Sandra Izbasa
Encyclopedia
Sandra Raluca Izbaşa is a Romanian artistic gymnast. Her best event is the floor exercise on which she is an Olympic champion and a three-time European Champion. She also won medals on balance beam, vault, all around, and with the team. Among her many medals, 15 were at Olympic Games, World Championships or European Championships.

Early gymnastic career

Izbasa began gymnastics in 1994 at the CSS Steaua Bucharest club, after trying out tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 and fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

. In 2002 she joined the Romanian national gymnastics team. At the 2004 Junior European Championships, Izbaşa placed sixth in the all-around event. She also won a silver medal on the floor final event; her compatriot Steliana Nistor
Steliana Nistor
Steliana Nistor is a Romanian gymnast. She is an Olympic and a world bronze medalist with the team. Individually, she is a world all around and beam silver medalist and a multiple European medalist on beam and uneven bars. Her best events were the uneven bars, the beam and the all around...

 won the gold. One year later, at the 2005 Japan Junior International meet, she won the gold medals on the floor and vault.

2006

In 2006, her first year competing as a senior, Izbaşa won the all-around, floor and vault titles at the Romanian International Championships. She followed up her domestic success with her senior international debut at the World Cup final in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where she won the bronze medal on the balance beam and the silver on the floor. At the 2006 European Championships in Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Izbaşa was a member of the silver-medal-winning Romanian team, as well as winning the gold medal on the floor exercise and the bronze medal on the balance beam.

These successes secured her a place in the national team competing for the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
39th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Aarhus, Denmark from October 13 to October 21, 2006 in NRGi Arena.It was the first time the World Gymnastics Championships was organized by a Danish city...

 in Aarhus
Aarhus
Aarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. According to the team's coach Nicolae Forminte, the 2006 team was Romania's most unexperienced generation since the time of 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...

. From all the team members only Floarea Leonida
Florica Leonida
Florica Leonida is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a silver world medalist and a silver European medalist with the team. She was a successful junior gymnast winning gold on beam and three silver medals at the 2002 Junior European Championships.-References:...

  had the experience of a world championship. In Aarhus, the Romanian team placed 4th in the team competition, the first time since 1981 that the Romanian team failed to medal at a world championship. Izbaşa was the only gymnast of the Romanian team to medal at this competition, she won the bronze medal in the all-around event and the silver medal on the beam. She also placed 8th in the vault final, and fifth on the floor. During the floor exercise final, she stepped out of bounds on her first tumbling pass.

2007

In 2007, she competed at several world cup competitions. At the 2007 European Championships, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, The Netherlands she qualified in the all around, vault, beam, and floor finals. European individual championships artistic gymnastics women qualifications results She won the silver medal in the all-around event, behind Vanessa Ferrari
Vanessa Ferrari
Vanessa Ferrari , is a World Champion Gymnast from Italy. Her mother, Galya, is Bulgarian and her father, Giovanni, is Italian....

 and placed eight in the vault final. She injured her ankle on the dismount of her event final beam routine, but she managed to win the silver medal. Due to the injury she did not compete in the floor event final.
She had only four months to recover from this injury before the 2007 World Championships
2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 40th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, from 1 to 9 September 2007.Oldest and youngest competitors- Men :- Women :- Finals :- Qualifications :- Floor :...

. At this competition she won the bronze medal with the team and she placed 9th in the all-around and 8th on the floor event final.

2008 and the Olympics

2008 was a very successful year for Izbaşa. Having recovered from her injury, she competed at the 2008 European Championships
2008 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships
2008 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships may refer to:* 2008 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships held from 8 to 11 May in Lausanne* 2008 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships held from 3 to 6 April in Clermont-Ferrand...

 in Clermond-Ferrand, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. At that competition she won the team gold medal, the gold on the floor, and the silver medal on the beam.
In the same year she was together with Steliana Nistor
Steliana Nistor
Steliana Nistor is a Romanian gymnast. She is an Olympic and a world bronze medalist with the team. Individually, she is a world all around and beam silver medalist and a multiple European medalist on beam and uneven bars. Her best events were the uneven bars, the beam and the all around...

