Stefani Bismpikou
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Stefani Bismpikou (often spelt Bisbikou) (born June 27, 1988 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek Artistic Gymnast. Her best apparatus is the Balance Beam, where she has an exceptionally high difficulty score.
After having strong results as a Junior at the European level, Stefani made her major senior Gymnastics debut at the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim, California, where she qualified to the Olympics, with a score of 34.637. In early 2004, she had a strong showing at the European Championships, placing 12th in the All Around Final. After this competition, Stefani represented her country in her hometown of Athens at the 2004 Summer Olympics. There she advanced to the All Around final where she finished a respectable 16th with a score 36.499, almost two full points higher than her World Championships score the year before.
Stefani continued to compete in 2005, winning her first World Cup Medal, a silver on the Balance Beam, at the French International in 2005. She was 14th in the All Around at European Championships that year, and also won a Bronze medal in the All Around at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almeria, Spain. She began 2006 with a strong showing at the Maribor World Cup in Slovenia, where she was the Gold Medalist on Beam and won two bronze medals on Floor and Bars. At the 2006 Europeans in Greece, she was a favourite to win a medal, but fell from the Balance Beam, handing the title to reigning Olympic Champion Catalina Ponor.
In 2007, Stefani won a bronze medal on the Balance Beam at the 2007 European Championships in Amsterdam, becoming the first senior female Greek gymnast to do so. This accomplishment won Stefani great praise in Greece and she was voted into second place in the 2007 Female Greek Athlete of the year awards.[1] Speaking in Early 2008, Stefani said she was touched by the award and was pleased her gymnastics efforts are being acknowledged by her fellow Greeks [2].
At the 2007 World Championships, Stefani qualified to her second Olympic Games, enabling her to represent Greece as an indivdual. Stefanie is currently training for this competition and hopes her experience in Beijing is as positive as Athens. She has stated that she still loves gymnastics and hopes to continue after the Olympics[3].
[edit] Trivia
- Stefani has an older sister and two younger brothers. Her brothers play tennis and her sister is a diver [4].
- As a young gymnast, she admired Elena Zamolodchikova, of Russia [5].
- She plans to study at University to become a nutritionist [6]
[edit] External links
- http://www.gymbox.net/stephanie_bisbikou.htm
- http://www.designedbytim.com/gymnstands/code/bisbikou.htm
