Sara Bayón (born 19 May 1981) is a Spanish former rhythmic gymnast, former team coach of the Spanish national rhythmic gymnastics group, and current coach of the French group. She is the only Spanish gymnast who has been world champion as an athlete and as a coach, being world champion in 3 ribbons and 2 hoops in Seville 1998, and as a coach, in 10 clubs in Kyiv 2013 and Izmir 2014.
As coach of the Spanish group, she has also participated in three Olympic Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016), always together with Anna Baranova, her greatest achievement as coach being the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. During this period the group was known as the "Equipaso". At the start of her gymnastics' career, she was also individual national runner-up in the pre-junior category (1993) and runner-up in as a junior (1996), and in group mode she was a Spanish junior (1994) and youth champion (1995 and 1996) with the Club Gimnasia Rítmica Palencia.
Career Bayón started gymnastics at the age of 5 at the Colegio de las Dominicas de Palencia as part of the extracurricular activities. Later she enrolled to the Club Gimnasia Ritmica Palencia. She was the silver medalist in the pre-junior category at the Spanish Championship in Valladolid in 1993, 6th in the junior category at nationals in Guadalajara and junior national group champion in 1994, as well as in the youth category in 1995, runner-up in the youth category as an individual and national youth group champion in 1996. Some of her coaches were Rosario Andrés, Gloria Fernández, Mónica Pérez or the former national gymnast Silvia Yustos. On January 11, 1997, she entered the national rhythmic gymnastics group of Spain.
Senior
By 1997, the members of the team had already moved their residence from the Canillejas chalet to a building attached to the INEF and had begun training at the High Performance Center in Madrid. María Fernández was the new national coach since December 1996, after the departure of Emilia Boneva, who had undergone heart surgery in November. At the beginning of the year, in addition to Bayón, Marta Calamonte and Carolina Malchair joined the group. In April, after the withdrawal of Marta Baldó, Estela Giménez and Estíbaliz Martínez, and Marta Calamonte's injury, Esther Domínguez also joined. Bayón that year was a substitute in the 5 balls routine and starter in the one of 3 balls and 2 ribbons. The first used a medley of songs by Édith Piaf, such as "Non, je ne regrette rien" or "Hymne à l'amour", while the one with balls and ribbons used "Las cosas del Quiero", composed by Quintero, Leon and Quiroga.
After some tournaments such as the Ciudad de Ibiza or the Gran Trofeo Campofrío, Bayón participated in her first official major competition, the European Championship held in Patras, where she got 4th place in the All-Around, as well as a silver medal with 5 balls, and another bronze with 3 balls and 2 ribbons. The group was then made up of Bayón, Nuria Cabanillas, Esther Domínguez, Lorena Guréndez, Tania Lamarca, Carolina Malchair and Marta Calamonte as a substitute. Later she would obtain the gold medal at the Epson Cup in Tokyo.
In 1998 the two routine used the Sevillian "Juego de luna y arena" (inspired by a poem by Lorca) and the tango "El vaivén" respectively, two songs by José Luis Barroso. Bayón continued to be a substitute gymnast with 5 balls, and a starter in the 3 ribbons and 2 hoops. In May 1998 she managed to become world champion at the World Championship in Seville with 3 ribbons and 2 hoops, where the group managed to beat Belarus with a score of 19,850. In addition, on the first day the team had obtained the silver medal in the All-Around with a cumulative score of 39,133. They ranked seventh in the 5 balls competition. The national team received the Longines Award for Elegance in this championship, a trophy that is usually awarded by the eponymous watch brand and the FIG during outstanding international gymnastics competitions. The group that year was made up of Bayón, Marta Calamonte, Lorena Guréndez, Carolina Malchair, Beatriz Nogales, Paula Orive and Nuria Cabanillas as a substitute.
By 1999 Nancy Usero was the group's new coach. She worked with Dalia Kutkaite as assistant and coach of the junior group, and with Cristina Álvarez as choreographer the first year. During that year, the two exercises were with 3 ribbons and 2 hoops and with 10 clubs, the first used "Zorongo gitano" and the other "Babelia" by Chano Domínguez, Hozan Yamamoto and Javier Paxariño, as music. Bayón would start in both exercises. The starting group was made up that year by Bayón, Marta Calamonte, Lorena Guréndez, Carolina Malchair, Beatriz Nogales and Paula Orive. At the end of May at the European Championship in Budapest the group was 7th in the All-Around, due to a poor score in the 10 club routine. In the competition of 3 ribbons and 2 hoops he won the bronze medal. In August the group won the silver medal in 3 ribbons and 2 hoops at the DTB-Pokal in Bochum. At the end of September at the World Championship in Osaka the group was 7th in the All-Around, and that gave them qualification for the Olympic Games in Sydney the following year. Subsequently, he ranked 6th in both the 3 ribbon and 2 hoops and the 10 clubs finals.
However, Bayón was unable to compete in the Olympic Games since the coach Nancy Usero decided to remove her and her teammates Paula Orive, Marta Alvés and Ana del Toro. Bayón retired in November 1999.
As a trainer
2004–2008: Beijing Olympic cycle 2008 After her retirement, Bayón studied INEF, specializing in high performance and doing internships at the CAR in Madrid. In 2005, after graduating, she was chosen as coach of the Spanish group, which she would direct together with the coach Anna Baranova. That same year, at the World Championship in Baku, the Spanish group obtained 7th place in the All-Around and 6th in 3 hoops and 4 clubs. The group was formed that year by Bárbara González Oteiza, Lara González, Marta Linares, Isabel Pagán, Ana María Pelaz and Nuria Velasco.