, Anamaria Tămârjan
Anamaria Tamârjan
Anamaria Tămârjan is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a bronze Olympic medalist and a gold European medalist with the team. Individually, she is a European silver medalist on balance beam and a bronze medalist on floor...

, Gabriela Drăgoi
Gabriela Dragoi
Gabriela Drăgoi is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic bronze medalist and a European gold medalist with the team...

, Andreea Grigore
Andreea Grigore
Andreea Florentina Grigore is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic bronze medalist and a world bronze medalist with the team. She was a successful junior gymnast winning three silver medals at the 2006 Junior European Championships .-External links:* *...

, and Andreea Acatrinei
Andreea Acatrinei
Andreea Acatrinei is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic bronze medalist with the team.-External links:* *...

, a member of the Romanian team at the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Here she helped the team to win the bronze medal by competing in three events: vault (15.100), balance beam (15.600) and floor (15.550). Individually she won the gold medal on floor (15.650) ahead of Shawn Johnson
Shawn Johnson
Shawn Machel Johnson is an American artistic gymnast. She was the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and all-around, and floor exercise silver medalist, the 2007 all-around World Champion, and the 2007 and 2008 U.S. all-around champion...

 (15.500) and Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Anastasia Valeryevna "Nastia" Liukin is a Russian-American artistic gymnast. She was the 2008 Olympic individual all-around Champion, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars...

 (15.425) and placed eight in the all around final. Following her Olympic success she competed in various competitions and exhibitions. She won the Arthur Gander Memorial, she paired with Flavius Koczi
Flavius Koczi
Flavius Koczi is a Romanian artistic gymnast. He is a world silver medalist on vault and an eight-time European medalist . Koczi is the 2006 European champion on pommel horse, the 2011 European Champion on vault, and was one of the vault finalists at the 2008 Olympic Games.-External links:...

 for the second place at Swiss Cup, and she won gold on floor and silver on beam at Toyota Cup and at the Italian Grand Prix. Her last 2008 competition was the World Cup in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 where she won the bronze medal on floor and placed fourth on balance beam.

2009

She was on the cover of the April 2009 number of International Gymnast Magazine that celebrated her Olympic achievements.
In February, Izbaşa headlined the 1st 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...

 International Invitational (Oklahoma, USA). Here she won the all around senior title with the competition’s highest marks on vault, floor and beam and the team gold medal (with Daniela Druncea
Daniela Druncea
Daniela Druncea is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a world bronze medalist with the team and was an alternate to the 2008 Romanian Olympic team. She retired in 2009.-External links:* *...

).
Struggling with injuries to both legs Izbaşa was below her usual standard at both the Jesolo Trophy and the 2009 European Championships
2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 3rd Individual European Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Milan, Italy, on 29 March to 5 April 2009.- Medal winners :-Individual all-around:- Floor :- Pommel horse :- Rings :- Vault :- Parallel bars :- Horizontal bar :...

. At the Europeans she qualified second on floor but failed to qualify on beam. In the floor finals she placed a disappointing seventh after an incomplete landing on her triple twist dismount, which the judges credited as a 2 twist. Since she already had performed a 2 twist in her third pass, the final pass was given no credit. In the summer of 2009 she focused on the National exams which she successfully passed with an average of 9.71 (out of maximum 10). After the exams she enrolled herself as a student at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the Babeş-Bolyai University
Babes-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...

 in Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...

.
Izbaşa planned to compete at the 2009 World Championships
2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 41st World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held at The O2 arena in London, United Kingdom, on 12 October to 18 October 2009. Similar to the World Championships in 2005, there were no team competitions...

 but, unfortunately in September just before the Romanian Nationals she suffered a torn Achilles' tendon and a hand injury. She was replaced in London by the alternate Gabriela Drăgoi
Gabriela Dragoi
Gabriela Drăgoi is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic bronze medalist and a European gold medalist with the team...

.

2010

After being sidelined for almost one year she managed to make a successful comeback under the coaching of Octavian Bellu
Octavian Belu
Octavian Ioan Atanase Bellu is the current head of the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team. He was the main coach with interruptions, between 1990 and 2005 and returned as head of the national team in 2010...

 and Mariana Bitang who returned guiding the Romanian team in June 2010. Her first international competition of that year was in September at the Gent World Cup where she won gold on floor exercise. In October she led her team in the qualifications for the 2010 World Championships
2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held at the Ahoy Rotterdam indoor sporting arena in the Netherlands from 16 to 24 October 2010. In this year's championships, there was a total of 73 participating federations with 615 gymnasts...

