Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of elite international competition. Within individual countries, gymnastics is regulated by national federations like British Gymnastics and USA Gymnastics. Artistic gymnastics is a popular spectator sport at many competitions, including the Summer Olympic Games.
Marian Drăgulescu is a Romanian artistic gymnast. During his senior gymnastics career he won 31 medals at Olympic games at World and European Championships, of which eight are gold medals at the World Championships and ten are gold medals at European Championships. Drăgulescu's strongest events were vault and floor, on which he was a multiple world champion and Olympic medalist. The handspring double front somersault with ½ turn is named after him in the Code of Points. In the all-around, Drăgulescu was the European champion (2004) and bronze medalist (2000) and placed 8th at the 2004 Olympic Games.
Béla Károlyi is an ethnic Hungarian Romanian-American gymnastics coach. Early in his coaching career he developed the Romanian centralised training system for gymnastics. One of his earliest protégés was Nadia Comăneci, the first Olympic Games gymnast to be awarded a perfect score. Living under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Károlyi frequently clashed with Romanian officials. He and his wife defected to the United States in 1981.
Nicoleta Daniela "Dana" Șofronie is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic and European gold medalist with the team, as well as the silver medalist on floor exercise at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the all-around silver medalist at the 2004 European Championships.
Daniela Viorica Silivaș-Harper, is a Romanian former artistic gymnast best known for medaling in every single event at one Olympics, winning six medals at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. In doing so, she was the fourth female gymnast to achieve this, after Maria Gorokhovskaya (1952), Larisa Latynina and Věra Čáslavská (1968). As of 2021, Silivaș is the only one athlete, male or female, having accomplished this feat, in the Modern Era of Artistic Gymnastics, in a non-boycotted Olympics.
Oana Mihaela Ban is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic gold medalist with the team and a world silver medalist on beam and with the team. Her best events were the floor and the balance beam.
Aurelia Dobre is a former artistic gymnast and the 1987 world all-around champion. She is the 1987 world champion on the balance beam and the bronze medalist on the vault and floor exercise, as well, and scored five perfect 10s at these championships.
Sabina Carolina Cojocar is a Romanian retired international elite artistic gymnast and singer. She became a world gold medalist with the Romanian women's gymnastics team in 2001 and is also a five-time medalist at the 2000 Junior European Gymnastics Championships.
Octavian Ioan Atanase Bellu is the current head of the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team.
Steliana Nistor is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She was a key member of the Romanian team between 2006 and 2008, where she helped the Romania win team bronze medals at the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Olympics. Individually, she is the 2007 world all-around and beam silver medallist, the 2007 and 2008 European silver medallist on the uneven bars and the 2007 bronze medallist on the balance beam. Nistor was a strong all-around competitor but her best events were balance beam and uneven bars.
Cristina Bontaş is a Romanian former artistic gymnast, who competed in international events between 1987 and 1993. Her best events were the floor exercise, the vault, and the all around. She is a world champion on floor, a double olympic medalist and a six-time world medalist. Bontaş scored a perfect ten on floor in the all around event of the 1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
Camelia Voinea is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed in international events between 1984 and 1988. She was best known for her powerful tumbling, her innovative 1986–87 floor exercise that featured breakdancing elements, and for being the first gymnast to tumble a double layout to punch front somersault. In 1987 she scored a perfect ten for the floor exercise during the team competition event at the World Championships.
Eugenia Golea is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed in international events between 1984 and 1988. She is known for scoring a perfect 10 for the vault optional in the team competition of the 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and for being the first gymnast to compete two consecutive layout stepout jumps. She helped her team to win an Olympic silver medal, a world title and a world silver medal. She liked all the events equally, though she excelled in vaulting and floor. On vault she won a world silver medal and a continental bronze and on beam she won a continental silver medal.
Dănuţ "Dan" Grecu is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast who specialized in rings. In 1974 he became Romania’s first world champion in artistic gymnastics and was named Romanian Athlete of the Year. Grecu competed at the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1976; he had to withdraw from the 1980 Olympics due to a muscle tear sustained on the rings. In addition to his 1974 gold medal he won two world and two European medals on the rings. He retired due to injuries to his shoulder and biceps sustained in training while preparing to the 1980 Olympics.
Celestina Stefania Popa-Toma is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed internationally between 1985 and 1988. She is an Olympic silver medalist and a world gold and silver medalist with the team. She is best known for her eponymous straddle pike jump with full turn on floor as well as for her flexibility and style.
Daniela Mărănducă Nicolai is a retired artistic and aerobic gymnast. During her career she won nine medals at the World and European championships. She is currently a coach of the Romanian junior national artistic gymnastics team.
Lăcrămioara Filip (-Moldovan) is a retired Romanian artistic and aerobic gymnast. She is a world silver medalist with the team and a European gold medalist on the group event. She is also known to be the first gymnast to perform a tucked double front dismount from the uneven bars. Currently she is a gymnastics coach at the Romanian National Olimpic Center in Deva where she trains the national juniors team.
Ana Porgras is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She won the balance beam gold medal at the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam and the uneven bars bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships. Porgras was considered to be one of the most artistic gymnasts of her generation, reminiscent of the Eastern European gymnasts of the 1980s. She was awarded the Longines Prize for Elegance in 2011.
The 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 7–16, 2011, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Due to uncertainty over the nuclear situation following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the International Federation of Gymnastics revealed it was considering moving the event, but on May 22 FIG president Bruno Grandi announced that the World Championships would take place in Tokyo as planned.
Constantin Petrescu is a retired Romanian gymnast, and professional gymnastics coach. He competed in eight events at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He is a well known figure in the international gymnastics community as an accomplished coach at the collegiate, national, and international levels. He has lived in the United States since 1988, when he defected from then-communist Socialist Republic of Romania before the Romanian Revolution in December of the subsequent year.
