Italian Rhythmic Gymnast Elisa Blanchi: competition Routine and life after. 6-21-22

 Meet former Italian rhythmic  Olympian Gymnast  Elisa Blanchi. Elisa is 34 years old now. She started when she was just three years of age. To her name, she has 100 international medals, including five gold results at the world championships. She has appeared in three Olympic games: Athens when she was just 16, Beijing in 2008, and London in 2012. Her training is no joke. She would wake up, train for eight hours, and then go to school.  

In these types of competitions, Routine was essential to Elisa, especially on the day of the competition. It would start early in the morning with makeup and some good food; she then would head to the SportsCenter, where she gets some training and relax before the match. After that, the team would huddle up about 5 minutes before the competition to motivate one another to prepare for the game. When performing, the audience gives her the power to do her best. This routine was a constant cycle. Luckily, in this process, injuries were not so much of a problem physically, as she had plenty of time between a competition for things to heal. However, the need to have an athletic body that could handle the different things she did was critical whether there was a competition. 


Now, out of competition, Elisa is a coach for young girls. She trains with them for four hours weekly, as coaching is her second job. Her first is that she’s a Sergeant in the Military. She hopes the kids look up to her, but it's ultimately not the primary goal at the end of the day. The hope for these kids is that they have fun, become passionate about what they want to do, and remember that practice is critical in any sport you do. Elisa knows this is a big responsibility, but she’s happy to represent Italian gymnastics however she can.