At her next World event, Zaripova placed second in All-round at the 1994 World Championships, where she also came in third with clubs and second with ribbon. She was leading going into the final apparatus of the All Around, but a mistake in her final routine cost her the All Around gold which went to the 93, 94, and 95 world AA champion Maria Petrova. The following years, she was overshadowed by rising Russians stars Yanina Batyrchina and Natalia Lipkovskaya. At the 1995 World Championships, Batyrchina won the bronze medal while Zaripova finished fourth. Zaripova finished 4th in the All-around at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, narrowly losing to both Ukraine's Olena Vitrychenko and her teammate Yanina Batyrchina who controversially held on for silver after she made a mistake in her final routine. She finished less than a tenth of a point behind both the silver and bronze medalists.