Marina Durunda

Durunda began practicing rhythmic gymnastics in 2001 at age four in Sevastopol. At age six, she and her family moved to Cyprus, where for seven years until 2012 she was the national champion and won all competitions of Cyprus. Unable to receive a Cypriot passport, she accepted an invitation to compete for Azerbaijan from the Azeri National Gymnastics Team Federation.

As a junior, Durunda competed with the Azeri team at the 2012 European Championships and qualified for the ball final finishing 7th. She competed at the 2012 Aeon Cup in Japan finishing 3rd in all-around at the juniors event.[6]

Durunda made her senior debut at the 2013 Miss Valentine Cup in Tartu, Estonia where she won the bronze medal in all-around behind Ukrainian champion Ganna Rizatdinova and silver medalist Melitina Staniouta. She also won bronze in the ball, clubs and ribbon final. Durunda won gold in All-around at the 2013 Baltic Hoop.[7] At the 2013 Pesaro World Cup, Durunda qualified for all four event finals, she finished 5th in ribbon. Durunda finished 6th in all-around at the 2013 Sofia World Cup and qualified for all four event finals. She again finished 6th in all-around at the 2013 Minsk World Cup. Durunda competed at her first Senior Europeans at the 2013 European Championships in Vienna, Austria. She and teammate Lala Yusifova represented Azerbaijan where they finished 4th in Team event. She qualified for three apparatus in the finals and finished 5th in ball, hoop and ribbon. She won her first senior national title at the 2013 Azerbaijan National Championships. At the 2013 World Cup Final in St.Petersburg, Russia, she finished 6th in all-around and again qualified to all 4 event finals. Durunda competed at the 2013 World Championships in Kiev, Ukraine where she qualified and finished 5th in ribbon final. Durunda finished 16th at the 2013 World Championships All-around final behind Belarusian Katsiaryna Halkina. In October, she competed at the 2013 Grand Prix Brno finishing 6th in the all-around and qualified to four event finals. On October 25–27, Durunda competed at the World Club Championship, the 2013 Aeon Cup in Tokyo, Japan representing team Neftchi (together with teammate Lala Yusifova) finishing 5th in Team event. She finished 6th in the All-around finals behind Belarusian Katsiaryna Halkina.[8]

In 2014 Season, Durunda competed at the 2014 Miss Valentine Cup and won the all-around gold medal. She withdrew after suffering an injury at the 2014 Moscow Grand Prix qualifications. Durunda returned to competition in the first World Cup event of the season at the 2014 Debrecen World Cup where she finished 6th in the all-around and won gold in hoop.[9] She finished 5th in all-around at the 2014 Stuttgart World Cup and qualified to all 4 event finals.[10] Durunda then competed at the 2014 Holon Grand Prix where she finished 8th in all-around and qualified to 2 event finals. Durunda finished 4th in all-around at the 2014 Lisboa World Cup and won bronze in ball final. She then followed her next event at the 2014 Pesaro World Cup, where she finished 6th in all-around and qualified to 4 event finals. Durunda won her second National all-around title at the 2014 Azerbaijan Championships held in Baku. On May 22–24, Durunda competed at the 2014 Tashkent World Cup where she finished 6th in all-around behind Melitina Staniouta. She qualified to all 4 event finals and won bronze medal in ribbon and clubs (tied with Elizaveta Nazarenkova).[11] She then competed at the 2014 Minsk World Cup finishing 7th in all-around, she qualified to 3 event finals and won bronze medal in hoop.[12] On June 10–15, Durunda competed at the 2014 European Championships and finished 6th in all-around behind Margarita Mamun.[13] On August 8–10, Durunda competed at the 2014 Sofia World Cup finishing 10th in all-around and 7th in ball finals. On September 22–28, Durunda (together with teammates Nilufar Niftaliyeva and Gulsum Shafizada) competed at the 2014 World Championships where Team Azerbaijan finished 5th. she qualified to 3 event finals, placing (6th in hoop, 7th in ball, 5th in clubs) and finished 6th in the all-around finals ahead of Melitina Staniouta of Belarus. On October 17–19, Durunda traveled in Tokyo for the 2014 Aeon Cup, representing team Ocaq club (together with teammates Gulsum Shafizada and junior Zhala Piriyeva) where they finished 5th in team event, Durunda finished 8th in the All-around finals.

