Education
Zaripova studied ballet until the age of ten when she caught the eye of then-Uzbek head coach Irina Viner.
Zaripova studied ballet until the age of ten when she caught the eye of then-Uzbek head coach Irina Viner.
She is the 1994 World All-around silver medalist, 1993 World All-around bronze medalist and a two time (1996,1994) European All-around bronze medalist. When Viner relocated to Moscow to become the Russian head coach, Zaripova followed. early in her career, she was called the second Zaripova who shares the same last name of Viner"s first international gymnast Venera Zaripova. The following year, she placed second at Corbeil-Essonnes International and third at the 1994 European Championships, earning four medals in the apparatus finals with gold for ball, clubs and bronze for hoop, ribbon.
At her next World event, Zaripova placed second in All-round at the 1994 World Championships, where she also came in third with clubs and second with ribbon.
The following years, she was overshadowed by rising Russians stars Yanina Batyrchina and Natalia Lipkovskaya. Zaripova finished 4th in the All-around at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, losing the bronze medal to Ukraine"s Olena Vitrychenko.
At the end of 1996, Zaripova underwent surgery to repair a torn left Achilles" tendon. She then retired from competition.
Zaripova was invited by the Greek Gymnastics Federation to coach their team
She helped prepare the team for their successful showing at the 1999 World Championships, but ended up returning to Russia shortly afterwards. In addition to publishing her own rhythmic gymnastics magazine, she works as a coach in Moscow. Notable trainees include:
Margarita Mamun
Yana Lukonina
Maria Sergeeva
Anna Trubnikova.
At the 1991 European Junior Championships, Zaripova won her first set of medals—gold for the team event and bronze for the all-round and clubs. Zaripova won bronze for both the team and all-round at the 1993 World Championships. She also won three titles at the 1994 Goodwill Games, the (all-round, hoop, ball), as well as a silver medal (clubs) and a bronze medal (ribbon). At the 1995 World Championships, Batyrchina won the bronze medal while Zaripova finished fourth. She briefly returned to competition in 1997 as part of the Russian team that won the bronze at the 1998 European Championships. Zaripova"s final event was the Schmiden International where she won gold medal for her ball exercise and silver for hoop.
