Drawing, hiking, cooking, travelling. (teamusa.org, 01 Apr 2015)

English, Spanish

North Shore Rhythmic Gymnasts [United States]

Margarita Mamzina [national]; Natalia Klimouk [club, national] (malibutimes.com, 30 Sep 2015; usagym.org, 01 Nov 2015; malibutimes.com, 30 Sep 2015)

2013 for United States (usagym.org, 01 Nov 2015)

In January 2014 she tore her iliopsoas muscle [the largest muscle in the abdomen] while training. Her doctor initially feared it could prevent her continuing gymnastics at elite level, but after six months of physical therapy and rehabilitation she made a full recovery. (malibutimes.com, 30 Sep 2015)

She began gymnastics at age seven at Webster Elementary School in Malibu, CA, United States of America. (usagym.org, 01 Nov 2015)

She did numerous sports as a child including karate, rock climbing, surfing and ballet. She started gymnastics after her parents won tickets for local gymnastic classes in a raffle at her school. At the class, a coach asked her if she wanted to try rhythmic gymnastics. "I watched the ribbon and I just said, 'I want to do that, that's so cool.' That was when I started and I couldn't stop." (teamusa.org, 01 Apr 2015; teamusa.org, 29 Sep 2015; malibutimes.com, 30 Sep 2015)

She trains for four to five hours a day, six days a week, at the North Shore Rhythmic Gymnasts Center in Deerfield, IL, United States of America. (torch.glenbrook225.org, 07 Feb 2014; malibutimes.com, 30 Sep 2015)

General
HISTORIC OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION
In 2015 she was part of the first US rhythmic gymnastics team to qualify for an Olympic Games on merit [the US team that competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta qualified automatically as hosts] following their performance at the 2015 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. She said the team did not realise they had qualified for Rio until they had returned to their hotel rooms after the competition in Stuttgart. "I really feel like we were the last to know. We were so happy with our performance that everyone just thought we knew." (teamusa.org, 29 Sep 2015)

FROM CALIFORNIA TO CHICAGO
In 2012 she moved from Malibu, CA to Northbrook, IL after she was asked to train with the national team based at the North Shore Rhythmic Gymnasts club. Her mother stayed in California with her older brother Evan, while her retired father moved to Illinois with her. Her family also setup a website to help raise funds for her training and competition expenses. (malibutimes.com, 30 Sep 2015; patch.com, 06 Sep 2012; gofundme.com, 01 Feb 2016)