Mónica Ferrández

Mónica Ferrández Arenas (born 25 October 1974) is a Spanish rhythmic gymnast and trainer. She is also a European and World medalist.

Career
Mónica took up the sport at age 6 as an extracurricular activity. After a few months, she started training at the Club Atlético Montemar until being incorporated into the national team in 1988.

In 1990, she won bronze at the Spanish national championships, behind Ada Liberio and Noelia Fernández. That November she was selected for the European Championships in Gothenburg where she won team bronze along with Carolina Pascual and Noelia Fernández. She was as well 7th in the All-Around.

In October 1991, she competed at the World Championships in Athens, where she was 6th in the All-Around, 5th with rope, 7th with hoop, 6th with ball, and 7th with clubs, winning bronze in the team category along with Carmen Acedo and Carolina Pascual. At the national championships, she won silver between Carolina Pascual and Carolina Borrell. In the 1991 Spanish Cup Final, held in Malaga, she won ex aequo with her teammate Carmen Acedo, as well as being a gold medalist in the communities.

She retired in 1992 because of plantar fasciitis in her left foot. After her retirement, she was the coach of the national junior group, made of Claudia Heredia Paula Gómez, Sara González, Miriam Guerra, Carmen Martínez, and Victoria Plaza, together with Yolanda Andrés from 2012 to 2013. In November 2012 the junior group participated in an exhibition at the Euskalgym. In April 2013 they debuted their routine in an exhibition at the Copa de la Reina in Zaragoza, and on May 31 the group participated in the European Championship in Vienna, where they finished in 16th place in the All-Around after having made two rotations with 5 hoops.

Currently, Mónica is the coordinator of the Escuela Municipal de Gimnasia Rítmica of Torrevieja (Alicante), where she also teaches. In Torrevieja she invited in the technical team other former gymnasts such as Mari Carmen Moreno or Jennifer Colino. Ferrández has also coached national team gymnast Polina Berezina since she arrived at Club Torrevieja at the age of 7. Berezina has been an international with the Spanish junior team in 2013, and senior since 2014, and has several Spanish championship titles in different categories. Ferrández trains Polina individually at the Palacio de los Deportes in Torrevieja and travels with her to all competitions.

In September 2018 she took advantage of her trip to the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Sofia as part of the staff of the national team, to join several former Spanish gymnasts and meet again with the former national coach Emilia Boneva, also organizing a tribute dinner in her honor. On November 16, 2019, on the occasion of the death of Emilia Boneva, some 70 former national gymnasts, including Mónica, gathered on the mat to pay tribute to her during the Euskalgym. The event took place in front of 8,500 attendees at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre in Baracaldo and was also followed by a tribute dinner in her honour.