In Half I of this collection I coated the careers of three Romanian gymnasts in ladies’s inventive gymnastics (WAG) who have been trailblazers of the Romanian program within the pre-Nadia period. To finish the collection, I’m going to profile 4 further Romanian gymnasts.
Elena Ceampelea (1964-1974)
When Elena Ceampelea first appeared on the 1964 Olympics, she was solely 17 years previous. In a technique, Elena Ceampelea was the right illustration of the brand new path the game was taking with the wave of younger gymnasts that have been about to overhaul the game. However Ceampelea would evolve to later signify the final of the “previous guard” classical Sixties period gymnasts who have been doing every part they might to keep up their existence in a sport that was now being over taken by younger child-gymnasts of the Nadia Comaneci profile.
There may be not a lot to say relating to the early years of Elena Ceampelea, solely that she was rather a lot like Sonia Iovan, a gymnast who would begin off gradual and wasn’t anticipated to hit her stride till years later. The 1964 Olympics was her Olympic debut, however the 1968 Olympics can be her time to shine. Solely, it wasn’t to be.
What makes Elena Ceampelea one of the crucial fascinating gymnasts on this collection was the storm she weathered. Romania had completed sixth on the 1964 Olympics and officers have been “dissatisfied” with the outcome and pulled assist from this system. Romania wouldn’t be sending a full crew to the 1966 World Championships, solely a small variety of people. As for the 1968 Olympics, Romanian WAG withdrew from that competitors totally.
If officers had determined Romanian WAG was a misplaced trigger, in some ways they have been proper. Within the Sixties they’d precisely predicted the rise of superpowers reminiscent of East Germany, China, and the US and different challengers reminiscent of North Korea and Bulgaria that might finally begin taking medals for themselves. It was additionally obvious that the present technology, Elena Ceampelea included, didn’t have the potential to win medals. However what Romanian officers didn’t know was that there was a bit woman in Onesti who in only a few years time, was about to vary all of that. They most likely couldn’t fathom that Romanian WAG was about to change into essentially the most sacred and historic WAG program for the following fifty years.
However that was what was to return. For now, Romania needed to get by means of its darkest hour, and that’s the place Elena Ceampelea is available in. When her program appeared to stop on itself, Elena Ceampelea didn’t stop on Romanian WAG. Her 1968 Olympics might have been stolen from her, however Ceampelea would come again for the 1972 Olympics. Turning into a 2x Olympian who competed in three totally different Olympic quads.
Elena Ceampelea by no means gained a medal in her profession, a 4th place end on vault on the European Championships was the closest she ever got here to successful a medal. However Ceampelea’s legacy can be the best way she impressed by means of sheer stubbornness. The identical gymnast who saved religion along with her program even whereas it had opted to forego the Olympics would as soon as once more refuse to budge when the game began pivoting in direction of little one athletes.
Within the Seventies no program had a higher emphasis on little one Olympic gymnasts than Romanian WAG. However in an ironic accident, on the similar time Romania additionally had one of many oldest WAGs within the sport. When Elena Ceampelea competed on the 1974 World Championships, she was the oldest gymnast from any of the key gymnastics powers.
Elena Ceampelea as soon as had the excellence of being the final gymnast who was 27 years previous or older to be a member of a beginning lineup in a WAG crew that was top-4 within the standings. It wasn’t till the 2021 Olympics that Vanessa Ferrari turned the primary gymnast to match or exceed Ceampelea’s benchmark.
If Elena Leusteanu and Sonia Iovan have been Romania’s nice gymnasts who got here earlier than Nadia, Ceampelea was one of many gymnasts who was round throughout Nadia’s time. In 1973 on the age of 26, Ceampelea competed immediately towards an 11-year previous Nadia in numerous Romanian competitions.
Nadia gained.
What makes Elena Ceampelea such a captivating gymnast is how unusual this expertise should have been for her. The gymnast who as soon as competed alongside Larissa Latynina and Vera Caslavska the place the top-gymnasts have been usually of their late 20s and early 30s was a part of a nationwide program stuffed with little one prodigies, a lot of which have been beneath the age of 12.
Elena Ceampelea ought to be remembered for 2 issues. First, she was considered one of WAG’s most beneficial position fashions contemplating her relationship with so many Romanian kids reminiscent of Nadia Comaneci who would take this system to new heights beginning within the mid-Seventies. Secondly, Elena Ceampelea by no means gained a medal in her profession and helped Romania rise from the ashes to a 4th place end in 1974.
