Austria	Tamara Yerofeeva	Anna Bessonova	Laysan Utiasheva
2003	Innsbruck, Austria	Anna Bessonova	Vera Sessina	Natalia Godunko
2004 [35]	Deventer, Netherlands	Natalia Godunko	Olga Kapranova	Anna Bessonova
2005 [36]	Berlin, Germany	Vera Sessina	Olga Kapranova	Natalia Godunko
2006	Berlin, Germany	Vera Sessina	Olga Kapranova	Inna Zhukova
2007	Innsbruck, Austria	Olga Kapranova	Vera Sessina	Aliya Garayeva
2008	Bratislava, Slovakia	Olga Kapranova	Vera Sessina	Irina Risenzon
2009	Berlin, Germany	Evgenia Kanaeva	Daria Kondakova	Melitina Staniouta
2010	Berlin, Germany	Evgenia Kanaeva	Daria Kondakova	Daria Dmitrieva
2011	Brno, Czech Republic	Evgenia Kanaeva	Daria Dmitrieva	Aliya Garayeva
2012	Brno, Czech Republic	Daria Dmitrieva	Arina Charopa	Monika Mickova
2013	Berlin, Germany	Margarita Mamun	Maria Titova	Sylvia Miteva
2014	Innsbruck, Austria	Margarita Mamun	Neta Rivkin	Neviana Vladinova
2015	Brno, Czech Republic	Margarita Mamun	Linoy Ashram	Elena Bolotina
2016	Eilat, Israel	Aleksandra Soldatova	Dina Averina	Arina Averina

Overall winners

After the Grand Prix Final event, points are added up and overall winners of the Grand Prix circuit are decided. From 1994 to 1997, the gymnasts who gathered the biggest number of points in the all-around competitions was declared the winner. Starting in 1998, winners of each of the four apparatus were declared.^{[37][38][39][40]}

Year	Event	Winner
1994	All-Around	Kateryna Serebrianska
1995	All-Around	Kateryna Serebrianska
1996	All-Around	Tatiana Ogrizko
1997	All-Around	Olena Vitrychenko
1998	Rope	Olena Vitrychenko
	Hoop	Olena Vitrychenko
	Clubs	Olena Vitrychenko
	Ribbon	Olena Vitrychenko
1999	Rope	Olena Vitrychenko
	Hoop	Olena Vitrychenko
	Ribbon	Olena Vitrychenko
	Ball	Alina Kabaeva
2000	Rope	Olena Vitrychenko
	Hoop	Olena Vitrychenko
	Ribbon	Olena Vitrychenko
	Ball	Alina Kabaeva
2001	Rope	Alina Kabaeva
	Hoop	Alina Kabaeva
	Clubs	Alina Kabaeva
	Ball	Alina Kabaeva
2002	Rope	Simona Peycheva
	Hoop	Zarina Gizikova
	Ball	Zarina Gizikova
	Clubs	Tamara Yerofeeva
2003	Hoop	Anna Bessonova
	Clubs	Anna Bessonova
	Ball	Anna Bessonova
	Ribbon	Vera Sessina
2004	Hoop	Anna Bessonova
	Clubs	Anna Bessonova
	Ball	Inna Zhukova
	Ribbon	Natalia Godunko
2005	Rope	Anna Bessonova
	Hoop	Anna Bessonova Vera Sessina
	Ball	Olga Kapranova
	Ribbon	Natalia Godunko
2016	Clubs	Aleksandra Soldatova
	Hoop	Aleksandra Soldatova
	Ball	Aleksandra Soldatova
	Ribbon	Aleksandra Soldatova

All-time medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	103	54	19	176
2	Ukraine	21	27	22	70
3	Bulgaria	4	3	9	16
4	Belarus	3	24	27	54
5	Spain	3	0	3	6
6	Israel	1	7	11	19
7	Uzbekistan	1	2	2	5
8	Poland	0	3	7	10
9	Germany	0	3	1	4
10	Azerbaijan	0	2	12	14
11	Czech Republic	0	1	2	3
12	Austria	0	0	3	3
	Sweden	0	0	3	3
14	Finland	0	0	2	2
15	France	0	0	1	1
	Kazakhstan	0	0	1	1
	Moldova	0	0	1	1
	Netherlands	0	0	1	1
Total		131	122	128	381

References