Amina Zaripova

Gymnastics career Zaripova studied ballet until the age of ten, when she caught the eye of then-Uzbek head coach Irina Viner. When Viner relocated to Moscow to become the Russian head coach, Zaripova followed. Early in her career, she was called the second Zaripova, as she shares a last name with Viner's first international gymnast, Venera Zaripova. She also came in third with clubs and second with ribbon. She was the lead gymnast going into the final apparatus of the all-around, but a mistake in her final routine cost her the gold medal, which went to the reigning World champion, Maria Petrova.

In the following years, she was overshadowed by rising Russian stars Yanina Batyrchina and Natalia Lipkovskaya. At the 1995 World Championships, Batyrchina won the bronze medal, while Zaripova finished fourth. In October, she won gold in the team event at the 1997 World Championships, and she placed fourth in the all-around qualifications, though she did not enter the final due to the two-per-country rule. In an interview around this time, Zaripova mentioned that she thought that "When judges give marks, sometimes the marks aren't true" and the difficulty of competing against younger gymnasts.

Coaching career Zaripova was invited by the Greek Gymnastics Federation to coach their team. She helped prepare the team for the 1999 World Championships, but she ended up returning to Russia shortly afterwards. In addition to publishing her own rhythmic gymnastics magazine, she worked as a coach in Moscow.

At the end of 2023, she was asked to coach in China. Zaripova accepted the offer and became the head of the national individual team, on the stipulation that she could take her athletes to compete abroad, as Chinese gymnasts rarely performed either within China or at international competitions.

In December 2025, it was announced that she would join the Fabriano Gymnastics club in Italy to coach, among others, World champion Sofia Raffaeli.

Notable trainees include:

Margarita Mamun – 2016 Olympic champion, twice all-around World silver medalist and three-time Russian National all-around champion. Daria Trubnikova – 2018 Youth Olympics Champion, 2018 European Junior clubs champion and 2019 Grand Prix Final all-around gold medalist. Maria Sergeeva – 2018 Grand Prix Final all-around bronze medalist and 2016 European Junior hoop champion. Yana Lukonina – 2010 World team gold medalist and 2010 Russian National all-around bronze medalist. Wang Qi - 2025 Junior World silver medalist with ball, two-time Asian Junior all-around champion. Wang Zihan Sofia Raffaeli Anna Piergentili

Detailed Olympic results Year Competition description Location Music Apparatus Score-Final Score-Qualifying 1996 Olympics Atlanta All-around 39.265 38.748 Kitri, Entrance, Coda music from Don Quixote by Leon Minkus Ribbon 9.832 9.750 Theme from Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin Rope 9.783 9.716 At the Circus / Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia music from Spartacus by Aram Khatchaturian Ball 9.866 9.699 Ole Guapa by Malando Clubs 9.783 9.583