Elzhana Taniyeva

Elzhana Taniyeva (Kazakh: Елжан Таниева; born 6 September 2005) is a Kazakh rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2024 Asian all-around champion and will represent Kazakhstan at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the 2022 Asian Games all-around and team silver medalist. She won three medals at the 2021 Summer World University Games and four medals at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games.

Early life
Taniyeva took up rhythmic gymnastics at age four, following her older sister. She grew up in Almaty, but at age 10, she moved to Shymkent for her gymnastics training.

Junior career
Taniyeva won gold medals in the all-around, hoop, ball, and ribbon and a silver medal in the clubs at the 2018 Asian Cup. She competed in the 2019 Junior World Championships in Moscow, Russia, finishing 13th with the Kazakhstan team. She qualified for the rope final and finished in fourth place, 0.200 away from the bronze medal.

2021
Taniyeva became age-eligible for senior competition in 2021. She took part in the Moscow World Challenge Cup, finishing seventh in the all-around and qualifying for all the event finals. In the event finals, she placed sixth in the hoop and clubs and fifth in the ball and ribbon. Later that year, she was selected to compete at the World Championship in Kitakyushu, Japan, and finished 21st in the all-around during the qualification round.

2022
At the Moscow Grand Prix, Taniyeva won the silver medal in the clubs final behind Russia's Lala Kramarenko. She finished sixth in the hoop final at the Palaio Faliro World Cup. Then at the Marbella Grand Prix, she won the bronze medal in the clubs final behind Bulgarians Stiliana Nikolova and Eva Brezalieva. At her next World Cup in Sofia, she won the bronze medal in the clubs final- her first FIG World Cup medal. Then at the Baku World Cup, she was fourth in the ball final and fifth in the clubs final. At the final World Cup event in Pesaro, she finished fifth in the all-around and in the ribbon final and eighth in the hoop final.

Taniyeva competed at the Asian Championships and won the gold medal in the ribbon final. Additionally, she placed seventh in the all-around and won silver medals in the clubs final and with the Kazakhstan team. She then represented Kazakhstan at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games, which were held in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She won a bronze medal in the team event alongside Aibota Yertaikyzy. Individually, she won the gold medal in the ball final and bronze medals in the hoop and ribbon finals.

Taniyeva finished 14th in the all-around and seventh in the ribbon final at the World Challenge Cup in Cluj-Napoca. She then competed at the World Championship and qualified for the all-around final, where she finished in eighth place. Additionally, the Kazakhstan team finished 13th.

2023
Taniyeva began the 2023 season at the Miss Valentine Tartu Grand Prix and won a silver medal in the hoop final behind Ukraine's Viktoriia Onopriienko. Then at the Marbella Grand Prix, she won a bronze medal in the ball final behind Bulgarian gymnasts Stiliana Nikolova and Eva Brezalieva, and she placed fourth in the all-around. She then competed at the Palaio Faliro World Cup and finished 11th in the all-around. The day after, she won a bronze medal in the clubs final and placed fourth in the ribbon final. At the Sofia World Cup, she ended fifth place in the all-around, and she won a silver medal in the ribbon final. Then at the Tashkent World Cup, she placed sixth in the all-around, seventh in the ball final, and fifth in the clubs final. She won the gold medal in the ball final at the Portimão World Challenge Cup, and she won a bronze medal in the ribbon final.

Taniyeva won the silver medal in the all-around at the Asian Championships behind Uzbekistan's Takhmina Ikromova. In the event finals, she won silver medals in the hoop and ribbon and bronze medals in the ball and clubs, and she helped the Kazakh team win the silver medal. She then won three medals at the World University Games- silver with the ball and ribbon and bronze with the hoop. Then at the Asian Games, she won the all-around silver medal once again behind Ikromova. She also won a silver medal in the team event alongside Milana Parfilova and Erika Zhailauova. At the World Championship, she qualified for the ball final and finished seventh.

2024
Taniyeva won the gold medal in the ball final at the Marbella Grand Prix. She finished fifth in the all-around at the Sofia World Cup. At the Asian Championships, Taniyeva won the all-around title. Her placement gave her an individual berth to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics. In the event finals, she won the gold medal in the hoop and the bronze medal in the ball.