Olympia’s legends

Athens 2004, Romanian gymnastics’ last notable Olympic success

Radio România Internațional, 10.07.2024, 13:45

We are two weeks away from the kick-start of the Olympic games in Paris. Our Olympic history retrospect series, based on the collection interviews broadcast by Radio Romania International throughout the years, has now reached its last edition.

Today we focus on artistic gymnastics, the sports discipline that brought most medals for Romania, 72, of which 25 gold, 21 silver and 26 bronze.

We recall the Athens Olympics, in 2004, was the Olympic Games edition when the Romanian gymnastics was last rewarded with an impressive number of medals. The girls won four gold medals, one silver and one bronze, while the boys, two silver and two bronze medals.

It was twenty years ago when the Romanian national women’s gymnastics team last won the Olympic title in the nations’ competition. Back then the lineup was made of Daniela Sofronie, Oana Ban, Alexandra Eremia, Silvia Stroescu, Monica Roşu and Cătălina Ponor. It was a balanced contest, where the Romanian gymnasts outclassed the runner-up team, that of the United States, with a mere 69 hundredths of a second, also coming in one point and 3 hundredths ahead of bronze medalist team, Russia.
With 9.762 points in the beam and with 9.750 points in the floor event, in Romania’s run in Athens Cătălina Ponor was the one who made the difference. Here is a reminder of what Catalina said exclusively for Radio Romania International, fresh from the nations’ competition.

” It was so emotional, something like that happens once in a lifetime and the whole team worked for this medal and we deserve it. As I was pretty good in the floor event, my head coaches picked me up as the last one to enter the competition. And, since the public likes my tune a lot, since it isa Greek one, all of the supported me, and that was fine. “

For head coach Octavian Belu, the title in the nations’ competition as part of the Athens Olympics was the second one after the gold medal in Sydney, in 2000.

“ It was really hard, so the result is all the more exceptional, in my opinion. With these little girls who grew, step by step, I daresay, from last year’s World Championships, a team that was formed, in plain speaking, at high speed. At this year’s edition of the European championships and at this edition of the Olympic Games the girls have just surpassed themselves, some of them, and worked exceptionally. So for me, even the apparatus pieces that for some of the people in the stands seemed less problematic, just as the uneven parallel bars and the vault, for me, they came out as positive things. For the first time ever in a major competition Ponor jumped two screws in the vault event. Sofronie, the poor thing, what else can I say? She was the first everywhere, in the vault, the floor events and she proved she had the demeanor of a champion and the composure that it’s required when you need to work perfectly fine. “

The apparatus pieces finals followed, Monica Rusu won the Olympic title in the vault event, while Catalina Ponor won the Olympic title in the beam and floor finals.

Catalina Ponor:

“I feel really fine, I am very emotional and it is a pride for me to be the most decorated gymnast. I am happy with what I’ve accomplished, I cannot wait to see my folks, I miss them and I want them to wait for me in Bucharest, at home. “

Also winning medals were Alexandra Eremia who wo bronze in the beam event and Dana Sofronie, who won silver in the floor event. Here is what head coach Octavian Belu said after the contest:

“I am happy mainly because we scooped four gold medals out of a maximum number of six, and my mind takes me home already. This competition came to an end, it was a mighty difficult one. There is of course room for the better in the all-round event, where we need to secure our comeback, stepping onto a step of the podium. The secret is the hard work, that kind of hard work that has been so much blamed, so much thrashed out, so often presented in grim colors. Here we are, these kids are more than happy. They saw their dream come true. They are Olympic champions. Being an Olympic champion is something totally unusual for a woman gymnast. So what I say is, if we keep up the good work, the results will be just as good. “

However, at the ensuing Olympic Games, the results were not quite up to the mark. In the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the women’s team won bronze, while Sandra Izbasa walked away with gold in the beam event. In the London Olympics in 2012, the team came in 3rd. Izbasa won gold in the vault event, while Ponor silver in the floor event.

It was the last edition of the Olympic Games when the Romanian gymnasts won medals. In Rio and in Tokyo, the Romanian lineups qualified neither in the men’s nor in the women’s version of the games. However, the Paris Olympics in 2024 meant the comeback of the Romanian women’s team in an Olympic contest.