Alba Polo

Alba Polo
Full nameAlba Polo Álvarez
Born (2001-05-17) 17 May 2001 (age 23)
Madrid, Spain
Gymnastics career
DisciplineRhythmic Gymnastics
Country represented Spain
Years on national team2014-2020
LevelInternational Elite
ClubClub Vallecas
Head coach(es)Anna Baranova
Assistant coach(es)Sara Bayón
Former coach(es)Ana María Pelaz
Retiredyes

Alba Polo (born 17 May 2001) is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast[1] who competed with the national group of Spain.[2]

Personal life

Alba took up gymnastics when she was 7 at the Club Vallecas, her idols are the girls of the Spanish group that won Olympic silver in 2016 and Margarita Mamun, her ambition was to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games. Outside the gym her hobby is going shopping. She speaks Spanish and English.[1]

Career

In 2009 Alba participated in her first group national championships, celebrated in Valladolid, with Club Torrejón performing a free hands routine. From then until 2013 she participated in the national group championships (being 5th the last two years) and competed as an individual at regional level.

Junior

In 2014 she participated in her first national individual championship, held in Guadalajara, placing among the 25 major junior category with clubs. During that year she was in several control training of the Royal Spanish Federation of Gymnastics until the definitive incorporation on the junior group in September.[3]

Junior

In September 2014 she was awarded a scholarship by the Royal Spanish Gymnastics Federation to be part of the national junior group, going on to train under the command of Ana María Pelaz at the CAR in Madrid. During the season she attended several exhibitions, like the Spanish Ensemble Championship in Zaragoza and at the tribute to Sara Bayón in Palencia.[4]

In February 2015 the junior team debuted in competition at the Miss Valentine International Tournament held in Tartu, Estonia, where they achieved 4th position in the All-Around and 7th in the apparatus final with 5 balls.[5] At the end of March they competed in the International Tournament in Lisbon, Portugal, where they again achieved 4th place in the All-Around, in addition to winning the bronze medal in the apparatus final.[6] At the beginning of May they participated in the European Championship in Minsk, where they finished in 9th in the All-Around.[7] The junior team was formed this year by Alba, Clara Esquerdo, Ana Gayán, Victoria Cuadrillero, Lía Rovira and Alba Sárrias.

On July 23, 2016, Victoria made two exhibitions with the junior Spanish ensemble at the 20th Anniversary Gala of the Gold Medal in Atlanta '96, held in Badajoz.[8] Subsequently, in September the ensemble made exhibitions during the Week European Sports Conference held at the Plaza de Colón[9] and at the Glamor Sport Summit in Madrid,[10] and in October, at the open days of the CAR in Madrid and at the Ciudad de Tarragona International Tournament.[11]

Senior

In 2017 she became a starter gymnast of the senior Spanish group under the orders of Anna Baranova and Sara Bayón. On March 25, she made her debut as a team starter at the Thiais Grand Prix.[12] In this competition the team was 8th overall and 4th in the final of 3 balls and 2 ropes.[13] Alba did not participate as a starter in the next four competitions of the season, which were the World Cups in Pesaro, Tashkent, Baku and Portimão. Her position was taken over by Sara Salarrullana. From the Guadalajara World Cup the Spanish team was made up of Alba, Mónica Alonso, Clara Esquerdo, Ana Gayán, Victoria Cuadrillero and Lía Rovira. In the All-Around they finished in 6th and in the final of the mixed exercise of ropes and balls they finished in 8th.[14] From August 11 to 13 they participated in the last World Cup before the World Championships, held in Kazan, Russia. There, the team got the 5th position in the All-Around and the 8th position in the two apparatus finals.[15] In September the members of the group disputed the Pesaro World Championship.[16] In the mixed exercise they scored 16.150, and 14.500 with 5 hoops after two apparatus drops, which meant that they placed 15th overall and that they could not qualify for any apparatus final.[17]

In March 2018 the team began the season in the City of Desio Trophy, playing a bilateral meet with Italy in which they won silver.[18] An injury to Clara Esquerdo's foot in mid March meant that the team was unable to participate in the Thiais Grand Prix and Esquerdo was unable to compete in the Sofia World Cup, where the group was 10th in the All-Around.[19] In April, they returned to competition at the World Cup in Pesaro, where the team placed 6th overall, 8th in hoops and 7th in mixed finals,[20] while in May, at the World Cup in Guadalajara, they ranked 10th place overall and 6th in the final of 3 balls and 2 ropes.[21] At the beginning of June, they participated in the European Championship in Guadalajara, the first European Championship held in Spain since 2002.[22] They took 5th place in the All-Around and 6th in both the hoops and mixed finals.[23][24][25] At the end of August, he competed in the World Cup in Minsk, where she finished 6th overall, 7th in hoops and 6th in mixed.[26] A week later, at the World Cup event in Kazan, they placed 10th in the All-Around and 7th with 5 hoops.[27] In mid September the group participated in the World Championships in Sofia.[28] In the 5 hoops exercise they obtained a score of 14.450 after several apparatus drops, while in the mixed routines they achieved a score of 19.150, which placed them in 20th place overall. In the 3 balls and 2 ropes final they took 8th place with 19,800.[29] The team was formed in this championship by Polo, Mónica Alonso, Clara Esquerdo, Ana Gayán, Victoria Cuadrillero and Sara Salarrullana.

