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Tonya Paulsson
Tonya Paulsson (born 28 August 2003) is a Swedish artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 and 2020 Swedish National Champion and she represented Sweden at the 2018 Youth Olympics where she was part of the Mixed NOC team who won bronze in the mixed multi-discipline team competition. Early lifePaulsson was born in Malmö in 2003.[2] Her mother is originally from Taiwan.[3] She began gymnastics in 2010.[4] Junior gymnastics career2016Paulsson competed at the Unni & Haralds Trophy in Oslo where she finished fourth in the all-around but won gold on uneven bars.[5] The following month Paulsson competed at the Nordic Championships where she was limited to only competing on the uneven bars due to a knee injury. Despite the injury she helped Sweden finish first in the junior division.[6] She next competed at the Swedish National Championships. She once again only competed on uneven bars but managed to finish first amongst the juniors.[7] 2017Paulsson competed at a team selection competition for the 2017 Junior Nordic Championships where she placed first in the all-around ahead of Jessica Castles and she also recorded the highest scores on vault and uneven bars.[8] At the Junior Nordic Championships Paulsson helped Sweden finish in third place. Individually she finished sixteenth in the all-around but won gold on uneven bars.[9] In June she competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge where she helped Sweden finish ninth.[10] In late June Paulsson competed at the Swedish National Championships where she won silver in the all-around behind Ida Staafgård, silver on vault behind Castles, gold on uneven bars, bronze on balance beam behind Staafgård and Castles, and fourth on floor exercise.[11] In November Paulsson competed at the Swedish Cup where she finished first amongst the juniors. During event finals she finished second on vault, first on uneven bars, third on balance beam, and fifth on floor exercise.[12] She ended the season competing at the Top Gym Tournament where she finished tenth in the team competition, seventeenth in the all-around, thirteenth on vault, sixth on uneven bars.[13] 2018Paulsson competed at the Youth Olympic Qualifier[14] where she finished in twelfth place and qualified Sweden for a spot at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.[15] She next competed at the Nordic Championships where she helped Sweden finish second behind Norway. Individually she won silver in the all-around behind Mari Kanter of Norway, gold on uneven bars, and bronze on floor exercise. She finished sixth on balance beam.[16] She next competed at the Swedish National Championships where she placed first in the all-around, on uneven bars, on balance beam, and on floor exercise.[17] Paulsson competed at the European Championships but failed to qualify for any event finals. Paulsson was selected to represent Sweden at the 2018 Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires.[18] While there she qualified for the all-around and uneven bars finals.[19] During the all-around final she placed seventh.[20] During the uneven bars final she once again placed seventh. Paulsson at the 2018 Youth Olympics Senior gymnastics career2019Paulsson turned senior in 2019. She competed at the Swedish National Championships where she won gold in all-around and silver on uneven bars behind Jonna Adlerteg.[21] She next competed at the Heerenveen Friendly where she finished seventeenth in the all-around. She ended the season competing at the Mälar Cup where she finished second behind Alva Eriksson in the all-around and on floor exercise. Additionally she tied for second with Eriksson on uneven bars behind Iida Haapala. She finished first on balance beam.[22] 2020In October Paulsson competed at the Swedish National Championships where she was able to retain her national title from the previous year. Additionally she won gold on balance beam and floor exercise and won silver on uneven bars behind Jonna Adlerteg.[23] 2021Paulsson competed at the European Championships where she qualified to the all-around final; she placed 14th. In September Paulsson was selected to compete at the World Championships alongside Nathalie Westlund and Jennifer Williams.[24] 2024Paulsson contemplated quitting at the beginning of the year, but she decided to continue competing and began to pursue a switch in country to represent Taiwan.[25] In May, Paulsson competed at the European Championships. Due to recovering from a knee injury, she only competed on the uneven bars.[26] Paulsson competed at the World Cup in Szombathely, Hungary in October. There she won silver on the uneven bars as well as gold on the balance beam and floor. She said that she was proud of her floor performance as that was her main focus for he competition.[26] She also committed to attending the University of California, Berkeley as a collegiate gymnast beginning in the fall of 2025.[27] In November, Paulsson announced that she planned to switch her country representation from Sweden to Taiwan, her mother's home country. She said that she had lost trust in the leadership of Sweden's national team.[3] A week later, she clarified that her training style did not work well with that expected at the national training center, which she visited periodically, and that she did not feel that she was treated properly there. She also said that she had received racist comments after announcing her country change, which the Swedish Gymnastics Federation denounced.[25] Competitive history
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