Olympic Profiles
Daniela Silivas was one of Romania's best gymnasts
Florin Orban, 10.12.2024, 13:45
The history of Romanian gymnastics has been dominated by one name, Nadia Comaneci. However, since Nadia, Romania has given a series of other talented female gymnasts who boast remarkable performances in top international competitions.
Among these top-notch gymnasts there is Daniela Silivas, triple Olympic champion in Seoul, in 1988.
She was born in 1970 in Deva and was one of the first gymnasts to benefit the newly-inaugurated training center there. She took up gymnastics under the guidance of Ioan Carpinisan and in 1980 she became Romania’s champion in school competitions. In 1982 she compelled recognition in the Junior National Championship from where she walked away with gold in the all-round, vault and floor events. She made an excellent debut in international competitions winning the all-round and floor events of the Junior World Cup in Japan. In 1984 at the Junior European Championships in Rimini, Italy, she got gold in the beam event, silver in the uneven bars and floor events.
She also compelled recognition in the late 1980s in senior competitions. She walked away with gold from the beam event of the World Championships in Montreal in 1985. She also won most of the competitions part of the European Championship hosted by Moscow in 1987: gold in the all-round event, uneven bars, beam and floor and became silver medalist in the vault competition. She also stepped onto the podium’s first step in the uneven bars and floor events of the World Championships in Rotterdam, the same year. She also won the world title with the Romanian team.
In 1988 she participates in the only Olympics of her career, the one in Seoul, where she stepped onto the podium’s first step three times, winning gold in uneven bars, beam and floor events. She also reaped silver in the all-round event and with the Romanian team.
Her last competition was the 1989 edition of the World Championships in Stuttgart, where she compelled recognition in the uneven bars, beam and floor events and became silver medalist together with the Romanian side. After withdrawing from competitions, Daniela settled in the USA where she works as a gymnastics coach.
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