Cristina Elena Grigoraş (born 11 February 1966) is a retired Romanian
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 two-time Olympic medalist with the team (gold in 1984 and silver in 1980). Individually, she won four medals (vault, all-around, uneven bars and floor) at the 1981 European Championships. She is best known for a skill on the balance beam named after her: forward salto tucked with ½ twist (180°) take off from both legs."FIG" 2009 Code of points – Women's Artistic Gymnastics, page 166
Gymnastics career
Grigoraş trained at CSS Cetate Deva with Márta and
Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi (; September 13, 1942 – November 15, 2024) was a Romanian and American gymnastics coach of Hungarian origin. Early in his coaching career he developed the Romanian centralized training system for gymnastics. One of his earlies ...
until their defection to United States in 1981 and with coaches Adrian Goreac, Adrian Stan, Maria Cosma and
Octavian Belu
Octavian Ioan Atanase Bellu (; born 17 February 1951) is the current head of the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team.
He was the main coach, with interruptions, from 1990 to 2005“Gymn-Forum” Cristina Grigoras (Romanian) Interview with Octavian Bellu, Marius Tucă, 28 October 2008
1980 and the Olympic Games
Her senior debut in an international event was at the 1980 Italian-Romanian meet where she placed first with the team and second all-around. Her participation at the 1980 World Cup in Toronto brought her a bronze medal on vault. She also placed fourth all around ahead of teammate Emilia Eberle, fifth on floor and eight on balance beam.“Gymn-Forum” 1980 World Cup Women’s All around 1980 World Cup Women’s Events Finals Together with
Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (; born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast. She is a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score ...
,
Rodica Dunca
Rodica Dunca (later ''Kőszegi'', born 16 May 1965) is a retired Romanian 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 t ...
, Emilia Eberle,
Melita Ruhn
Melita Ruhn (later Fleischer, born 19 April 1965) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast who represented Romania at the 1980 Summer Olympics. She belongs to the German minority in Romania.
She won three Olympic medals (team, vault, uneven bars) ...
Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics
At the 1980 Summer Olympics, fourteen different artistic gymnastics events were contested, eight for men and six for women. All events were held at the Sports Palace of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow from July 20 through 25th. Several tea ...
” Team Competition At these Olympic games she did not compete in any individual final event.“Gymn Forum” 1980 Olympic Games, Women’s All around 1980 Olympic Games Women’s Events Finals
1981
At the 1981 European Championships in Madrid, Spain, Grigoraş medaled in all events except the balance beam. She won silver in the all around behind
Maxi Gnauck
Maxi Gnauck (born 10 October 1964) is a German former artistic gymnast who represented East Germany. With a total of 27 medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cups, and European Championships she is considered one of the most s ...
,“Times” E. German Gymnast European Champion 1981 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships Women's All Around gold on vault, silver on uneven bars, bronze on floor and she placed eighth on beam. 1981 European Championships Women's Events Finals Her results in the all around and the events finals were the highest among her team members. In 1981 she also won the Champions All Trophy 1981 Champions All and was a team member at the 1981 World Championships in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. At these World Championships she placed fourth with the team and fifth in the all around and uneven bars events. Once again her result in the all around was the highest among the Romanian team.
1982–1984 and the Olympic Games
In 1982 Grigoraş did not compete at all. She returned to gymnastics events in 1983, but she was only an alternate in the team at the 1983 World Championships.”Gymnastics Greats” The Alternates In 1984 she won several medals for all around at some minor international events. In 1984 Grigoraş went with the team to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
to compete at the
1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to:
*The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
*The 1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...
Lavinia Agache
Lavinia Agache (later Carney; born 11 February 1968) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She won 10 medals at major international events, including a team gold medal at the 1984 Olympics and three silver medals at the 1983 World Championships ...
,
Laura Cutina
Laura Cutina (born 13 September 1968) is a retired Romanian 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 Fédératio ...
,
Simona Păucă
Simona Păuca (born 19 September 1969) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where she tied for gold with her teammate Ecaterina Szabo
Ecaterina Szabo (, ; born 22 January 1968) is ...
,
Mihaela Stănuleţ
Mihaela is a female given name with the same etymology as Michaela. It is very common in Romania, and also found in Croatia and Bulgaria.
Notable people with the name include:
* Mihaela Bene (born 1973), Romanian sprint canoer
* Mihaela Botezan ...
, and
Ecaterina Szabo
Ecaterina Szabo (, ; born 22 January 1968) is a former Romanian Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast who won 20 Olympic, world and continental medals.
Szabo won gold medals in the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 Olympics in three individual events ...
. She contributed to the team gold medal and she placed eighth in the preliminaries of the all around event.
Eponymous skill
Grigoraş has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points.
Retirement
Grigoraş' last event appears to be the 1985 Dutch Romanian meet.