At the beginning of March 2019, the team began the season at the Diputación de Málaga International Tournament in Marbella, achieving bronze.[30] After an exhibition in Corbeil-Essonnes, they participated in the Grand Prix de Thiais, obtaining 10th place overall and 6th in 3 hoops and 4 clubs. In April they achieved 10th and 12th place overall at the World Cup events in Pesaro and Baku respectively.[31][32] In May, at the World Cup in Guadalajara, they were 4th in the All-Around, 7th with 5 balls and 4th in the mixed routine.[33] After several preparatory competitions, in September they disputed the World Championships in Baku, being able to obtain only 17th place in the All-Around and not achieving the Olympic place.[34] The team was formed in this championship by Polo, Clara Esquerdo, Ana Gayán, Victoria Cuadrillero, Emma Reyes and Sara Salarrullana.[35]

On August 11, 2020, the Royal Spanish Gymnastics Federation announced Polo's decision to retire through its website.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b "POLO Alba - FIG Athlete Profile". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  2. ^ "Conoce al segundo conjunto de rítmica | Noticias | LaLiga4Sports". 2017-08-24. Archived from the original on 2017-08-24. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  3. ^ Grrio2016 (2015-05-27). "Selección Española de conjuntos - Camino a Tokio 2020: CONOCE A LAS PEQUES DEL EQUIPO". Selección Española de conjuntos - Camino a Tokio 2020. Retrieved 2022-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Palentino, Diario (2014-12-21). "Palencia rinde un bello homenaje a Sara Bayón". Diario Palentino (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  5. ^ rhythmicgymnasticsinfo (2015-02-21). "Miss Valentine 2015 Results". Rhythmic Gymnastics Info. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  6. ^ "World Cup Lisbona 26-29.03.2015". www.beatricevivaldi.com (in Italian). 2015-02-05. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  7. ^ "2015 European Championships Junior Groups All-Around" (PDF). rhythmicgymnasticsresults. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-13.
  8. ^ "Ahora son treintañeras de oro". Hoy (in European Spanish). 2016-07-24. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  9. ^ "Beitia y el equipo de gimnasia rítmica abrirán la Semana Europea del Deporte". Europa Press. 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  10. ^ "Glamour Sport Summit by adidas: Día 24". Glamour España (in European Spanish). 2016-09-24. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  11. ^ lainformacion.com (2016-10-27). "Sandra Aguilar y Artemi Gavezou darán una 'masterclass' en el Trofeo Internacional Tarragona 2017". La Información (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  12. ^ "Designado el conjunto senior GR que competirá en el GP de Thiais". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  13. ^ "La rítmica española estrena la temporada con dos finales". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  14. ^ "Fin de la World Challenge Cup de Gimnasia Rítmica 2017". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  15. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Kazan 2017 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  16. ^ "Definido el equipo de gimnasia rítmica para el Mundial de Pesaro". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  17. ^ "2017 RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - Seniors - Groups All-Around Final" (PDF). gymmedia.
  18. ^ "Torneo Bilateral ESP - ITA". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  19. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Sofia 2018 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  20. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Pesaro 2018 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  21. ^ "Israel y Bulgaria lideran el pódium de la segunda jornada de la FIG World Challenge Cup RG". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  22. ^ "Designada la delegación española para el Campeonato de Europa de GR". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  23. ^ "2018 European Championships Groups All-Around" (PDF). europeangymnastics.
  24. ^ "Groups 5 Hoops" (PDF). europeangymnastics.
  25. ^ "Groups 3 Balls + 2 Ropes" (PDF). europeangymnastics.
  26. ^ "Buen papel del conjunto de rítmica en la WC de Minsk". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  27. ^ "El conjunto de rítmica finaliza la preparación de cara al Mundial". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  28. ^ "Definido el Team ESP de GR para el Campeonato del Mundo de Sofia". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  29. ^ "2018 World Championships Result Book" (PDF). usagym. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  30. ^ "María Añó y Sara Llana, se clasifican a las finales del Grand Prix de Marbella". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  31. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Pesaro 2019 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  32. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Baku 2019 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  33. ^ "Gymnastics - World Cup Rhythmic Gymnastics - Guadalajara 2019 - Results". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  34. ^ "2019 World Championships Result Book" (PDF). usagym. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  35. ^ "Rusia gana el Mundial por equipos y España (17ª) se jugará la plaza olímpica en Kiev". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  36. ^ "Alba Polo pone fin a su carrera deportiva". rfegimnasia.es. Retrieved 2022-10-12.