Sabina Cojocar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Full name | Sabina Carolina Cojocar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country represented | Romania | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Sibiu, Romania | 23 October 1985||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Level | Senior International | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gym | Deva National Training Center | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coach(es) | Octavian Bellu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assistant coach(es) | Mariana Bitang, Lucian Sandu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former coach(es) | Nicolae Buzoianu, Nicoleta Zaharia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Choreographer | Adriana Pop, Puia Valer, Raluca Bugner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Sabina Carolina Cojocar (born 23 October 1985) 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. [1]
Cojocar was born on 23 October 1985 in Sibiu, Romania. She began gymnastics at the age of three, though she told her coach she was five because she was afraid that he would not accept such a young gymnast. [2] A few years later, she was accepted into the junior national team in Oneşti. After one year, Cojocar was accepted as a member of the senior national team in Deva, under the direct guidance of head coach Octavian Bellu. [2] She made her international debut at the age of fourteen at the 2000 Junior European Championships in Paris, where she won three gold medals (in the all-around, [3] ahead of teammate Silvia Stroescu, and on vault and balance beam) and two silver medals (on floor exercise and with the team). [1] She was touted as the new leader of the young Romanian team and quickly drew international attention, appearing on the cover of the June/July 2000 edition of International Gymnast . [2]
In August 2001, Cojocar competed in the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia. She won the all-around title, upsetting more established gymnasts, such as Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, and earned a bronze medal on the floor exercise. Her first major senior event was later in the year at the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, where she placed first with the Romanian team, sixth in the all-around, and fourth on beam. [4]
Cojocar underwent shoulder surgery in December 2001. In early 2002, she was one of the gymnasts affected when Bellu decided to send the entire senior national team home from the Deva training center. Cojocar returned to her home club in Sibiu to train and was one of the only gymnasts eventually asked to return to Deva. She competed in the 2002 World Championships, placing fifth on vault and ninth on floor exercise. [5]
In 2003, Cojocar retired from gymnastics because of a chronic liver problem. [6] After leaving Deva, she was outspoken about alleged problems on the national team. She said she had been diagnosed with high cholesterol in 2000 and prescribed Zocor, which was not intended for use by children and had experienced several serious side effects. [7] She claimed the she had complained of weakness and of severe muscle and ligament pain, but Bellu forced her to continue training and take the medication. [7] In addition, Cojocar alleged that Bellu was physically abusive to the gymnasts, and that some girls had suffered "terrible beatings". [7]
In 2004, Cojocar began training again in an effort to make the Olympic team, but proved unsuccessful. Afterward, she enrolled at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, from which she graduated in 2008 with a degree in physical education. She went on to work as a coach at her former club in Sibiu and at a club in Norway. [2]
Cojocar is also a jewelry designer and has an online shop. [8]
In 2006, Cojocar released the single "Domine", and in September 2007, she released on Myspace a song she had written herself, "I Don't Wanna Lose U". [3]
Cojocar worked with Mihai Trăistariu, Romania's representative in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, to enter the 2008 contest, but she did not pass the national song selection. [9] [10]
Vault: Double-twisting Yurchenko; round-off, back handspring with full turn on, piked back salto off.
Uneven bars: Kip–cast to handstand (KCH), clear hip to handstand, toe-on to high bar, KCH, giant, hop full, full pirouette, 1½ pirouette, Tkatchev, KCH, overshoot, KCH, sole circle, jump to high bar, KCH, giant, giant, full-in dismount.
Balance beam: Jump to knee mount, back handspring, back handspring, tucked full; switch split leap; Chen; front aerial; full turn; tucked side salto; back handspring, back handspring, triple twist dismount.
Floor exercise: Front handspring, 2½ twist; round-off, back handspring, double pike; double-twisting cat leap, hitchkick; round-off, back handspring, tucked double salto backward with full twist; switch ring leap, double-twisting tuck jump; full turn with leg horizontal; round-off, whip, triple twist. [2]
Cojocar has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points. [11]
Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty [lower-alpha 1] |
---|---|---|---|
Floor exercise | Cojocar | Salto forward stretched with 2½ turn (900°) | E |
2001–2002: "Esperanza/El Conquistador"[ citation needed ]
Tatiana Gutsu, rarely Tetiana Hutsu, is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast from the Soviet Union and the winner of the all-around title in the 1992 Summer Olympics. She was renowned for performing some of the most difficult routines in the sport. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2022.
Terin Marie Humphrey is a retired American artistic gymnast. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she helped the United States team place second and won an individual silver medal on the uneven bars. Humphrey was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2008 as a member of the 2003 World Championships team, and in 2015 as an individual gymnast.
Émilie Le Pennec is a French retired artistic gymnast. Le Pennec was the 2004 Olympic Champion on the uneven bars and was the first female French gymnast to win an Olympic medal in women's artistic gymnastics.
Maria Olaru is a Romanian former Olympic artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic, World, and European gold medalist with the team. Individually, she was the 1999 all-around world champion and the 2000 Olympic all-around silver medalist. Her best event was the vault on which she medaled at world and continental competitions. Olaru was one of the tallest gymnasts competing in the late 1990s, standing 160 cm. After retirement she became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the West University of Timișoara.
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.
Courtney Lynn McCool-Griffeth is an American former artistic gymnast who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was coached by Al and Armine Fong of Great American Gymnastic Express.
Chellsie Marie Memmel is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2005 world all-around champion and the 2003 world champion on the uneven bars. She was a member of the United States women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Daiane Garcia dos Santos is a retired artistic gymnast. She is the 2003 world champion on the floor apparatus. On doing so, she became the first black gymnast to ever win an event at the World Championships as well as the first Brazilian and South American to win the competition. She represented Brazil at the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics. Widely regarded as the most powerful tumbler of her generation by critics and fellow competitors alike, the gymnast had two eponymous skills added on the FIG code of points after being the first woman to compete them at international championships. Dos Santos I, an F rated element, and Dos Santos II, an H rated element on the 2017–2020 COP.
Kristen Ann Maloney is a retired gymnast from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, in the United States. She won bronze in the team event at the 2000 Olympic Games. Maloney was also the U.S. senior all-around national champion in 1998 and 1999 and the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the balance beam.
Ecaterina Szabo is a former Romanian artistic gymnast who won 20 Olympic, world and continental medals.
Mo Huilan is a retired Chinese gymnast who competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She was one of China's most successful gymnasts in the 1990s. She was known for performing routines of exceptional difficulty and technique, but also for inconsistency.
Yurchenko, also known as round-off entry vaults, is a family of vaults performed in artistic gymnastics in which the gymnast does a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the horse or vaulting table. The gymnast then performs a salto, which may range in difficulty from a simple single tuck to a triple twist layout.
Elyse Null is a Canadian former elite gymnast, UCLA gymnastics alumna, and YouTube personality. She was born in Mississauga, Ontario.
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.
Samantha Nicole Peszek is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, which won silver.
This is a general glossary of the terms used in the sport of gymnastics.
Bridget Elizabeth Sloan is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2009 world champion in the all-around, the 2009 United States national champion, and a silver medalist with the American team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Shawn Johnson East is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also the 2007 all-around World Champion, and a five-time Pan American Games gold medalist, winning the team titles in 2007 and 2011, as well as titles in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam in 2007.
Yana Vladimirovna Demyanchuk is a Ukrainian artistic gymnast who won gold on the balance beam at the 2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.