Elena Ceampelea by no means acquired to expertise the fun of successful a medal, she by no means even gained a medal within the crew competitors. However after Elena Ceampelea, Romania would win a medal on practically each event from 1976-2012.
Alina Goreac (1970-1974)
The rationale for Romania’s sudden rise within the early Seventies was the younger supporting forged accompanying the remainder of the nationwide crew, the primary of which was Alina Goreac. On the 1968 and 1972 Olympics East Germany was on the peak of its energy. On the time it appeared East Germany can be the second strongest WAG program after the USSR and cling on to that position for the foreseeable future.
Whereas East German gymnasts Erika Zuchold and Karin Janz have been having large quantities of success on the senior degree, on the junior degree a distinct sample was rising. At 1968 Druzhba, the Chilly Struggle period equal of a Junior World Championships, it was the Romanian juniors who had outperformed the East German juniors. Main the best way was the 15-year previous Alina Goreac who completed third within the AA.
The one two gymnasts who had overwhelmed Goreac have been Ludmilla Turischeva, the longer term 1972 Olympic AA Champion, and Tamara Lazakovich, the gymnast who would have gained the Olympic AA beneath carry-over scoring. Romania’s determination to not attend the 1968 Olympics most probably costed the 15-year previous Alina Goreac an Olympic look that yr. Like so lots of the Romanian legends who got here earlier than her, Alina Goreac wanted time to develop.
She attended the 1972 Olympics as a 19-year previous and didn’t have a lot of an influence. However within the following yr on the 1973 European Championships, breakout success would lastly come. Goreac began the competitors off by ending 4th within the All-Round and 4th on vault. However on her three remaining occasions she gained a bronze on bars, a silver on beam, and one other bronze on flooring. All through the complete competitors Alina Goreac by no means fell beneath 4th place.
On the 1973 European Championships Romania would win medals for the primary time for the reason that Nineteen Fifties. Then on the 1974 World Championships Alina Goreac recorded an eighth place end within the All-Round and narrowly missed out on two medals in Occasion Finals. Goreac completed 4th on vault and fifth on beam.
Her fifth place end on steadiness beam was particularly merciless because the 4 gymnasts forward of her have been all Soviet. The 1974 World Championships was the final time a significant WAG competitors was held with out nation limits. Had that rule change been launched only one season earlier, Goreac would have completed sixth within the AA and gained a bronze medal on beam.
Sadly for Alina Goreac, the medals she “nearly” gained on the 1974 World Championships would show to be expensive. On the 1976 Olympics Romania gained a silver medal within the crew competitors. Had Goreac been on the crew, she would have gained the primary and solely medal of her profession. However that didn’t occur and her omission was considered one of Romania’s extra controversial crew alternatives of the Seventies.
It’s broadly speculated that at 23 years previous, she was left off the crew due to her age and Bela Karolyi’s philosophy of investing completely in younger, little one gymnasts. Goreac was 5 years older than the oldest member of the 1976 crew, and eight years older than its median age. There have been additionally geographical concerns as on the time, Bucharest and Onesti had rival golf equipment/packages.
Alina Goreac’s 1976 omission is startling contemplating her robust efficiency in 1975.
On the 1975 European Championships Romania might ship just one different gymnast to enrich Nadia, and the gymnast they chose was Alina Goreac. Regardless of competing towards Nadia, Nellie Kim, and Ludmilla Turischeva, three Corridor of Fame gymnasts, Goreac nonetheless managed to win two bronze medals on bars and beam. She additionally recorded a 4th place end on flooring and a sixth place end within the All-Round (AA).
The 1975 European Championships is considered one of WAG’s most legendary moments. It was the competitors that made everybody take Nadia critically as a toddler prodigy who might beat all the high gymnasts on the earth. It was additionally the competitors that marked the arrival of the Romanian program as a complete. From that time ahead, Romania can be seen as a first-rate WAG energy and preserve that place for 40 years.
Alina Goreac was the opposite Romanian gymnast who was in a position to be a part of that second and compete by Nadia’s aspect. Alina Goreac competed all through three Olympic quads, solely to overlook the Olympics on two separate events, each occurring beneath questionable circumstances. However in heartbreaking style, she by no means gained a medal on the Group-1 degree. It may very well be argued that Alina Goreac is Romania’s biggest, most deserving, and most historic gymnast to have by no means gained a medal.
