Radio România Internațional

Tag: Daniela Silivas

  • Olympic Profiles

    Olympic Profiles

    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.

    (bill)

  • Romania at the Olympic Games

    Romania at the Olympic Games

    The history of Romanian gymnastics is dominated by the personality and achievements of Nadia Comăneci. However, since that moment on, a lot of tremendously talented athletes followed in Nadia’s footsteps, some of them with remarkable results. This is the case with Daniela Silivaș, an Olympic champion in 3 events in Seoul, 1988.

     

    She was born in 1970, in Deva, and was one of the first gymnasts trained at the Deva Olympic Centre opened in 1978. Her first coach was professor Ioan Cărpinișan. In 1980, Daniela Silivaș was already the winner of the national school championships. In 1982 she won the gold in the all-around, beam, floor and vault events of the national junior championship. There followed a triumphant international debut, with Daniela Silivas winning the all-around and floor events of the Junior World Gymnastics Championships in Japan.  In ’84, at the Junior European Championship in Rimini, Italy, she walked home with the gold medal in the beam event and the silver in the uneven bars and floor.

     

    Daniela Silivas moved on to become the world leading gymnast of the late ‘80s. In the World Championships in Montreal in ’85, she won the gold in the beam event, while 2 years later, at the European Championships in Moscow, she won the gold in the all-around event, beam, floor and uneven bars, and the silver in the vault event. That same year, at the World Championship in Rotterdam, she took home the gold in the uneven bars and the floor event, and won the world title with Romania’s team.

     

    1988 saw the only Olympic Games participation in her career, in Seoul. She won 3 gold medals on that occasion, in the uneven bars, beam and floor, and 2 silver medals, in the all-around and in the team competitions.

     

    The last major competition she took part in was the 1989 World Championship, held in Stuttgart. Once again, she won the uneven bars, beam and floor events, and added another silver medal in the team competition. After her retirement from competitions, Daniela Silivaș settled in the US, where she is a gymnastics coach.