At the beginning of March 2006, the Spanish group won three silver medals at the Madeira International Tournament. In September 2006, at the World Cup event held in Portimão, the group achieved bronze in 5 ribbons and silver in 3 hoops + 4 clubs, in addition to 5th place in the All-Around. That same month, at the European Championships in Moscow they ended up in 5th place in the All-Around and 5th place in the 5 ribbons final. In November the Spaniards participated in the World Cup Final in Mie, where they got 5th place with 5 ribbons and 8th with 3 hoops + 4 clubs. The team composition was practically the same as the previous year but with Violeta González replacing Marta Linares.
In April 2007, at the World Cup held in Portimão, the team was 5th place in the All-Around and 6th in both the 5 ribbons and the 3 hoops + 4 clubs finals. In May the Spanish group won the silver medal both in the All-Around and in the 3 hoops + 4 clubs final of the World Cup held in Nizhny Novgorod, in addition to the 4th place with 5 ribbons. In September of that same year they took part in the Patras World Championship. The team placed 5th in the All-Around, which qualified them for the 2008 Summer Olympics. They also finished 6th with both 5 ribbons and 3 hoops + 4 clubs. In December they competed in the Pre-Olympic in Beijing, obtaining All-Around 8th place. The team was made of Bárbara González Oteiza, Lara González, Isabel Pagán, Ana María Pelaz, Verónica Ruiz and Bet Salom.
For this time, in addition to the holder, in the preparation for the Olympics other gymnasts (then substitutes) such as Sandra Aguilar, Cristina Dassaeva, Sara Garvín, Violeta González and Lidia Redondo were integrated in the team. In June 2008 at the European Championship in Turin, the group finished in 6th place in the All-Around and 4th place in both 5 ribbons and 3 rhoops + 4 clubs. In August of that year they participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing, obtaining the 11th position in the qualifying phase after committing several errors in their second routines, 3 hoops and 4 clubs. This made the team unable to get into the Olympic final. That year, at the World Cup in Benidorm, the Spanish team won two silver medals in the 5 ribbon and the 3 hoops and 4 clubs competition. The group was then composed by the same gymnasts who went to Beijing: Bárbara González Oteiza, Lara González, Isabel Pagán, Ana María Pelaz, Verónica Ruiz and Bet Salom.
In October, after the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bulgaria's Efrossina Angelova became the new national coach, replacing Anna Baranova, and went on to coach the group alongside Bayón.
For 2009 the group was almost completely renewed, of the gymnasts who had been in Beijing 2008 the only one that was still in training was Ana María Pelaz. Some gymnasts such as Bet Salom decided to leave the selection due to Angelova's decision to increase the number of hours of training, which made them incompatible with their studies. In April, the Spanish team won two silver medals (in the general competition and in 3 ribbons and 2 ropes) in the World Cup event held in Portimão, in addition to 6th place in 5 hoops. In In May 2009, Bayón stopped training the rhythmic gymnastics team due to differences with Efrossina Angelova and became ballet and choreography teacher for the women's artistic gymnastics team, in addition to training the Arganda Rhythmic Gymnastics Club in Arganda del Rey.
2011–2012: return to the national team and London 2012
In January 2011 dhe returned as coach of the national group, training it again with the coach Anna Baranova. At that time the group was three months behind the others, the time interval between the dismissal of Efrossina Angelova (who sued the Federation for unfair dismissal) and the hiring of Anna Baranova. Some gymnasts returned to their clubs of origin during this period, although several continued to work on body and apparatus technique with Noelia Fernández waiting for a new coach. With the return of Baranova and Bayón, two new routines were made with the aim of qualifying via that year's World Cup circuit for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The new 5 balls composition was on "Red Violin" by Ikuko Kawai (a theme based on the adage of the Concierto de Aranjuez), while the 3 ribbons 2 hoops used Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona in Stanley Black And His Orchestra and Plácido Domingo's version. During the 2011 season, the group trained by Baranova and Bayón, and formed by Loreto Achaerandio, Sandra Aguilar, Elena López, Lourdes Mohedano, Alejandra Quereda (captain) and Lidia Redondo, qualified for several finals in World Cup stages, in addition to winning the 3 gold medals at both the US Classics Competition in Orlando and the II Meeting in Vitória Brazil. At the World Championships in Montpellier, France, they didn't qualify directly for the Olympics, as they obtained the 12th position and a place for the Pre-Olympic after a ribbon knot in their 3 ribbons + 2 hoops routine. They also achieved 6th place in the 5 balls final. After the World Championship they continued their training with the aim of finally qualifying for the Games in the pre-Olympic test event. In November they participated in the Euskalgym and in December, in the I International Tournament of Zaragoza, they won the silver medal behind the Russian group.
In January 2012 they participated in the Pre-Olympic event, where they won the gold medal and qualified for the Olympic Games. Spain won a major competition for the first time since Seville 1998 (in which the Spanish group won gold in the 3 ribbons + 2 hoops final). In May, the team won All-Around bronze at the Sofia's World Cup and the gold medal in the final of the mixed routines of ribbons and hoops. In July 2012 the team won the bronze medal in the All-Around of the World Cup event held in Minsk.