Goreac would show to be a fighter. She continued to compete after the 1976 Olympics. In 1977 she earned a spot in Romania’s lineup on the 1977 College Video games, marking her final look in a high-profile worldwide competitors. In 1978 she gained a pair of bronze medals on bars and beam at Romania’s Nationwide Championships.
However essentially the most compelling stat line is that Alina Goreac competed into 1979 and managed to immediately compete towards Natalia Ilienko. At this competitors the 27 yr previous Goreac misplaced to the 12 yr previous Ilienko, a Soviet gymnast greater than half her age. It additionally meant a Soviet gymnast who ought to have been a 1984 Olympian competed immediately towards a Romanian gymnast who ought to have been a 1968 Olympian.
Not solely was this encounter an uncommon assembly of two gymnasts of various generations who have been separated by 3-5 Olympic quads, however including to the symbolism was this assembly occurred in 1979. This was the exact same yr Natalia Ilienko had gained Druzhba. This created an absurd dynamic the place Alina Goreac has the excellence of competing towards a gymnast who ranked as a #1 junior within the present yr, on two separate events, 11 years aside.
Alina Goreac has the excellence of being entrance and middle throughout two of essentially the most historic moments in WAG historical past. Alina was in Olga Korbut’s equipment rotation in the course of the 1972 All-Round Finals the place Olga Korbut had her famed ill-fated efficiency on the uneven bars and broke down into tears. Korbut’s heartbreaking response gained her sympathy amongst Olympic viewers and was a defining second of each Olga’s profession and a set off within the fast explosion of recognition WAG achieved on the 1972 Olympics.
It was Alina Goreac who was subsequent on the beginning listing in what is among the most well-known and traditionally vital routines in WAG historical past. Goreac was additionally one of many athletes who tried to consolation a crying and distressed Olga Korbut. Then there was the 1975 European Championships the place Nadia Comaneci trounced Ludmilla Turischeva in an occasion that was seen as the beginning of Romanian WAG’s four-decade run of success and is broadly seen because the beginning of a brand new period in gymnastics the place “little woman” gymnastics turned the dominant ideology.
Goreac was bodily standing not more than two or three toes away when Ludmilla Turischeva gave Nadia Comaneci a congratulatory kiss in what is among the most symbolic moments in WAG historical past and essentially the most defining “passing of the torch” instance within the historical past of the game.
Anca Grigoras (1972-1978)
What has change into a theme all through this collection, when one legendary Romanian WAG is profiled, there’s one other gymnast who competed proper alongside her price mentioning. Nadia raised the profile of Romanian WAG, however Nadia didn’t do it alone. The 1973 European Championships established that even earlier than Nadia’s arrival, Romanian WAG was surging.
In 1973 there was the beforehand talked about stat line from Alina Goreac the place she gained three medals and completed in 4th place on her two remaining occasions. However the different Romanian entrant at this competitors was Anca Grigoras who gained a bronze medal on beam. After having gone medal-less on the European Championships for over a decade, two totally different Romanian gymnastics had gained medals in the identical competitors. The 1973 European Championships proved simply how robust and well-rounded the Romanian WAG program was changing into.
Anca Grigoras was Romania’s “Nadia earlier than Nadia.” Like Nadia, Anca had been a toddler prodigy who went to the Olympics at 14 years previous again in 1972. If Elena Ceampelea was Nadia’s position mannequin in the course of the junior portion of her profession, Anca Grigoras was Nadia’s position mannequin for the majority of her senior profession. Anca Grigoras and Nadia Comaneci have been teammates at each the 1976 Olympics and the 1978 World Championships. When Nadia was a 14/15 yr previous, she had an 18/19 yr Anca by her aspect to assist information her.
Word: The identical development occurred in 1975 when Anca aso performed the position of an elder gymnast guiding alongside a 14 yr previous Teodora Ungureanu on the World Cup.
How a lot of an affect did Anca have on Nadia? On her official Fb web page Nadia has paid tribute to Anca on a number of events. Most notably reposting a collage created by Magda of I Love Romanian Gymnastics. At one level, Nadia seems to have acquired a framed set of the 2 images in query.
