Cerasela Pătrașcu (born 23 December 1992 in

Balș Balș () is a town in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania. The town administers three villages: Corbeni, Româna, and Teiș. Geography The town is situated on the Wallachian Plain and lies on the banks of the river Olteț. It is located in the northwe ...

Olt County Olt County () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (the regions are separated by the Olt River, Olt river). The capital city is Slatina, Roma ...

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

) is a

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. She is a bronze world medalist and a gold European medalist with the team.

Early life and gymnastic career

Cerasela was a member of the national team at Deva and had a successful junior career medaling at various competitions. She was a silver medalist with the team at the 2006 Junior European Championships. In 2007, she won the 7th Lugano International ThrophyInternational Gymnast Magazine
Patrascu, Sabot win in Switzerland, 2007 and medaled gold on vault, silver for all around and bronze on balance beam at the European Youth Olympic Festival.International Gymnast Magazine
Golenkova best in Belgrade, 2007

Senior career

2007-2008

Her first major senior competition was the 2007 World Championships. Here she helped the team to qualify in the third place by competing on uneven bars and beam.Gymn Forum Results
2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships; Women Qualification In the team finals she contributed to the team bronze medal by competing on uneven bars (14.750). She was also a team member at the 2008 European Championships. In the team qualifications she competed on vault (14.650) and on uneven bars (14.475) but she suffered a leg injury dismounting from bars and did not compete in the finals.International Gymnastics Magazine
Romanian lead European Championships qualifications, April 3, 2008International Gymnastics Magazine
Romanians reclaim Europe; Italians fail to fourth, April 5, 2008 She underwent knee surgery with the hope that she will make it in the Olympic team. She had a short comeback and competed in the Romanian Nationals, Romanian Open and in a three-country meet (

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) without doing difficult tumbling and dismounts.International Gymnastics Magazine
Romanian Nationals Begin, June 26, 2008International Gymnastics Magazine
Nistor, Selariu win Romanian Open in Ploiesti, June 30, 2008International Gymnastics Magazine
Romania tops Germany, France, July 13, 2008 However, she did not manage to make a full recovery and she needed a second knee surgery.International Gymnastics Magazine
Three Romanian face recovery, November 26, 2008

2009-2010

After being sidelined for more than a year she made a second comeback at the Romanian Nationals in September 2009. Here she competed only on beam and uneven bars.Prosport
Pătrascu makes a comeback at the National Championships, September 15, 2009 In the beginning of 2010 she participated with her team at two friendly meets in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and in

where she competed on beam, uneven bars and vault.Prosport
Romania won team and all around, March 23, 2010 (Romanian)Prosport
Romania prevails in France, March 29, 2010 (Romanian) In April she was a member of the Romanian team at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

but she did not compete.European Gymnastics
Teams Later that year she traveled with her team at a friendly meet in

. Here she won gold in balance beam and with the team and placed fourth on vault and sixth on uneven bars.British Gymnastics
Whelan and Cairns dominate in IpswichRomanian Gymnastics Federation
Ipswich competition results In October she went with the national team in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

to compete at the 2010 World Championships. Here she helped her team qualify in the fourth place by competing on balance beam, vault and uneven bars, although she did not compete in the team final.International Gymnast Magazine
Russia on top as qualifications conclude, by Amanda Turner, October 17, 2010

Post-retirement

She retired after the 2010 World Championships due to health problems.Gymnastics No Ceiling
Cerasela Pătrașcu interview by Beatrice Gheorghișor

Skills

Cerasela is a gymnast with gracious lines and "beautiful flexibility".Winter Wondering, by Paul Ziert, ''International Gymnast Magazine'', vol 51, no 2, page 6, March 2009, ISSN 0891-6616 A picture of her performing on the balance beam was on the cover of March 2009 International Gymnast Magazine that celebrated the range of motion and unusual gymnastics flexibility.''International Gymnast Magazine'', (Cover) vol 51, no 2 March 2009, ISSN 0891-6616

References

External links

*
Cerasela's Unofficial Fan Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patrascu, Cerasela 1992 births Living people Romanian female artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships European champions in gymnastics People from Balș Sportspeople from Olt County 21st-century Romanian sportswomen