OUR HISTORY

1995Janika Mölder, a European and World Champion in RG, organizes the first Miss Valentine International Competition in Tartu, Estonia. Delegations from Estonia, Latvia, and Finland all come to compete. The Janika Gymnastics Club becomes the official hosting club for the event.

1996-1998The event is steadily growing both in number of athletes and number of participating countries. The competitions are held at the University of Tartu Sports Hall, the most modern sports hall in Tartu at the time.

1999Janika Mölder keeps promoting the event internationally. The competition is gaining positive recognition from international level athletes.

2000- The popularity of the competition is steadily increasing with over 1500 spectators over the 2-day event. Mrs. Irina Vinner, representing the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), visits the event. According to her later remarks, the competition has the potential to host the highest level in Rhythmic Gymnastics. The only problem is a technical one, since the height of the ceiling at the University of Tartu Sports hall is a little lower than what is foreseen in FIG technical rules. For the first time in the competition’s history Aesthetic Group Gymnastics (AGG) is included.

2001Gymnasts from 10 countries attend. Judging is challenging due to new RG rules that have just been introduced by FIG.

2002– 11 countries attend including 5 Olympic gold medal winners from Russia. At the AGG competition 11 AGG groups compete.

2003300 gymnasts from 12 countries compete. The University of Tartu Sports Hall is crowded and it becomes apparent that it would be challenging to further grow the event without increasing the capacity of the venue.

2004– Anna Bessonova, a European and World Champion from Ukraine competes and becomes the star of the event.

2005– Miss Valentine hosts the first-ever World Cup competition in AGG at the Vanemuine Theatre. While the venue is suitable for AGG groups, for RG athletes it has clear limitations in terms of size and lack of warm-up areas. Despite all the challenges Olympic medalist Irina Tchachina gives a memorable performance to the cheering crowd. Young talented gymnast, future Olympic Champion Margarita Mamun also competes.

2006Once again Miss Valentine has to change the venue. This year the event moves to the Turu Sports Hall, a facility the event still uses for official training. The event hosts a record-breaking 450 participants but organizers still dream about a bigger venue to allow for future growth.

2007 Years of waiting and active lobbying finally pay off- Tartu gets a brand new Sports Hall. The new A.Le Coq Sports Hall meets all of the criteria set by FIG for international competitions of highest level. 500 gymnasts from 16 countries participate.

2008Several new countries find their way to Miss Valentine and 500 gymnasts from 23 countries attend. Highlights include the performances of the Russian National RG Team, Anna Bessonova from Ukraine and several other stars.

2009– Olympic Champion Evgenia Kanaeva competes along with 500 athletes from 17 countries

2010Another record-breaking year for the competition with 760 participants from 26 countries. Miss Valentine also hosts a FIG international workshop for judges. With the help of the City of Tartu and the Estonian Olympic Committee, Miss Valentine gets a new podium, the same one that was used during the Beijing Olympic Games.

2012The magic number of participants is reached with the event hosting 1000 gymnasts. The list of stars includes Alia Garayeva from Azerbaijan and Neta Rifkin from Israel.

2013Miss Valentine hosts the first ever FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup event in the region. The organization of such a high level event is a big challenge for the hosts, both financially and organizationally. A special crew from Longines timing takes care of the scoring. The event is a huge success and a dream come true for Miss Valentine founder Janika Mölder, her team and the entire Estonian gymnastics community.

2014The 20th Anniversary of the Miss Valentine competition with 1100 athletes from 30 countries including stars like Marina Durunda from Azerbaijan and Viktoria Mazur from Ukraine. The event also hosts an AGG World Cup competition and the Madonna team from Russia brings home the gold.

2015An incredible 1400 gymnasts from 32 countries attend. Miss Valentine again hosts an AGG World Cup event and the Madonna team from Russia again brings home the gold. The celebrity list of RG stars includes Anna Rizadtionova, Viktoria Mazur, Marina Durunda and the Ukrainian National RG Team.

2016Miss Valentine hosts the first ever European Championships in Aesthetic Group Gymnastics. Minetit from Finland become first-ever European Champions in AGG. RG star lists and medal winners include Anna Rizadtinova, Nastasya Generalova representing the USA and Carmel Kallemaa from Estonia. Janika Mölder introduces a new scoring platform RGFORM that was developed by Attila Molnar. This platform later becomes widely used at gymnastics events worldwide.

2017Gymnasts from 35 countries arrive to compete at this popular event. Miss Valentine hosts an AGG World Cup competition and the Madonna team from Russia takes first place.

2018– The event marks Estonia’s 100th Anniversary with another great competition and a beautiful, specially staged gala performance. Gymnasts from 27 countries attend and Estonian National TV broadcasts the finals.

2020– Miss Valentine hosts the first-ever Grand Prix event in Baltic and Nordic countries at the renovated University of Tartu Sports Hall. The new facility provides gymnasts with plenty of warm up area and beautiful competition arena. The event is huge success. The RG stars list is impressive, including Arina Averina, Lala Kramarenko, Ekaterina Selezneva, Daria Trubnikova, Laura Zeng, Katsiaryna Halkina, Krystyna Pohranychna, Vlada Nikolchenko, Chaewoon Kim, Viktoria Bogdanova and others.

2021– The pandemic keeps ravaging the word. So, the 2021 Miss Valentine in-person event was cancelled. To keep the tradition uninterrupted the competition was held online and attracted big interest. 544 gymnasts from 27 countries competed

2022– Miss Valentine hosts Grand Prix event for the second time. Organizers face challenges due to continuing pandemic and war in Europe. Against all odds successful event was once again delivered

2023– 745 gymnasts from 37 countries participated, Miss Valentine hosts successful Grand Prix event

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