Doina Stăiculescu (born 7 December 1967) is a Romanian individual

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordi ...

. She won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics, when rhythmic gymnastics was introduced as an Olympic event.Doina Stăiculescu
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Career

Stăiculescu was a three time national champion and had her highest placement at the 1983 World Championships by finishing 6th in All-around and qualifying for ball, clubs and ribbon finals. At the time of rhythmic gymnastics being officially added as an Olympic Sport at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the gymnasts from

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

were considered the favourites to win, but the Eastern led Boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics left Stăiculescu the highest rank gymnast to compete in the Olympic event. Canadian gymnast,

Lori Fung Lori Fung Methorst, (馮黎明; born February 21, 1963) is a Canadians, Canadian gymnastics Coach (sport), coach and retired Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast. She won the gold medal in all-around rhythmic gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olymp ...

(ranked 23rd in the world at the time), trained with Stăiculescu ahead of the games. Despite finishing first in qualification, Stăiculescu finished in second place in the final to win the silver medal, having been beaten to the first Olympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics by Fung. She is the only Romanian to win a medal in Rhythmic Gymnastics. Stăiculescu is now working as a gymnastics coach at a private school in Romania.

References

External links

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Romanian Olympic medalist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Staiculescu, Doina Gymnasts at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic gymnasts of Romania Olympic medalists in gymnastics Romanian rhythmic gymnasts 1967 births Living people Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Gymnasts from Bucharest