Dancing to success
Gabriele Goffredo and Anna Matus, the Latin dance couple from Moldova, were Best Team in the Athlete of the Year vote, placing fourth in the overall standings behind Sofia Olofsson (Muaythai), Marcin Dzienski (Sport Climbing) and Ray Williams (Powerlifting).
The couple won their first World Championship in Vienna, Austria, in November 2015. They remain undefeated since September 2015, and in September 2016 they defended their World Champion title in Chengdu, China.
Gabriele Goffredo and Anna Matus represent Moldova but reside and train in Italy. They teamed up five years ago and immediately started to generate headlines. They have been finalists in every (!) competition they’ve taken part in since 2011. They are reigning World Games champions, having won the Latin event at The World Games 2013 in Cali, Colombia in front of a crowd of 17,000 at the bullfighting arena. On that occasion they stirred up a great deal of controversy with a very personal and exuberant style of interpreting the five Latin dances. Love them or hate them - that summed up the range of reactions. They just didn’t leave anyone indifferent!
And that also applies to the voters in the Athlete of the Year 2016 poll – the couple gained 2,037 votes to become ‘Best Team’.
Gabriele Goffredo and Anna Matus will defend their World Games gold medal at The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland, 20–30 July.