RRI Sports Club

Gymnastics

Florin Orban, 08.05.2024, 14:00

The last major gymnastics competition ahead of the Paris Olympic Games, namely the European Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships, came to an end on Sunday in the Italian town of Rimini. The men’s competition took place between the 24^th and the 28^th April. One more Romanian gymnast could have qualified for the Games, but the team’s best competitors, the twin brothers Gabriel and Robert Burtănete did not take part in the championship. In the competition, the Romanian gymnasts had a weak performance, failing to reach a single final in the senior events. Romania had one finalist in the junior events, with David Puicea ranking 8^th in vault.

The women’s championships were held last week, with Romanian gymnasts performing better. Romania ranked 4^th in qualifiers, a place it retained after the team final. In the individual events, the best result came from Sabrina Maneca Voinea, who won the silver medals in the horizontal bar and floor competitions. She qualified for the floor final with the highest score. In vault, Ana Maria Bărbosu ranked 4^th, as did Lilia Cosman in the horizontal bar final. In parallel bars, Romania had no finalist, and this cost Romania its lower ranking in the team classification.

In Paris, Romania will compete in the Olympic team event after a 12-year hiatus, having failed to do so at the Rio Games in 2016 and the Tokyo Games in 2021, after winning the bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012. The Romanian gymnast with the biggest chances to win a medal in Paris is Sabrina Maneca Voinea. Apart from the two medals she won in Rimini, she was fourth in the floor competition at last year’s world championships in Anvers. Let us just note that her mother, Camelia Voinea was also a top level gymnast, who won the gold team medal at the world championships of 1987 in Rotterdam and the silver medal at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.