Silvia Stroescu

Silvia Alexandra Stroescu (born 8 May 1985 in Bucharest, Romania)[1] is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic, world, and European gold medalist with the team.

Silvia Stroescu
Press conference at 2000 European Gymnastics Championships in Paris.
Personal information
Full nameSilvia Alexandra Stroescu
Country represented Romania
Born (1985-05-08) 8 May 1985
Bucharest
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
ClubSteaua Bucharest
Head coach(es)Octavian Bellu
Assistant coach(es)Mariana Bitang
Former coach(es)Angela Cacovean
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2004 AthensTeam all-around
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2001 GhentTeam all-around
European Championships
Gold medal – first place2004 AmsterdamTeam all-around
Junior European Championships
Gold medal – first place2000 ParisFloor exercise
Gold medal – first place2000 ParisBalance beam (tie)
Silver medal – second place2000 ParisAll-around
Silver medal – second place2000 ParisTeam all-around

Early life and career

She was one of the most successful junior gymnast of her generation. The major achievements of her junior years were the win of the prestigious Top Gym Trophy (1998) and of four medals (two gold and two silver) at the 2000 Junior European Gymnastics Championships.[2] At these championships she won gold on floor (9.725), tied for gold on balance beam with Sabina Cojocar (9.6), earned a share of the Romanian team's silver medal, and placed second all-around (37.973) behind teammate Sabina Cojocar.[2] Initially, Stroescu did not qualify for the all around event due to the two-per-country rule, having achieved the third qualification score among her teammates. But, in the all around final she replaced Carmen Ionescu who withdrew in her favor.[3]

Senior career

Her senior debut at a major international event was at the 2001 World Championships. Here she contributed to Romania's sixth team title[4] by competing on beam and uneven bars. Individually, she placed eleventh all around and seventh on floor.[5] Later that year she won the mixed pair Swiss Cup event together with Marian Drăgulescu.[6] In the period 2002–2003 she did not make the team for major international events but she competed at the national championships and at some friendly international competitions.[3] After being sidelined for two years, she joined the team for the 2004 European Championships where she contributed to the team title.[7] Just weeks before the 2004 Olympic Games she decided to give up gymnastics being disappointed for not making the Olympic team. However, her disappointment was short lived and she returned to replace injured Aura Munteanu. Stroescu went to Athens and was part of an immensely successful Romanian women's gymnastics team (four golds, one silver and one bronze in six events) that also included Oana Ban, Monica Roșu, Cătălina Ponor, Daniela Sofronie and Alexandra Eremia. Though the team members were less experienced than most of their rivals, the Romanians hit every routine to take the team gold by a comfortable margin. World champions USA were second, and the Russians, led by Svetlana Khorkina, took the bronze.[8]

References

  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Silvia Stroescu". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
  2. Gymn Forum Results Junior European Championships 2000 – Paris
  3. "Bio and List of competitive results GeoCities Gymnastics Biographies". Archived from the original on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Silvia Stroescu
  4. Federation Internationale de Gimnastique Archived 2012-07-07 at the Wayback Machine Silvia Stroescu
  5. European Union of Artistic Gymnastics 35th World Championships 2001 -Gent
  6. Gymn Forum Results Swiss Cup 2001
  7. Gymnastics Results 2004 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships
  8. 2004 Olympic Games Women's Artistic Gymnastics Finals. GymnasticsResults.com. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
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