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.