Evita Griskenas

Evita Griskenas (born December 3, 2000) is an American individual rhythmic gymnast.[3][4] On August 6, 2021, Evita represented the United States at the 2020 Olympic Games. She is a current member of the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team.[3] She has won multiple medals in international competition representing both North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center[1] and the USA National Team.[5] At the USA national level, Griskenas is the three-time All-Around silver medalist at the USA Senior National Championships (2017–19)[3] and the USA Junior All-Around National Champion in 2015.[3] In August 2019, she was recognized for having won the most medals by any single athlete in any sport at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru,[6] winning four gold medals (including the All-Around gold) and one bronze medal.

Evita Griskenas
Griskenas at Tokyo Disneyland in 2018
Personal information
Full nameEvita Griskenas
Country represented United States
Born (2000-12-03) December 3, 2000
Chicago, Illinois, United States
HometownOrland Park, Illinois
ResidenceNew York City, New York
DisciplineRhythmic gymnastics
ClubNorth Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center [1]
Head coach(es)Natalia Klimouk
Assistant coach(es)Angelina Yovcheva
World ranking12
2020 Olympics All-Around Results [2]
Medal record
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
2019 Lima All-around
2019 Lima Hoop
2019 Lima Ball
2019 Lima Ribbon
2019 Lima Clubs
Pan American Championships
2017 Daytona Beach Team
2017 Daytona Beach All-around
2017 Daytona Beach Hoop
2017 Daytona Beach Ball
2017 Daytona Beach Clubs
2017 Daytona Beach Ribbon

Career

Junior

Griskenas was the USA Junior National Champion in 2015, winning all-around.[7]

In February 2015, she finished third in all-around at the 2015 Moscow Grand Prix Junior International Tournament, Moscow, Russia.[8]

Senior

Griskenas won the all-around gold medal and gold in all four apparatus finals at the 2017 Pan American Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Daytona, Florida.[9] At her first World Championships in 2017, she advanced to the all-around, ribbon and hoop finals.

She advanced to the all-around final at the 2018 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. In both 2018 and 2019, Griskenas won the all-around silver medal at the USA National Championships.[3] In 2019, she won gold in the ribbon final, and the silver medals in both hoop and ball. In 2018, she won the gold in ball and the silver in hoop.

Griskenas was the most decorated athlete in any sport at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru in 2019.[6] She won five medals for Team USA, including gold in the all-around; three gold medals in ball, hoop and ribbon; and a bronze medal for clubs. She was the highest ranked American gymnast at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in September 2019, finishing in 8th place all-around.[10] She secured one of two Olympic spots for Team USA for Tokyo 2020, along with teammate Laura Zeng.

In her only competition in 2020, Griskenas placed fourth in all-around at the Grand Prix Brno, in Brno, Czech Republic.[11] She qualified for all four event finals, and was awarded the bronze medal for ball.

At the 2020 Olympic Games, Griskenas finished twelfth in the qualification round for the individual all-around and was the second reserve for the all-around final.[12]

Notable accomplishments

Personal life

Evita Griskenas was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Orland Park, Illinois where she attended Carl Sandburg High School,[3] graduating in 2019. She is a sophomore at Columbia University in New York City, where she was named to the Dean's List both semesters after completing her freshman year with an over 4.0 GPA.

Griskenas trained for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics at the North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center.[1] She started ballroom dancing, along with ballet, at the age of 4 — with Russian, Bulgarian and Cuban instructors — to help her rhythmic career.

Her parents, Sigitas and Olga Griskenas, are immigrants from Lithuania and served as Lithuanian national fitness team coaches until 2000. Both were Lithuanian National Champions in Fitness. Sigitas was twice the World Fitness Champion (1997 and 1999), and Vice Mr. Fitness Universe in 2000. Olga finished fifth place in Fitness Aerobics in 1997 and 1998. Both Olga and Sigitas were World Fitness Champions in Couples in Syros, Greece, in 2000.[18]

Evita has one younger brother, Nathan, who does archery.

References
  1. "North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center".
  2. "2020 Olympics Tokyo Rhythmic Gymnastics All Around Results".
  3. "USA Gymnastics Athlete Page".
  4. "F.I.G. Athlete Evita Griskenas".
  5. "Team USA - Evita Griskenas, Rhythmic Gymnastics".
  6. "80 Pan American Records and a New World Record: The Surprising Numbers from Lima 2019".
  7. "2015 USA Gymnastics Championships Meet Results" (PDF).
  8. "Griskenas claims all-around bronze at Moscow Junior International Tournament".
  9. "The Week In Team USA Results: Oct. 10-16".
  10. "37th FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships".
  11. "Grand Prix Brno / Tart Cup 2020".
  12. "Rhythmic Gymnastics — Individual All-Around — Qualification — Results" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  13. "Results for 37th FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Baku (AZE)".
  14. "Olympic Hopefuls and National Champions Named as Finalists for 90th AAU James E. Sullivan Award presented by Eastbay".
  15. "Evita Griskenas at Panam Sports Awards 2019".
  16. "Sporting Icons Crowned at Inaugural Panam Sports Awards".
  17. "Feeley, Griskenas, Zeng unite for USA's best-ever team finish at Rhythmic Worlds".
  18. "World Fitness Federation / World Body Building Federation".
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