Melita Ruhn
Encyclopedia
Melita Ruhn is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast who represented Romania at the 1980 Summer Olympics
.
She won three olympic medals (team, vault, uneven bars) for Romania
and scored a perfect ten for the vault optionals in the team competition of the 1980 Olympic Games
. In 1979 she was a member of the first world gold medal winning team of Romania
. She is also an all around and floor world bronze medalist.
. Her first major international competition was the 1979 European Championships in Copenhagen
where she placed fifth in the all-around final event.
Together with Nadia Comăneci
, Rodica Dunca
, Emilia Eberle
, Dumitriţa Turner
and Marilena Vlădărău
, Melita was a member of the gold-winning team at the 1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
. This was the first time for Romania to win the team event at the world championships and the second time the Soviet team had not won the world or the Olympic title since 1952. Melita did all the four events and contributed with a difficult and risky routine on the uneven bars. Individually she won the bronze medals in the all around and in the floor event and placed seventh on vault and eight on balance beam.
In 1980 she was a member of the silver-winning Romanian team at the 1980 Olympic Games
. She revealed for a newspaper that just before the Moscow Olympics she fractured her ankle. The ankle was put in a cast, and coach Károlyi took it off before the vault event. She scored a 10 and the cast was placed back on her ankle. Besides winning silver with the team she won the bronze medal on vault and on uneven bars. The bronze on the uneven bars was a tie with Steffi Kraker
and Maria Filatova
.
Their first daughter, Stefi was born in 1990 followed by Francisca, in 1992. A year later, the Fleischers moved to Munich, where they still reside. Melita works in a school, where she owns a small store and teaches physical education. Her husband is the school administrator.
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
.
She won three olympic medals (team, vault, uneven bars) for Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and scored a perfect ten for the vault optionals in the team competition of the 1980 Olympic Games
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
. In 1979 she was a member of the first world gold medal winning team of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. She is also an all around and floor world bronze medalist.
Career
Ruhn started gymnastics at Sport School Club Sibiu with coach Kristl Voiculescu and Nicolae Buzoianu. Later she trained with the national team in Deva under coach Béla KárolyiBéla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania and the...
. Her first major international competition was the 1979 European Championships in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
where she placed fifth in the all-around final event.
Together with Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...
, Rodica Dunca
Rodica Dunca
Rodica Dunca Köszegi is a Romanian artistic gymnast who represented Romania at the 1980 Olympic Games. She is an Olympic silver medalist and a world gold medalist with the team. Individually she won a continental bronze medal on beam.-External links:*...
, Emilia Eberle
Emilia Eberle
Gertrude Emilia Eberle , was a Romanian gymnast of ethnic Hungarian - German descent who was of European, World, and Olympic calibre.Eberle, a pupil of the famous fellow ethnic Hungarian husband-wife coaching team Béla Károlyi and Márta Károlyi before they defected from Romania to the United...
, Dumitriţa Turner
Dumitrita Turner
Dumitriţa Turner is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast who represented Romania at the 1980 Olympic Games. She is a world champion on vault, a world gold medalist with the team and an Olympic silver medalist.-References:...
and Marilena Vlădărău
Marilena Vladarau
Marilena Vlădărău is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a world gold and a world silver medalist with the team. In 1979 she was a member of the first Romanian team to win gold at a world artistic gymnastics championships. After retirement she worked as a coach.-External links:*...
, Melita was a member of the gold-winning team at the 1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
1979 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 20th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Fort Worth, USA, in 1979. In November 1977 the 55th FIG Congress, held in Rome, changed the cycle of world championships: since 1979 they were to be held each two years, and the pre-Olympic ones were to be qualifications for the Olympic...
. This was the first time for Romania to win the team event at the world championships and the second time the Soviet team had not won the world or the Olympic title since 1952. Melita did all the four events and contributed with a difficult and risky routine on the uneven bars. Individually she won the bronze medals in the all around and in the floor event and placed seventh on vault and eight on balance beam.
In 1980 she was a member of the silver-winning Romanian team at the 1980 Olympic Games
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
. She revealed for a newspaper that just before the Moscow Olympics she fractured her ankle. The ankle was put in a cast, and coach Károlyi took it off before the vault event. She scored a 10 and the cast was placed back on her ankle. Besides winning silver with the team she won the bronze medal on vault and on uneven bars. The bronze on the uneven bars was a tie with Steffi Kraker
Steffi Kraker
Stefanie "Steffi" Kraker is a retired East German gymnast who competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games.Kraker began competing on the GDR national team in 1976...
and Maria Filatova
Maria Filatova
Maria Evgenievna Filatova is a retired Soviet gymnast who competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.Filatova began competing for the USSR junior team in 1974...
.
Post retirement
Melita retired from competitive gymnastics in 1982, when she was 17. She finished high school in her native Sibiu and left for Bucharest in 1984. She went to the sports university there, while also competing for her home club of CSS Sibiu for a short period. After she graduated college, she had a boyfriend, Roland Fleischer, who immigrated to Germany with his family in 1988. They wanted to get married but the Romanian communist government only gave them their approval two years later, so she only managed to leave Romania in 1990. In Germany she stayed for the first three months in a refugee camp near Nürnberg sharing the same room with six people. Then she was allowed to move in together with her boyfriend. The former gymnast started working as a custodian.Their first daughter, Stefi was born in 1990 followed by Francisca, in 1992. A year later, the Fleischers moved to Munich, where they still reside. Melita works in a school, where she owns a small store and teaches physical education. Her husband is the school administrator.