Aura Andreea Munteanu, known as Andreea Munteanu (; born 20 September 1988 in Constanța), is a retired

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

Career

Munteanu became interested in gymnastics in 1994 after watching a competition on television. She began using her mother's bed as a makeshift vault, prompting her parents to enroll her for lessons at the CSS Farul Constanţa club. She progressed well in the sport and was accepted to train at the national training center in

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

in October 2002. Less than a year after beginning her training at Deva, in 2003, Munteanu became the Romanian national champion. Later that year, she was selected as part of the Romanian team for the

2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 37th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a pop ...

. The Romanians had a disappointing team competition, losing the title they had held for eight years; however, they still finished the meet in second place. In the all-around competition, Munteanu finished 15th after a fall on the

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

. In the

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...

final, she finished fourth with a routine choreographed to music from '' The Mask'' by

Adriana Pop Adriana Pop (born Adriana Rednic; October 22, 1965) is a French-Romanian gymnastics choreographer and former rhythmic gymnast. Career Adriana Rednic was born on October 22, 1965 in the Romanian city of Baia Mare. After taking dancing classes fo ...

. Munteanu did not compete at the 2004 European Championships, but was selected for the Romanian team for the 2004 Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. However, days before the Olympics began, she was forced to withdraw, suffering from

shin splints A shin splint, also known as medial tibial stress syndrome, is pain along the inside edge of the shinbone (tibia) due to inflammation of tissue in the area. Generally this is between the middle of the lower leg and the ankle. The pain may be dull ...

. She was replaced by

Silvia Stroescu Silvia Alexandra Stroescu (born 8 May 1985 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic, world, and European gold medalist with the team. Early life and career She was one of the most successful junior gymnast of he ...

. Munteanu's recovery was predicted to take six months; however, new injuries and major changes in the Romanian gymnastics system, including the resignation of head coaches

Octavian Bellu Octavian Ioan Atanase Bellu (; born 17 February 1951) is the current head of the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team. He was the main coach, with interruptions, from 1990 to 2005 Mariana Bitang Mariana Bitang (born August 3, 1962, in Râmnicu Sărat) is a coach for the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team. Along with her partner, Octavian Bellu, she helped Romania win five consecutive team gold medals at the World Champ ...

, delayed her return to competitive form. In early 2006, Munteanu resumed training with new national team head coach Nicolae Forminte in Deva. She did not compete at the 2006 European Championships, but was still considered to be in contention for the Romanian team at the 2006 Worlds. However, in June, she retired from gymnastics due to nagging back injuries.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munteanu, Aura Andreea 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Constanța Romanian female artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 21st-century Romanian women