Shugurova was introduced to rhythmic gymnastics when she was nine years old. Initially, she was more attracted to
figure skating and choreography classes. She became a member of the junior national team at 13 and joined the senior national team a year later. Shugurova debuted on the world stage as a 15-year-old in
Varna, Bulgaria at the
1969 World Championships, winning gold medals in rope and ball. At 15, she made her first appearance at the USSR championships, placing second in the all-around. The following year she won a bronze medal in the USSR Cup competition and was also successful in international competitions in the former
Yugoslavia, where the journalists voted her the "most engaging" gymnast. At the
1973 World Championships in
Rotterdam,
Netherlands, Shurugova shared the world crown in the all-around with
Bulgarian
Maria Gigova. She also won gold medals in ribbon, ball and clubs. Both of the ribbon routines at this Championship were to the same music – a piece from
Georges Bizet's ballet
"Carmen". In 1974, she performed on a Soviet Union national team tour of the United States. Although she was initially assigned to compete at the
1975 World Championships, which were held in
Madrid, Spain, due to political issues in the wake of the end of
Francoist Spain, the trip was cancelled at the last minute. Shurugova did not compete internationally for two years. Shurugova was the third Soviet rhythmic gymnast to become world all-around champion—after
Ludmila Savinkova (1963) and
Elena Karpuchina (1967)—and the first ever
European all-around champion in 1978. == Influence ==