Sofia Raffaeli on the Olympic podium: historic bronze in the individual all-around at the Olympics

Sofia Raffaeli made history for Italian rhythmic gymnastics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

At the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, the 20-year-old from Chiaravalle won bronze, securing the country's first-ever individual all-around Olympic podium in this discipline. This remarkable achievement adds to the three team medals Italy has won over the past two decades: silver in Athens 2004 and two bronzes in London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.

The 2022 world champion (photo by Simone Ferraro/CONI), who finished first in the qualifiers (139.100), didn’t start the final in the best way. Some mistakes in both the hoop (35.250) and the ball (32.900) routines left her in fourth place after two rotations. However, with a stunning 35.900 in the clubs routine, she broke back into the top three, a position she maintained through the final ribbon exercise (32.250). The gold medal went to Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev (142.850), who finished ahead of Bulgaria’s Boryana Kaleyn (140.600) and the young Italian, who concluded with a total score of 136.300. Milena Baldassarri finished eighth with a score of 129.700.