Nicoleta Daniela "Dana" Șofronie (born 12 February 1988 in Constanța, Romania) is a Romanian

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 and European gold medalist with the team, as well as the silver medalist on

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 ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

and the all-around silver medalist at the 2004 European Championships.

Gymnastics career

Șofronie started gymnastics in 1992 in her hometown, Constanța, and moved to

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 2002 to train with the national team.International Gymnast Magazine, Ascension in Rotterdam, by John Crumlish, June/July 2004, page 10 In 2003, she was an alternate to the Romanian team at the

2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 37th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Anaheim, California, United States, from 16 to 24 August 2003. Tie-breakers were not used at this competition. If two gymnasts received identical scores in the event finals, they were ...

.Gymnastics Greats
The Alternate Practically unknown before 2004, she burst onto the international scene with a silver medal in the all-around final at the 2004 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Her score in the all-around was 0.38 points behind that of the gold medalist,

Alina Kozich Alina Kozich ( uk, Алина Козич, born December 16, 1987) is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the Ukrainian team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Gymnastics career Kozich started gymnastics when she w ...

of Ukraine, one of the narrowest margins of victory in European history. After three rotations (

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 ...

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 ...

and

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...

), Kozich was 0.137 points behind Șofronie. However, in the last rotation, the floor exercise, Șofronie did not receive full credit for her dance connections, which lowered the start value of her routine to 9.70. At the same time, speculation was made that a Russian judge, Lyubov Adrianova, had influenced the elevation of Kozich's start value from 9.90 to 10. Despite this controversy, the

European Union of Gymnastics European Gymnastics is one of five continental unions that represents the interests of Europe in the International Gymnastics Federation (french: Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique or ''FIG''). It was formed on 27 March 1982 as the Europe ...

and the

International Federation of Gymnastics The International Gymnastics Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, FIG) is the body governing all disciplines of competitive gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on July 23, 1881, in ...

both affirmed the results of the competition. Șofronie also contributed to the Romanian team's gold-medal performance in Amsterdam, the first time since 1998 that they had taken this title. A picture of her performing at the championships was on the cover of the June/July 2004 issue of ''International Gymnast''. Later that year, she helped the Romanian team win the gold medal at the 2004 Summer 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 ...

. She competed on vault, bars and floor in the team final, scoring 9.400, 9.562 and 9.562, respectively. Individually, she won a silver medal on floor behind teammate

Cătălina Ponor Cătălina Ponor (; born 20 August 1987) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who competed at three Olympiads: 2004, 2012, and 2016. She won three gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens on balance beam, floor and as part of the R ...

, placed fifth in the all-around final and sixth on uneven bars. Unusually for a Romanian gymnast, she was a strong bars worker and comparatively weak on beam. Following a subpar performance at the 2005 European Championships, Șofronie retired from the sport and pursued her education.

Retirement

After retiring from gymnastics, Șofronie graduated from high school and university. She was for a short period a member of the Romanian Golden Team, a gymnastics show set up by

Marius Urzică Marius Daniel Urzică (born 30 September 1975 in Toplița, Romania) is a Romanian gymnast. Urzică is an Olympic champion, a three-time world champion and a three-time European champion on pommel horse. He competed at three Olympic Games, medali ...

. She is currently working as an assistant coach at the Constanța club where she started her career.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sofronie, Nicoleta Daniela 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Constanța Romanian female artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts for Romania Olympic gold medalists for Romania Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics European champions in gymnastics 21st-century Romanian women