Sofia Raffaeli

Sofia Raffaeli (born 19 January 2004) is an Italian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 World all-around, hoop, ball, ribbon and team champion, the 2023 World all-around, hoop and ball silver medalist, the 2023 European ball and clubs champion and silver all-around medalist, the 2024 European ball champion and all-around and ribbon silver medalist and the 2022 European hoop and clubs champion. She is also the 2019 Junior World silver medalist with rope and clubs. She is the first Italian individual rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Championships, European Championships and World Games, and she has won seven all-around gold medals in the FIG World Cup circuit.

At the national level, she is a three-time (2022-2024) Italian National All-around champion, the 2021 Italian National All-around silver medalist, and the 2020 Italian National All-around bronze medalist. As of 2023, she is the most decorated individual rhythmic gymnast from the Italian Gymnastics Federation.

Personal life
Raffaeli was born in Chiaravalle, Marche; Italy. Her mother, Milena Martarelli, is an engineer at the University of Ancona, while her father, Gianni Raffaeli, is an architect. She has a younger brother, Pietro Raffaeli, who is a fencer. Raffaeli got involved in artistic gymnastics at the age of three, and she switched to rhythmic gymnastics four years later.

In 2021, she joined the Sports Group of the Fiamme Oro.

At Gazzetta Sports Awards 2023 (Oscars of Sports), Raffaeli was named the Best Female Athlete of the year alongside the Olympic, World and continental higher jumper champion Gianmarco Tamberi, who was the best male of the year. This made her the first-ever Italian rhythmic gymnast to win this award.

2018
She represented Italy at the 2018 Junior European Championships in Guadalajara, Spain, where she qualified to the clubs final and she finished in 5th place. She and her teammates Eva Swahili Gherardi and Talisa Torretti took 4th place in Team competition.

2019
In 2019, she competed at the 2019 Junior World Championships in Moscow, Russia. She won three silver medals - team, rope and clubs. She also placed 8th in ball and 7th in ribbon.

2020
In 2020, Raffaeli officially made her senior debut at the 2020 Italian National Championships, where she won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Milena Baldassarri and Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. She also won a gold medal with clubs and a silver medal with ball.

2021
In the 2021 Season, Raffaeli made her senior international debut at the 2021 FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series. She finished 10th in the all-around behind Sabina Tashkenbaeva and qualified to two apparatus finals, where she won a silver medal with clubs and a bronze medal with ribbon. On 16–18 April Raffaeli competed at the 2021 Tashkent World Cup where she finished 4th in the all-around behind Anastasiia Salos, and qualified to three apparatus finals, winning a silver medal with hoop and ribbon, and also placing 4th in clubs. In May, Raffaeli participated at the 2021 Pesaro World Cup where she placed 8th in the all-round behind Laura Zeng and qualified to 2 apparatus finals, placing 6th in clubs and 5th in ribbon.

In June, she won the silver medal in the all-around final at the 2021 Italian National Championships only behind Milena Baldassarri and in front of Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. This championship decided the two gymnasts who were going to represent Italy at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Despite the fact that Raffaeli came second, the national coach, Emanuela Maccarani, decided that the gymnast accompanying Baldassarri should be Agiurgiuculese due to her experience throughout the Olympic cycle. Raffaeli also managed to enter all four apparatus finals, winning gold in clubs, silver in hoop, and bronze in ball and ribbon.

Raffaeli was then selected to compete at the 2021 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships in Varna, Bulgaria, along with Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. She qualified to the individual all-round final and the clubs final; she finished both finals in 8th place. At the 2021 Marbella Grand Prix Final, Raffaeli placed 4th all-around behind Anastasia Simakova, and she also placed 1st in clubs, 3rd in ball and ribbon, and 7th in hoop. She was selected to represent Italy at the 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan. At her senior world championships debut, she won a bronze medal in the hoop final. Raffaeli also made it into the individual all-around final, finishing in 6th place behind Viktoriia Onopriienko. She additionally won a silver medal in the team competition, together with Milena Baldassarri, Alexandra Agiurgiuculese, and the Italian group.

2022
In the 2022 season, Raffaeli adapted to the new FIG code of points and became the top gymnast of the Italian national team.

Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Athens and won the gold medal in the all-around, in front of Daria Atamanov, becoming the first Italian individual rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal in the all-around event of a FIG World Cup stage. She also qualified to three apparatus finals, winning two gold medals with ball and clubs, and a silver medal with hoop. On 8–10 April Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Sofia where she finished second in the all-around behind Boryana Kaleyn. She also won 3 silver medals with hoop, ball, clubs and she placed 6th in ribbon. On 22–24 April Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Baku where she won the second all-around title of her career ahead of Boryana Kaleyn and teammate Milena Baldassarri. She also won a gold medal with hoop and two bronze medals with ball and clubs, and she placed 5th in ribbon.

On 27–29 May Raffaeli competed at the 2022 Italian National Championships. She won the gold medal in the general all-around competition, and she also managed to win four gold medals in the apparatus finals, all in front of Milena Baldassarri. On 3–5 June Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Pesaro where she won the gold medal in the all around competition. On top of that, she won three gold medals in the hoop, ball and clubs final and a silver medal with the ribbon behind Viktoriia Onopriienko. With this, she won the all-around trophy of the World Cup circuit, and she also won the apparatus trophies with hoop, ball and clubs.

