Elizabeth Paisieva
Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast (born 1986)
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Elisabet Vladimirova Paisieva (Bulgarian: Елизабет Владимирова Паисиева, born 17 December 1986), also known as Elizabeth Paisieva or Paysieva, is a Bulgarian retired rhythmic gymnast. She competed at two Olympic Games (2004 and 2008). She now works as a coach.
| Elizabeth Paisieva | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Paisieva performing with the ribbon in 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Elisabet Vladimirova Paisieva | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 17 December 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 167 cm (5 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Rhythmic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||
Country represented |  Bulgaria | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Iliana | ||||||||||||||||||||
Head coach | Ivanka Vidolova | ||||||||||||||||||||
Assistant coach(es) | Iliana Raeva, Stella Salapatiyska | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Choreographer | Milena Bourchina | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
Paisieva began gymnastics after her mother took her to a gym. She joined the national team at 14 and competed at her first World Championships in 2001 in Madrid, where she was the youngest competitor.[1][2] Along with her teammates Simona Peycheva, Yuliana Naidenova, and Iva Tepeshanova, she won the bronze medal in the team event.[3] Individually, she finished ninth in the all-around.[4]
She competed at the 2002 European Championships, where she won another bronze in the team event with her teammate Peycheva. She finished 14th in the all-around final.[5]
At the 2003 World Championships, extra pressure was on Paiseva, as her more successful teammate Peycheva had failed an anti-doping test shortly before the competition, and Olympic quotas were available at the competition. Paiseva helped win two quotas for Bulgaria, and she also won a bronze in the ribbon final.[1][6]
She competed at the 2004 European Championships. However, the Bulgarian federation withdrew her after the qualification round, where she placed 12th, in protest of scores they said were unfairly low.[7] At the 2004 Summer Olympics she finished 12th overall in the rhythmic individual all-around competition and did not reach the final.[8]
Paisieva competed at the 2006 European Championships and placed 11th,[9] and at the 2007 World Championships, where she finished in 15th.[10] At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she placed 19th in qualifications.[8] This was her last competition before she retired.[2]
After completing her competitive career, Paisieva graduated from the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski" and became a coach, and she also studied dance.[11] In 2010, she moved to Norway to coach; she later moved to Paris to coach there, then returned to Norway and became the manager of the Norwegian national team.[1][11][12] She moved back to Bulgaria and was appointed assistant coach of the national junior group for 2026 and 2027.[13]