Iliana Raeva is one of the most popular and richest Rhythmic Gymnast who was born on March 15, 1963 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was born on 15 March 1963 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was raised in Sofia, on the same street as fellow gymnasts Lilia Ignatova and Anelia Ralenkova, who also competed for the same Levski gymnastics club. Iliana was the recognized leader, both in their street games and in the team, who started learning gymnastics ABC under the clever and experienced eyes of the coach Zlatka Bontcheva in “Levski-Spartak ” club, Sofia. At 15 Iliana went on to train under Neshka Robeva who had joined the club shortly before.
She relied on style and artistry, rather than excessively complex moves, with her 1980 ribbon routine to Zorba the Greek and clubs routine to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, which remain outstanding examples of the sport.
After retiring from active competition she married Bulgarian world cup footballer Nasko Sirakov, and now runs her own gymnastics club “Iliana” in Bulgaria. In 1999, she became the Head of the Council of Coaches in the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation. She led the Bulgarian team in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. She was the coach of the Bulgarian Group, which won the bronze medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Iliana’s first “great day” was in London, at the 1979 World Championships, when she shared the gold for the clubs routine together with the AA champion Irina Deriugina of (USSR) and Daniella Boshanska (CZE). One year later, at the 1980 European Championships in Amsterdam, Raeva swept the gold in the all around, rope, hoop and clubs.
