<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania
\nwas one of the countries where gymnastics has had a long-standing history. In
\nthe United Principalities capital city, in 1867, a couple of Saxon merchants
\nhailing from Sibiu and Brasov initiated the Bukarester Turnverein Society, the
\nGymnastics Association of Bucharest. The Romanian Central Arms, Gymnastics and
\nTarget Shooting Society was founded in 1876 by Professors Gheorghe Moceanu and Constantin
\nConstantiniu. The latter body played a key role in the promotion of physical
\neducation and sports. Periodically, the Society organized contests at local and
\nnational level. In the school curricula, gymnastics was included as a
\ndiscipline also beginning the 19th century. Gymnastics was a compulsory subject
\nin quite a few educational institutions countrywide. At competitional level,
\nRomanian gymnastics had its representatives for the first time at the 1936
\nedition of the Olympic games in Berlin. Ever since, Romanian gymnasts have been
\na regular presence at the Olympics, save for the 1948 edition of the games,
\nheld in London. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As an
\nabsolute first, Romanian gymnasts walked home with medals in 1956, at the
\nOlympic games in Melbourne. Back then Elena Leustean won the bronze medal in
\nthe floor event; also bronze went to the Romanian women’s team, in the nations
\ncompetition. Romanian gymnastics’ blazing trail actually began two decades
\nlater, with Nadia Comaneci. For the first time ever in the history of artistic
\ngymnastics, on July 18, 1976, at the Olympic games in Montreal, Nadia Comaneci
\ngot a 10, with an uneven parallel bars exercise. Back in the day her
\nperformance was impressive thanks to its minuteness and force; the exercise is
\nstill a model for today’s gymnasts. At that time it was the best exercise ever
\nto have been performed, reason enough for the referees to admit its perfection.
\nIt was one of the memorable moments in the history of artistic gymnastics.
\nAfter the Montreal edition of the Olympics, gymnastics enjoyed the widest
\naudience for each of the following editions of the Olympic games. According to
\nthe collective mindset, Nadia is still the greatest gymnast of all time. Nadia
\nComaneci was the role model for hundreds of thousands of little girls all over
\nthe world, who took up gymnastics at a professional level. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
45
\nyears on, Romanian gymnastics has been experiencing a large-scale crisis. We recall
\nthat ahead of the 2016 edition of the Olympic Games in Rio, no Romanian
\ngymnastics team qualified for the women’s or the men’s version of the games.
\nRomanian gymnastics’ dismal run is the
\nsame ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Only three Romanian gymnasts will compete in
\nJapan. Marian Dragulescu will prove his mettle in the men’s vault event.
\nJoining him will be Larisa Iordache and Maria Holbura, in the women’s
\nall-around event. One of the veterans in the Olympics, 40 year-old Dragulescu is
\nmost likely to walk away with a medal. Dragulescu’s record is outstanding. In
\nthe Athens Olympics in 2004, Marian Dragulescu won one silver and two bronze medals. In the World Championships, Dragulescu won eight gold and two silver
\nmedals. Dragulescu won eighteen medals in European Championships, of which ten
\nwere gold, six silver and two bronze medals. The only medal that is missing is
\nan Olympic gold medal. Marian Dragulescu was designated the best athlete of the
\nyear in 2005 and 2009. In the vault event, an exercise bears Dragulescu’s name.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by Eugen Nasta)<\/p>\n
\n
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Romanian gymnastics, then and now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":89550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[42042,29455,34901,41942],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-121143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-association","tag-gymnastics","tag-olympic","tag-vault"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n