Tonya Paulsson

Tonya Paulsson (born 28 August 2003) is a Swedish artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 and 2020 Swedish National Champion and she represented Sweden at the 2018 Youth Olympics where she was part of the Mixed NOC team who won bronze in the mixed multi-discipline team competition.

Tonya Paulsson
Paulsson at the 2018 Youth Olympics
Personal information
Born	(2003-08-28) 28 August 2003 (age 21) Malmö, Sweden
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Country represented	Sweden
Years on national team	2016–2024 (SWE)
College team	California Golden Bears[1]
Level	Senior Elite
Club	GK Motus-Salto
Head coach(es)	Janie Ahlstrom / Frederic Pierreville
Medal record Women's artistic gymnastics Representing  Sweden FIG World Cup Event 1st 2nd 3rd World Challenge Cup 2 1 0 Total 2 1 0 Representing Mixed-NOCs Youth Olympic Games 2018 Buenos Aires Mixed team

Early life

Paulsson was born in Malmö in 2003.^[2] Her mother is originally from Taiwan.^[3] She began gymnastics in 2010.^[4]

Junior gymnastics career

2016

Paulsson competed at the Unni & Haralds Trophy in Oslo where she finished fourth in the all-around but won gold on uneven bars.^[5] The following month Paulsson competed at the Nordic Championships where she was limited to only competing on the uneven bars due to a knee injury. Despite the injury she helped Sweden finish first in the junior division.^[6] She next competed at the Swedish National Championships. She once again only competed on uneven bars but managed to finish first amongst the juniors.^[7]

2017

Paulsson competed at a team selection competition for the 2017 Junior Nordic Championships where she placed first in the all-around ahead of Jessica Castles and she also recorded the highest scores on vault and uneven bars.^[8] At the Junior Nordic Championships Paulsson helped Sweden finish in third place. Individually she finished sixteenth in the all-around but won gold on uneven bars.^[9] In June she competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge where she helped Sweden finish ninth.^[10]

In late June Paulsson competed at the Swedish National Championships where she won silver in the all-around behind Ida Staafgård, silver on vault behind Castles, gold on uneven bars, bronze on balance beam behind Staafgård and Castles, and fourth on floor exercise.^[11] In November Paulsson competed at the Swedish Cup where she finished first amongst the juniors. During event finals she finished second on vault, first on uneven bars, third on balance beam, and fifth on floor exercise.^[12] She ended the season competing at the Top Gym Tournament where she finished tenth in the team competition, seventeenth in the all-around, thirteenth on vault, sixth on uneven bars.^[13]

2018

Paulsson competed at the Youth Olympic Qualifier^[14] where she finished in twelfth place and qualified Sweden for a spot at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.^[15] She next competed at the Nordic Championships where she helped Sweden finish second behind Norway. Individually she won silver in the all-around behind Mari Kanter of Norway, gold on uneven bars, and bronze on floor exercise. She finished sixth on balance beam.^[16] She next competed at the Swedish National Championships where she placed first in the all-around, on uneven bars, on balance beam, and on floor exercise.^[17] Paulsson competed at the European Championships but failed to qualify for any event finals. Paulsson was selected to represent Sweden at the 2018 Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires.^[18] While there she qualified for the all-around and uneven bars finals.^[19] During the all-around final she placed seventh.^[20] During the uneven bars final she once again placed seventh.

Floor Qualification

All-Around Final

Uneven Bars Final

Mixed Multi-Discipline Team

Paulsson at the 2018 Youth Olympics

Senior gymnastics career

2019

Paulsson turned senior in 2019. She competed at the Swedish National Championships where she won gold in all-around and silver on uneven bars behind Jonna Adlerteg.^[21] She next competed at the Heerenveen Friendly where she finished seventeenth in the all-around. She ended the season competing at the Mälar Cup where she finished second behind Alva Eriksson in the all-around and on floor exercise. Additionally she tied for second with Eriksson on uneven bars behind Iida Haapala. She finished first on balance beam.^[22]

2020

In October Paulsson competed at the Swedish National Championships where she was able to retain her national title from the previous year. Additionally she won gold on balance beam and floor exercise and won silver on uneven bars behind Jonna Adlerteg.^[23]

2021

Paulsson competed at the European Championships where she qualified to the all-around final; she placed 14th. In September Paulsson was selected to compete at the World Championships alongside Nathalie Westlund and Jennifer Williams.^[24]

2024

Paulsson contemplated quitting at the beginning of the year, but she decided to continue competing and began to pursue a switch in country to represent Taiwan.^[25]

In May, Paulsson competed at the European Championships. Due to recovering from a knee injury, she only competed on the uneven bars.^[26]