In 2015 Season, Durunda competed at the 2015 Valentine Cup and won the silver medals in all-around, ribbon, hoop, placed 3rd in clubs and 4th in ball. On March 13–15, Durunda then finished 4th at the Trophy de Barcelona in the all-around and took a bronze medal in clubs finals. On March 21–22, Duruna competed at the 2015 Thiais Grand Prix finishing 4th in the all-around behind Neta Rivkin, she qualified to 4 event finals, winning gold in clubs (tied with Ganna Rizatdinova), and 2 silver (hoop, ribbon). On March 27–29, Durunda competed at the 2015 Lisboa World Cup finishing 5th in the all-around, in the event finals, she took 2 bronze (ball, ribbon) and 4th place (hoop, clubs). Durunda then competed at the 2015 Bucharest World Cup and finished 5th in the all-around behind Korean Son Yeon-Jae. She qualified to event finals taking bronze in ribbon and placing 4th in hoop, ball, clubs. On April 10–12, Durunda placed 6th in all-around at the 2015 Pesaro World Cup and qualified to all 4 apparatus finals. Durunda then competed at the 2015 European Championships where Team Azerbaijan finished 5th, she qualified 2 event finals winning bronze in ribbon and placed 5th in clubs. Durunda finished 8th in all-around at the 2015 Grand Prix Berlin and qualified to 2 event finals. On June 15–21, Durunda competed at the inaugural 2015 European Games where she finished 6th in the all-around, she qualified to 3 apparatus finals: won the silver medal in ribbon, finished 5th in hoop and 6th in ball. In August, Durunda won the all-around silver at the 2015 Baltic Cup behind Israeli gymnast Victoria Veinberg Filanovsky. Durunda then competed at the 2015 Budapest World Cup finishing 7th in the all-around and qualified to 3 apparatus finals. In her next competition at the 2015 Sofia World Cup, Durunda finished 8th in the all-around behind Bulgarian Neviana Vladinova. She qualified to 2 apparatus finals finishing 6th in hoop and clubs. On September 9–13, Durunda competed at the 2015 World Championships in Stuttgart, she qualified to all 4 apparatus finals finishing 7th in Ball(17.600), 6th in Hoop (17.916), Clubs (17.833) and Ribbon (17.800). In the All-around finals; Durunda finished 6th with a total of 71.399 points.[14] On October 2–4, Durunda together with teammates Ayshan Bayramova and junior Zhala Piriyeva represented Team Ocaq Sports Club at the 2015 Aeon Cup in Tokyo Japan, Durunda finished 10th in the all-around finals behind Viktoria Mazur and with Team Azerbaijan finishing 5th in the overall standings.

Durunda performing with ball at 2016 Summer Olympics

In 2016, recovering from a minor leg injury; Durunda first competed at the 30th Thiais Grand Prix event in Paris, where she finished 10th in the all-around and qualified 3 event finals.[15] On April 1–3, Durunda competed at the 2016 Pesaro World Cup where she finished 18th in the all-around. On May 6–8, Durunda won the all-around silver at the Corbeil-Essonnes International Tournament; she also took silver medals in all 4 apparatus final. Durunda then finished 2nd in the All-around at the Azeri National Championships behind Zhala Piriyeva. Durunda finished 10th in the all-around at the 2016 Guadalajara World Cup and qualified to the ribbon finals. On June 17–19, Durunda competed at the 2016 European Championships where she finished in 7th place with a total of 72.116 points.[16] On July 8–10, Durunda then finished 7th in the all-around at the 2016 Kazan World Cup with a total of 72.500 points - her highest score for the season and a New Personal Best, she also qualified to all apparatus finals placing 8th in hoop, 7th in ball, clubs and ribbon. On July 22–24, culminating the World Cup of the season in 2016 Baku World Cup, Durunda finished 10th in the all-around with a total of 70.500, she qualified 2 event finals winning bronze in ribbon and 7th in ball.[17] At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she reached the finals of Women's rhythmic individual all-around where she finished in 9th place with a total of 69.748 points. On September 9–11, Durunda together with teammates Zhala Piriyeva and junior Zohra Aghamirova represented team Ocaq Sport club at the annual 2016 Aeon Cup in Tokyo, where they finished 4th in Team event and with Durunda finishing 6th in the all-around.

Durunda spent early of the season recovering from a hand injury. In May 2017, Durunda returned to competition and won five medals, including three golds at the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games which were hosted in her home country Azerbaijan. She competed at 2017 European Championships in Budapest where she qualified to 1 apparatus final in hoop. On June 6, Just days after competing in Europeans, Durunda announced her retirement in her rhythmic gymnastics career due to the hand injury that she sustained earlier in the year.