Kiroi-Bogatyreva retires as a proud Olympian
Olympian Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva, 22, has retired as an athlete, satisfied after achieving all her goals.
FROM her first experience of gymnastics at the age of two, to winning her first international rhythmic gymnastics gold medal at age 11 and finally achieving her childhood dream of becoming an Olympian last year in Paris, Jewish Melburnian Alexandra ‘Sasha’ Kiroi-Bogatyreva has lived, breathed and achieved in her chosen sport, at the elite level.
Last week, the 22-year-old announced her retirement as an athlete, expressing immense pride and satisfaction, as well as excitement about her next chapter in life, pivoting towards a career in law.
Among Kiroi-Bogatyreva’s highest achievements were two bronzes in her Commonwealth Games debut as a 15-year-old in 2018 in the Gold Coast, three medals, including one gold (in the individual clubs final), at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, multiple golds at Australian and Oceania championships, and Oceania and personal best placings at world cups and world championships.
After she won four golds and a bronze across different apparatus at the 2023 Australian Championships, she revealed she’d created her new routines in Israel, with the help of the Israeli national team.
And in 2022, she won five bronzes in her Maccabiah Games debut.
Kiroi-Bogatyreva’s ultimate triumph, though, happened early last August, when representing Australia at the Paris Olympics.
There, she scored 30.050 in a brilliant hoop routine that included a spectacular foot trap finish and placed 22nd overall, equalling Australia’s second-highest individual rhythmic gymnastics Olympic result.
Her smile said it all after each of her Paris performances, as she waved to the 15,000-strong crowd and made a heart shape with her hands towards the TV cameras.
“It’s truly incredible to be here and I’m just trying to soak everything up!” she’d beamed.
Kiroi-Bogatyreva also achieved plenty off the gymnastics floor, including being inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, winning an Australian Sports Medal, and several state and national senior gymnast of the year awards.
In the years approaching the Paris Games, she made the bold decision to switch from her junior club in Prahran to Sydney-based Le Ray Gymnastics and to base herself for much of each year in Baku, to train full time with Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, which she described as instrumental to her success.
While doing all that, she became a member of the Australian Institute of Sport Internship Program and juggled commencing a law degree with training and competing.
Now residing in Melbourne again, she only has two more years of study and will stay connected to gymnastics as a qualified coach.
“Ultimately, I achieved all my goals as an athlete and concluded my career at the pinnacle,” Kiroi-Bogatyreva told Gymnastics Australia.
“Now I aspire for my legacy to be to inspire gymnasts to pursue their own goals.”
In a special message for Australia’s Jewish community, she told The AJN, “I have always felt a strong support from my parents and extended mishpocha – and that includes the Jewish community, through my friends, my old school [King David] and Maccabi.
“When they say it takes a village to raise a child – or in my case an Olympian – it really does.
“I’m looking forward to supporting Maccabi and future Maccabi athletes through their journeys.
“My message to our community is make sure you keep supporting each other, to maximise our joint potential and then only the sky is the limit.”
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