Stiliana Nikolova is not just a contender on the carpet at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, she’s also likely to win at least one unofficial title in Frankfurt this summer: the gymnast with the most languages under her belt. The 2025 Worlds All-Around silver medallist can communicate fluently in Bulgarian, Russian, Arabic, and English, an unusual combination born of a upbringing that bridged two continents.
The 20-year-old was born in Cairo, Egypt, thanks to her mother’s work as a gymnastics coach in the city. It’s fair to say Stiliana inherited at least some of her rhythmic skills from Paulina, who won world titles with the Bulgarian team in 1983 and 1985. Following the political upheaval of Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Paulina found herself without work in her native Bulgaria. A move to Egypt was therefore the perfect opportunity to continue her coaching career. As a result, her daughter's successful journey began far away from Europe, in a country where rhythmic gymnastics is more of a niche sport. “My first memory of the gymnasium dates back to when I was four years old. I just always liked playing with the ribbon, so it was only natural to become a gymnast”, Stiliana recalls. The physical strength required for a career in high-performance sport may have been passed on to Stiliana by her father Ilija Djakow. The former professional soccer player not only had a reputation as a tough defender, he also played five times for Bulgaria and was part of their squad at the Mexico 1986 World Cup.
In order to achieve similar success, a 13-year-old Stiliana made the tough decision to move back to Bulgaria without her family in order to train at the national centre in Sofia. Just five years later, 40 years after her mother’s first World Championship gold medal, Stiliana also became world champion as Bulgaria won the team competition in 2023. Individual All-Around gold followed at the 2024 European Championships. This victory meant high expectations for Nikolova at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she was rated among the favourites to medal. But it wasn’t to be. In the individual competition, she missed out on not just the podium, but a top ten finish. There were painful scenes as the 11th-placed gymnast gave in to her tears, sitting on the floor of the Paris de la Chapelle Arena.
But the disappointment drove her on to new heights in 2025, as she secured not only the Worlds All-Around silver, but also triple European apparatus gold in Hoop, Ball and Clubs. Now Nikolova is ready to shine again in Frankfurt’s Festhalle – preferably with another gold medal around her neck.