From 15 to 19 June Raffaeli competed at the 2022 European Championships in Tel Aviv, Israel. Although a poor performance in the individual final saw her left off the all-around podium, she won two gold medals and two silver medals in the hoop, clubs, ball and team final respectively. This made her the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal at the European Championships. On 12–13 July Raffaeli competed at the World Games 2022. She won the gold medal in the clubs final and two silver medals in the hoop and ball final. She was the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Games.

On 26–28 August Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Challenge Cup Cluj-Napoca. She won the gold medal in the all around competition. She became the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win an all-around gold medal at a World Challenge Cup. Additionally, she won two gold medals in the hoop and ribbon final and a bronze medal with clubs. From 14 to 18 September Raffaeli represented Italy at the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she won five gold medals in the all-around, hoop, ball, ribbon and team competition, and a bronze medal in the clubs final. She was Italy's first all-around individual champion at the World Championships.

2023
Raffaeli began her season by competing at the Grand Prix RG Marbella 2023, where she won a gold medal in the all-around and ribbon finals as well as a silver medal in the clubs final. On 18 March, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Athens and won the gold medal in the all-around competition. She also won a gold medal in the hoop final and a silver medal in the ball final. On 1–2 April Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Sofia where she finished second in the all-around. She also won a silver medal with ball, and two bronze medals with hoop and clubs. On 15 April Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Tashkent and won five gold medals in the all-around, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon final. The next week, she competed at the 2023 World Cup Baku and finished second in the all-around.

From 18 to 21 May Raffaeli competed at the 2023 European Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. She won the silver medal in the all-around final by just 0.05 points after making large improvements to her scores from qualifications. This made her the first Italian individual rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in the all-around final at the European Championships. In addition, she won two gold medals in the clubs and ball finals. On 10 June Raffaeli competed at the 2023 Italian National Championships. She won her second consecutive national title in the all-around competition. She also managed to win all the gold medals in the apparatus finals.

On 14–16 July Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Challenge Cup Cluj-Napoca and won the gold medal in the all around competition. She won the gold medal in the hoop final and two bronze medals in the ball and clubs finals. On 21–23 July Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Milan, where she won the gold medal in the hoop final and two silver medals in the all-around and clubs final. With this, she also won the FIG World Cup series all-around and hoop trophy for the second year in a row.

Raffaeli was selected to compete at the 2023 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, in Valencia, Spain, where she won three silver medals in the all-around, hoop and ball finals. She also contributed massively to the Italian team bronze. Throughout the World Championships, Raffaeli was seen training with a new coach, Claudia Mancinelli, and it was rumoured that she and her long-time coach Julieta Cantaluppi had some disagreements. In November, less than a year before the 2024 Summer Olympics, it was formally announced by the Italian and Israeli Gymnastics Federation that Julieta Cantaluppi was leaving Italy to pursuit other coaching opportunities in Israel.

2024
Raffaeli began her season by competing at the 2024 World Cup Athens and won two silver medals with hoop and ball. On 12–14 April, Raffaeli, competed at the 2024 World Cup Sofia, where she finished fourth in the all-around. She also won a bronze medal with hoop and a gold medal with clubs. The next week, she competed at the 2024 World Cup Baku and finished third in the all-around. She also won a gold medal with clubs and a silver medal with hoop.

On 3-5 May, Raffaeli competed at the 2024 European Cup Baku, where she won the silver medal in the all-around, a gold medal with hoop, a silver medal with clubs and a bronze medal with ribbon. From 23 to 26 May Raffaeli competed at the 2024 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She won the silver medal in the all-around final, the gold medal in the ball final and the silver medal in the ribbon final. She also won a silver medal in the team competition, together with Milena Baldassarri and the Italian group.

On 8 June Raffaeli competed at the 2024 Italian National Championships. She won her third consecutive national title in the all-around competition. She also managed to win three gold medals in the apparatus finals. She competed at the Milan World Cup at the end of June, where she won the silver medal in the all-around behind Darja Varfolomeev. In the apparatus finals, she won gold in ribbon and silver in the ball and clubs finals, and she took 7th place in the hoop final.

Eponymous skill
Raffaeli has one eponymous skill listed in the code of points, a 180 degree turn in a side split position on relevé with the free leg bent. It was added to the code in 2021. She is the second Italian rhythmic gymnast to have an eponymous skill after Alexandra Agiurgiuculese.

Achievements

 * She is the first and only Italian gymnast to have won a medal at a Junior World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships.
 * She is the first and only Italian individual gymnast to have won a gold medal in the all-around competition at a World Cup.
 * She is the first and only Italian gymnast to have won the entire World Cup circuits in the general competition, hoop, ball and clubs specialties.
 * She is the first and only Italian individual gymnast to have won a medal at a Rhythmic gymnastics European Championhsips.
 * She is the first and only Italian individual gymnast to have won a gold medal at a Rhythmic gymnastics European Championhsips.
 * She is the first and only Italian individual gymnast to have won a gold medal at a Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships.
 * She is the first and only Italian individual gymnast to have won a gold medal in the all around at a Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships.
 * She is the first and only Italian individual gymnast to have won 5 out of 5 golds (all-around, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon) in a World Cup.
 * She is the first and only Italian individual gymnast to have won a medal in the all around at a Rhythmic gymnastics European Championhsips.

Competitive highlights
(Team competitions in seniors are held only at the World Championships, Europeans and other Continental Games.)