Anca Grigoras by no means achieved a lot success in WAG following her 1973 efficiency on the European Championships. Her bronze medal on the uneven bars on the 1973 European Championships was the lone medal of her profession in a person occasion. Nor was Anca significantly properly fitted to the introduction of nation limits within the mid-Seventies. Anca completed fifteenth in All-Round qualifying on the 1976 Olympics. Mariana Constantin completed 14th in All-Round qualifying and eradicated Grigoras on nation limits by the narrowest of margins.
On the 1976 Olympics each Romanian gymnast in each the All-Round and Occasion Finals was beneath the age of 16. Making the 18 yr previous Anca Grigoras the outlier veteran who tried her greatest to compete in a program that was dominated by younger little one prodigies. Like Elena Ceampelea and Alina Goreac, Anca Grigoras is considered one of WAG’s nice tales of an growing old veteran gymnast who refused to go down and not using a combat. Anca Grigoras’ skill to keep up a excessive place within the sport and make the Romanian crew in each 1976 and 1978 was significantly spectacular contemplating her peak.
Anca was a moderately tall gymnast in an period the place coaches have been quickly emphasizing brief gymnasts. She did it whereas competing for Romania, a program that was extra aggressive in prioritizing small/younger gymnasts than another WAG energy. And but Anca Grigoras continued and even gained herself a spot on two totally different groups.
Anca’s profession following her 1973 efficiency on the European Championships can be three consecutive years of regression. Sadly for Anca, that trajectory had run its course when she was Romania’s lowest scoring gymnast on the 1978 World Championships. The outcome successfully ended her time as a member of the Romanian A-Workforce. Like so many Romanian icons of the period, Anca Grigoras took a “curtain name” on the College Video games. This specific competitors would often function a symbolic send-off for growing old veterans of the Romanian program. Giving them one remaining look in a prestigious competitors and the chance to go away the game on a excessive word.
For Anca it got here in 1979 the place she completed 4th within the All-Round, gained a bronze on the uneven bars and a silver medal on the steadiness beam. Two years later, Nadia would take a curtain name of her personal when the 1981 College Video games can be the ultimate competitors of her storied profession.
Emilia Lita
To conclude this collection, I need to pivot again to the Nineteen Fifties/Sixties and profile a Romanian gymnast by the identify of Emilia Lita. As a gymnast, Emilia Lita was by no means aggressive sufficient to contend for medals. In most competitions she was solely Romania’s 4th or fifth greatest gymnast and her median All-Round rank was thirty sixth. Essentially the most noteworthy facet of her profession was Lita’s longevity the place she by no means missed a significant competitors from 1954-1964 and have become a 3x Olympian.
She was a staple of the Romanian program the place Lita was a core member of the nationwide program who at all times discovered herself within the beginning lineup. However what makes Lita essential (aside from a ten yr gymnastics profession) was her post-athletic contributions to the Romanian program.
Emilia Lita has the excellence of teaching two of the gymnasts beforehand profiled on this collection (Elena Ceampelea and Alina Goreac). This specific element offers a small pattern of simply how vital the veterans of the pre-Nadia period have been in advancing Romanian WAG in later years. Not solely does Lita have a training affiliation with Elena Ceampelea and Alina Goreac, however in accordance with Magda Petrescu, she additionally labored with Aurelia Dobre, Laura Cutina, and Simona Pauca who have been all legends of the Eighties.
Elena Ceampelea herself additionally handed on her gymnastics data to future generations. Sandra Izbasa, Loredana Boboc, Alexandra Eremia, Carmen Ionescu, and Florica Leonida are amongst the examples of gymnasts who’ve had direct teaching interactions with Ceampelea.
Anca Grigoras went on to change into each a Romanian coach and a global choose. She rose to change into a member of the UEG Ladies’s Technical Committee. Emilia Lita additionally served as a choose and was on the judging panel on the 1977 European Championships, one of the crucial defining competitions in Romania’s program historical past.
The rationale I cite all these post-Olympic accomplishments is to spotlight their involvement in administrative roles. These gymnasts not solely hail from an period that predates Nadia Comaneci, however an period the place it was the expectation that former Olympic gymnasts instantly fill essential wants on the executive aspect in WAG upon their retirement. The Romanian gymnasts of the pre-Nadia period not solely proved that success on this particular nationwide program was attainable and kickstarted a typical of greatness, however have been quiet contributors to the expansion of Romanian WAG even after Nadia turned a family identify.
Hyperlink to Half I of this collection
