The Athlete of the Week: Gymnast Larisa Iordache

Larisa Iordache won two silver medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in China.

Ștefan Baciu, 14.10.2014, 13:58

Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache has won two silver medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships hosted by the Chinese city of Nanning last week. Larisa was the Romanian delegation’s only gymnast to have stepped onto the podium at the World Championships. Romania’s best position outside the podium occurred in the nations’ competition, where the Romanian gymnasts ranked 4th. In the all-round event finals, Larisa Iordache was 4th-placed at the end of the contest for the first two apparata.

Larisa’s final mark in the beam event, however, gave her a boost and won the Romanian gymnast the second position. Larisa Iordache succeeded in maintaining her second position after the floor finals. With an overall score of 59.765 points, Larisa Iordache became world vice-champion. The world title in the all-round event went to the American gymnast Simone Biles, with 60.231 points, while the bronze medal was scooped by another American gymnast, Kyla Ross, with 58. 232 points. Larisa Iordache won her second silver medal in the floor finals; we recall that in the beam finals Larisa sadly fell off the beam, thus wasting the opportunity to step onto the podium. Here is what Larisa Iordache said, immediately after her successful floor finals.

”I, for one, found it really hard to recover. After I had failed in the beam event, my coaches stood by my side, the girls gave me a lot of support as well and I thank them all for their support! The only thing I said to myself was “It’s all or nothing!” I tried to finish the floor event as best as I could, and that’s’ what brought me a medal, and I’m very, very happy for that! I’ll keep on working. I hope I can improve my starting grades and of course, my performance. I have fared better as compared to the world championships last year, and I hope that I can make as much progress as I can.“

For the two medals she won at the World Gymnastics Championships in Nanning, China, Radio Romania International has designated Larisa Iordache the Athlete of the Week.

Larisa Iordache was born in Bucharest on June 19, 1996 and has been training ever since she was 5. Signed up by Dinamo Sports Club in Bucharest, Larisa Iordache has compelled recognition ever since she was a junior gymnast. In Birmingham in 2010, she won the European title. Her record as a senior gymnast includes the bronze medal she won with Romania’s team in the 2012 London Olympics. Also in 2012, in Brussels, Larisa Iordache won her first European title in the all-round event. In 2013, at the European Championships, Larisa Iordache won gold in the beam event, while at the 2014 edition of the European Championships in Sofia, Larisa Iordache won four medals: gold in the nations’ competition and the floor event, silver in the beam event and bronze in the vault event.