Paulsson competed at the World Cup in Szombathely, Hungary in October. There she won silver on the uneven bars as well as gold on the balance beam and floor. She said that she was proud of her floor performance as that was her main focus for he competition.^[26] She also committed to attending the University of California, Berkeley as a collegiate gymnast beginning in the fall of 2025.^[27]

In November, Paulsson announced that she planned to switch her country representation from Sweden to Taiwan, her mother's home country. She said that she had lost trust in the leadership of Sweden's national team.^[3] A week later, she clarified that her training style did not work well with that expected at the national training center, which she visited periodically, and that she did not feel that she was treated properly there. She also said that she had received racist comments after announcing her country change, which the Swedish Gymnastics Federation denounced.^[25]

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
Junior
2016	Unni & Haralds Trophy		4
	Nordic Championships
	National Championships
2017	Nordic Team Selections
	Nordic Championships		16
	FIT Team Challenge	9
	Swedish Championships						4
	Swedish Cup						5
	Top Gym Tournament	10	17	13	6
2018	Youth Olympic Qualifier		12
	Nordic Championships						6
	Swedish Championships
	Youth Olympic Games	[a]	7		7
Senior
2019	National Championships
	Heerenveen Friendly		17
	Mälar Cup
2020	National Championships
2021
	European Championships		14
	Osijek Challenge Cup			7	5
	FIT Challenge	7	31
	World Championships		35
2022
	European Championships		26
	World Championships	18
2023
	European Championships	10	14
2024
	European Championships	8
	Szombathely Challenge Cup

1. The teams were randomly assigned with gymnasts from different countries and disciplines

References

1. @tonya.paulsson (September 15, 2024). "Ahhhh I'm so excited to announce my verbal committment to UC Berkeley!!" – via Instagram.
2. "Tonya Paulsson - Sveriges Olympiska Kommitté".
3. "Svenska gymnasten Tonya Paulsson byter landslag: "Inget förtroende"" [Swedish gymnast Tonya Paulsson changes national team: “No confidence”]. SVT Sport (in Swedish). 2024-11-20. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
4. "Tonya Paulsson FIG profile". FIG.
5. "2016 Unni and Haralds Trophy Results". The Gymternet. April 4, 2016.
6. "Finland, Iceland top medals at Nordic Championships". The Gymternet. May 12, 2016.
7. "Torres defends national title in Sweden". The Gymternet. May 17, 2016.
8. "2017 Swedish Junior Selection Results". The Gymternet. May 7, 2017.
9. "2017 Nordic Junior Championships Results". The Gymternet. May 20, 2017.
10. "2017 FIT Challenge Results". The Gymternet. June 13, 2017.
11. "2017 Swedish Championships Results". The Gymternet. June 30, 2017.
12. "2017 Swedish Cup Results". The Gymternet. November 14, 2017.
13. "2017 Top Gym Tournament Results". The Gymternet. November 29, 2017.
14. "Tonya Paulsson klar för kval till Youth Olympic Games". Svensk Gymnastik (in Swedish). May 21, 2018.
15. "2018 Youth Olympic Qualifier Results". The Gymternet. June 23, 2018.
16. "2018 Nordic Championships Results". The Gymternet. July 6, 2018.
17. "2018 Swedish Championships Results". The Gymternet. July 16, 2018.
18. "Tonya Paulsson uttagen till Youth Olympic Games". Svensk Gymnastik (in Swedish). August 6, 2018.
19. "Lagbrons och ny finalplats för Tonya". Swedish Olympic Committee (in Swedish). October 11, 2018.
20. "Jätteskräll av Tonya Paulsson på Ungdoms-OS i Buenos Aires". Svensk Gymnastik (in Swedish). October 13, 2018.
21. "2019 Swedish Championships results". The Gymternet. July 4, 2019.
22. "2019 Malar Cup Results". The Gymternet. November 6, 2019.
23. "2020 Swedish Championships Results". The Gymternet. October 11, 2020.
24. "Klart vilka som kommer tävla i VM i artistisk gymnastik". Swedish Gymnastics (in Swedish). September 20, 2021.
25. Bergström, Kristoffer (2024-11-25). "Tonya Paulsson pratar ut: De skriver så sjuka saker" [Tonya Paulsson speaks out: They write such sick things]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-11-27.
26. "Gymnastik: Tonya Paulsson vann dubbelt i världscupfinalen: "Jag var i chock"" [Tonya Paulsson won twice at the World Cup final: "I was in shock"]. SVT Sport (in Swedish). 2024-10-06. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
27. "Cal Women's Gymnastics Pens 2025 Recruits". California Golden Bears Athletics. 13 November 2024. Retrieved 2024-11-20.

External links

• Tonya Paulsson at the International Gymnastics Federation