Marius Daniel Urzică (born 30 September 1975 in

Toplița Toplița (; hu, Maroshévíz, ) is a municipality in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. The settlement has had multiple name changes: ''Taplócza'', ''Toplicza'', ''Gyergyó-Toplicza'', from February 3, 1861 ''Oláh-Toplicza'', or "Roman ...

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 ...

) is a

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 ...

. Urzică is an Olympic champion, a three-time world champion and a three-time European champion on

pommel horse The pommel horse is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, the modern pommel horse has a metal body covered with foam rubber and ...

. He competed at three Olympic Games, medaling each time on pommel horse (gold

Sydney 2000 The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, silver Atlanta 1996 and silver Athens 2004) and contributed to the team bronze in Athens 2004. His unique technique and style of performance have won him the recognition as one of the greatest masters on this piece of apparatus ever, together with

Miroslav Cerar Miroslav Cerar (; born 28 October 1939) is a Yugoslav former gymnast and lawyer of Slovene ethnicity who won the pommel horse event at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics. He also won three world and nine European championships. Domestically ...

and

Zoltán Magyar Zoltán Magyar (born 13 December 1953) was the world's leading pommel horse gymnast in the 1970s. In this event he won two Olympic, three world, three European and two World Cup titles. Magyar had two moves named after him, the Magyar spindle ...

.Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
Marius Urzicǎ Known as "The King of the Pommels" in 2001 he achieved the maximum score of 10.00 on this piece of apparatus at the Glasgow Grand Prix.
2001 Glasgow Grand Prix Men Final Events Two elements in

artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

, one on pommel horseFédération Internationale de Gymnastique
Code of points Men Artistic Gymnastics 2009–2012 page 69 and one on parallel bars
Code of points Men Artistic Gymnastics 2009–2012 page 114 are named after him. He was the founder of '' Romanian Golden Team''

Skills

Urzicǎ had difficult routines, which he always tried to execute without fault. Among his skills on the pommel horse was a super E element called "the four Russians on one handle" and a move named after him rated C in the Code of points. On parallel bars he was known for his eponymous salto forward to 1/1 turn to upper arm hang rated E.

References

External links

*
Incomplete list of competitive results at Gymn Forum

Urzica (Parallel bars Animation)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urzica, Marius 1975 births Living people People from Toplița Romanian male artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of Romania Gymnasts at the 1996 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships European champions in gymnastics Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Olympic medalists in gymnastics Universiade medalists in gymnastics Universiade silver medalists for Romania Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics