The Romanian Gymnastics Team Put Up a Heck of a Fight
For the first time in twelve years, the Romanian women’s gymnastics team qualified for the finals in artistic gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games!
The last time the Romanian gymnastics team competed at the Olympics was in 2012 in London, when the team secured a bronze medal. After disastrous performances at Worlds in both 2015 and 2019, the team did not qualify for the Games in either 2016 or 2020. That standing is a far cry from the team’s former glory, especially since the Romanian gymnastics program used to be considered one of the best in the world.
The Romanian gymnastics team once set the bar high
At the 1976 Games in Montreal, fourteen-year-old gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored the first perfect 10 out of 10 in Olympics history. She went on to earn Romania 72 Olympic medals, and their program enjoyed a wave of popularity for decades. Then, in the mid 2000s, everything went sideways. Their last Olympic gold was in 2004, and since then, they have failed to place higher than third place in either the Olympics or the World Championships. When they didn’t qualify for the 2016 Games in Rio yet again, the country knew they had a serious problem with their program.
Team coaches were swapped out, and top gymnasts like 2004 triple gold medalist Catalina Ponor even came out of retirement to help the team’s rankings at Worlds in 2008. It didn’t work—the program lacked funding, talent, and even proper facilities to compete with the likes of the United States and other well-funded countries.
Patrick Kiens took over as head coach for the Romanian team in January 2023, and he quickly identified the problems that keep the team from succeeding. According to The Guardian, Kiens observed, “a lot of girls injured, facilities that needed to be renovated, the medical department was not good.”
Later that year, the gymnastics federation appealed for donations to fund the team. Romanian companies stepped up, and the team received donations of about $330,000 to upgrade their equipment and repair their crumbling training gym just north of Bucharest. The support seems to have given the team a boost, in more ways than one!
The 2024 Romanian team
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the weight of a 12-year medal drought was soundly on the shoulders of five women whose average age is just 17 years old. Ana Bărbosu, Lilia Cosman, Amalia Ghigoarta, Andreea Preda, and Sabrina Voinea are holding their own so far, especially now that they’ve secured their spot in the finals. Barbosu even qualified for the finals in the all-around competition, which of course was dominated by the American GOAT Simone Biles.
Going into the finals, Sabrina Voinea, 17, was considered Romania’s best hope for an individual medal. At the Sunday, July 28 competition, she placed fifth on the balance beam among all of the athletes who qualified. She also placed fourth in the floor competition.
Ultimately, the Romanian Artistic Gymnastics team did not end up medaling, placing seventh overall at Tuesday’s final competition. Still, it sounds like the team is taking the result in stride and keeping things in perspective. As Romanian Insider writes:
The Romanian team started promisingly on the floor, and after the first two rotations, they were in fifth place. Mistakes on the uneven bars and the beam, the final apparatus, pulled the team down. Sabrina Voinea had to perform on the beam while US athlete Simone Biles was on the floor in thunderous applause, which made concentrating difficult.
Ana Barbosu, who also qualified for the floor final, declared herself satisfied with the team’s result. “We qualified for the final in 8th place and finished 7th. It is a good result and an important step towards better performances!”
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