The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) rhythmic gymnastics team won the silver medal in the group all-around event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after five successive gold medals in the event.

The team of five consisted of Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasiia Maksimova, Angelina Shkatova, Anastasiia Tatareva and Alisa Tishchenko.

In the final, they finished second to Bulgaria in the first rotation – the five balls – to the tune of Prince Igor: Polovtsian tancis khorom performed by the Symphony Orchestra of State Moscow Philharmonique and narrowly missed out on first place in the three hoops and two pairs of clubs, accompanied by Ruslan and Lyudmila performed by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation.

Maksimova is the most senior of the quintet aged 30. 

She won gold in the all-around event at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and was also part of gold-medal winning teams at the World Championships in Stuttgart in 2015 and Baku in 2019, which are among her seven golds won at a World Championships.

Earlier this year at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships in Varna in Bulgaria, Maksimova clinched gold in the group all-around and team all-around competitions.

The ROC Team won silver in the group all-around rhythmic gymnastics final ©Getty Images
The ROC Team won silver in the group all-around rhythmic gymnastics final ©Getty Images

Twenty-seven-year-old Bliznyuk has won gold in the previous two Olympic Games, having been part of victorious groups at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

She also shared Maksimova’s success at the European Championships in Varna and has won three golds across her two appearances at the World Championships.

Tatareva is the third member of the group who also finished first in the all-around at Rio 2016.

She boasts six gold medals at four World Championships, with three gold medals at the European Championships in Varna in 2021 and Guadalajara in Spain in 2018 among her impressive list of honours.

Shkatova and Tishchenko were both making their Olympic debuts in the Japanese capital.

Twenty-year-old Shkatova has enjoyed great success since making her national debut, winning her first World Cup event in the group all-around at Pesaro in Italy this year, on top of golds in the group all-around and team all-around at the European Championships in Varna.

Tishchenko was making her Olympic bow at the age of 17, although she had already been awarded the title of Master of Sport of International Class in the Russian Federation in 2019, the same year in which she won gold in the team all-around event at the Junior European Championships in Baku.

She also won four gold medals at junior level in the World Championships and European Championships in 2019.