Maria Olaru (born 4 June 1982)
Maria Olaru is a

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

n former

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

artistic gymnast 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 ...

. She is an Olympic, World, and European gold medalist with the team. Individually, she was the 1999 all-around world champion and the 2000 Olympic all-around silver medalist. Her best event was the

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

on which she medaled at world and continental competitions. Olaru was one of the tallest gymnasts competing in the late 1990s, standing . After retirement she became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the

West University of Timișoara The West University of Timișoara ( ro, Universitatea de Vest din Timișoara; abbreviated UVT) is a public higher education institution located in Timișoara. Classified by the Ministry of National Education as a university of education and sci ...

.West University of Timişoara
Faculty of Sports and Physical Education Staff

Early life and career

Born in

Fălticeni Fălticeni (; ''german: Foltischeni; hu, Falticsén;'' he, פלטיצ'ן yi, פאלטישאן) is a town in Suceava County, northeastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Western Moldavia. Fălticeni is the second largest urba ...

, Olaru began gymnastics at the age of six there, but quickly transferred to the local gymnastics club 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 ...

. She moved up to the junior national team in 1993, but after six months, she returned to her home club. In 1995 she rejoined the junior team in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. Olaru graduated to the Deva national training facility in 1996, after winning gold on

at the Junior European Championships.Gymn-Forum Results
1996 Junior European Championships In the same year she also won the Top Gym Trophy in

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

.Top Gym
Palmares Complet

Senior career

In 1998 Olaru moved up to senior competition, taking first place with the Romanian team and second on vault at the European Championships.
1998 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships The following year, she contributed to the team gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and became the second Romanian gymnast in history, after

Aurelia Dobre Aurelia Dobre (born 16 November 1972) is a former artistic gymnast and the 1987 world all-around champion. She is the 1987 world champion on the balance beam and the bronze medalist on the vault and floor exercise, as well, and scored five pe ...

, to win the all-around title. In 2000, she was, with

Simona Amânar Simona Amânar (; born 7 October 1979) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She is a seven-time Olympic and ten-time World Championship medalist. Amânar helped Romania win four consecutive world team titles (1994–1999), as well as the 2000 ...

Loredana Boboc Loredana Boboc (born 12 May 1984 in Bucharest, Romania)Andreea Isărescu Florenţa Andreea Isărescu (born 3 July 1984)
And ...

Claudia Presăcan Claudia Maria Presăcan (born 28 December 1979 in Sibiu) is a Romanian artistic gymnast who competed at the senior international level between 1994 and 2000. She was a three-time team gold medalist at the World Championships with the Romanian te ...

and

Andreea Răducan Andreea Mădălina Răducan (; born 30 September 1983) is a retired gymnast from Bârlad, Romania. She currently works as a sports announcer and journalist. Răducan began competing in gymnastics at a young age and was training at the Romanian j ...

, a member of the Romanian team at the

2000 Olympics 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 ...

. There she shared in the team gold medal and won a silver in the all-around (after the Răducan controversy). She also qualified for the balance beam event final and placed sixth.

Post retirement

Olaru retired after the

, noting that the new Code of Points would not be suited to gymnasts of her height, and enrolled as a student at the

. After graduation she continued her studies, and she became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the West University of Timișoara. In 2016, Olaru published her autobiography, ''The Price of Gold. Uncomfortable Sincerity''. In it, she recounted how she and her Romanian teammates were hit and beaten by their coaches during training."Romanian gymnastics world champion reveals dark side of performance in autobiography"
romania-insider.com. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016.

Skills

*Vault: Double-twisting

Yurchenko Yurchenko is a Ukrainian patronymic surname that comes from the name Yuriy. It may refer to: * David Yurchenko (born 1986), Russian-Armenian footballer * Denys Yurchenko (born 1978), Ukrainian pole vaulter * Ihor Yurchenko (born 1960), Soviet a ...

, Phelps *Uneven Bars: Kip cast to handstand 1.5 handstand pirouette to mixed grip giant, immediate pike Jaeger; giant 1.5 pirouette into Tkatchev, Pak salto, Back-in Full-out tucked dismount *Balance Beam: piked front mount, wolf jump, tucked Korbut; flip flop, full (or flip flop, layout step out, Korbut); switch side; front tuck, tuck jump; 3/4 twisting Shushonova; cartwheel, swing through double full dismount *Floor Exercise: Round-off, whip back, 2.5 twist, punch pike; front-handspring, front double twist, punch front; Round-off, back-handspring, triple twist. Her music for floor routines was: ** 1999: "Invisible Circus" by

Vienna Symphony Orchestra The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikverein and at the Thea ...

** 2000: Soundtrack from the film ''

Black Cat, White Cat ''Black Cat, White Cat'' ( sr, Црна мачка, бели мачор, Crna mačka, beli mačor) is a 1998 Serbian romantic black comedy film directed by Emir Kusturica. It won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival. T ...

References

External links

*
Maria Olaru interview
2003, ''International Gymnast Magazine'' *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olaru, Maria 1982 births Living people Romanian female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Romania Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships People from Fălticeni European champions in gymnastics 20th-century Romanian women 21st-century Romanian women