In June 2016 Israel hosted a European Championships for the first time. Rhythmic gymnastics was already hugely popular in the country, and strong results at the 2015 European Games and the 2015 Europeans had raised hopes of medals at home in Holon.
The venue and the crowd
The Holon Toto Hall holds close to 3,000 spectators, and all three days were sold out. More than 200 gymnasts took part. For many of the senior individuals it was the last major competition before the Rio Olympics, which began 45 days later.
Highlights beyond the gold medals
The original coverage picked out performances that mattered for reasons other than the result: – Ukraine’s Ganna Rizatdinova took all-around bronze behind the Russian pair Yana Kudryavtseva and Margarita Mamun, and was the only top gymnast without a major mistake. She went on to win Olympic bronze in Rio. – Finland’s senior group reached a European final for the first time in 23 years. Four of its members had been in the junior group that reached the final in Minsk five years earlier. – Israel’s group won the 6 clubs + 2 hoops final, so the championships closed with the home anthem.
Why Holon mattered
The success of the event showed that a smaller federation could organise a European Championships at a high level. It also strengthened Israel’s position as a rhythmic nation: three years later Israel hosted the acrobatic Europeans, and in 2021 Linoy Ashram won Olympic individual gold.
Full results and context are in our archive entry for the 2016 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships.