. Here, she helped her team qualify in the fourth place by scoring the highest marks among her teammates on vault and floor and the second mark on beam. Individually, she qualified in the third place on the floor final behind Aliya Mustafina
Aliya Mustafina
Aliya Fargatovna Mustafina , born 30 September 1994 in Yegorievsk, Russia is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2010 All Around World Champion. She also won Gold with the Russian team at the same championships and was the 2009 Russian national champion in the all around and on the balance beam...

 and Ksenia Afanasyeva
Ksenia Afanasyeva
Ksenia Dmitrievna Afanasyeva is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2011 World Champion in the Floor Exercise, and represented Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the 1st day of competition, Ksenia qualified in 6th for the all around, however she did not qualify because of the two per...

. Although she was a favorite medal contender in the floor finals she placed seventh after receiving a 0.8 points deduction for landing and stepping out of bounds. Her last 2010 competitions were the Gander Memorial (silver all around) and the Swiss Cup pair event (fourth with Flavius Koczi
Flavius Koczi
Flavius Koczi is a Romanian artistic gymnast. He is a world silver medalist on vault and an eight-time European medalist . Koczi is the 2006 European champion on pommel horse, the 2011 European Champion on vault, and was one of the vault finalists at the 2008 Olympic Games.-External links:...

)

2011

At the Paris World Cup in March 2011 she debuted a new floor routine with which she won the gold medal ahead of teammate Diana Chelaru
Diana Chelaru
Diana Maria Chelaru is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a world and European silver medalist on floor and a European bronze medalist on floor and with the team.-Early gymnastics career:...

 and Anna Dementyeva
Anna Dementyeva
Anna Yurievna Dementyeva born on the 28 December 1994 in Samara, Russia is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2011 European all-around and beam champion, and a world gold medalist with the team.- Junior career :...

. In April, she repeated the success on floor at the 2011 European Championships
2011 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 4th Individual European Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Berlin, Germany from the 4th April 2011 until the 10th April 2011. The event was held at the Max-Schmeling-Halle...

 topping Diana Chelaru
Diana Chelaru
Diana Maria Chelaru is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a world and European silver medalist on floor and a European bronze medalist on floor and with the team.-Early gymnastics career:...

 and Yulia Belokobylskaya
Yulia Belokobylskaya
Yulia Belokobylskaya was born on the 14 December 1995 in Rostov-Na-Donu, Russia. She is a Russian artistic gymnast and is the Russian national champion in the floor exercise...

 for her third European title on this event. Additionally, she won the gold in the vault final and placed eleventh in the qualifications for beam. This competition marked the comeback of Izbasa as a contender in the vault final after a break of four years. Moreover, the European vault medal was her first medal on this event at a major international competition.
Besides vault, in 2011 she also managed to make a comeback on uneven bars after a break of more than two years. Unfortunately, two months before the 2011 World Championships
2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 7–16, 2011 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.Due to uncertainty over the nuclear situation following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the International Federation of Gymnastics revealed it was...

 she was bothered by foot pain. Thus, she skipped the Romanian National Championships and competed only on vault and uneven bars at a friendly meed in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

. She did not manage to recover in time for the World Championships and her coaches decided to pull her out from the team.

Awards

Izbaşa was voted the Romanian Gymnastics Federation's Athlete of the Year 2008. She shared the title with Răzvan Dorin Şelariu
Razvan Dorin Selariu
Răzvan Dorin Şelariu is a Romanian artistic gymnast. He is a bronze Olympic medalist and a multiple European medalist. Răzvan is an all around gymnast; he is a silver all European medalist on this event.-Awards:...

.

Skills

2005

Floor Exercise: Triple turn; round-off, back handspring, tuck full-in; front handspring, double twist to punch front tuck; double-twisting tuck jump; cat leap double, cat leap 1; round-off, back handspring, 2 twist to punch front layout full; switch leap, stag leap; round-off, back handspring, triple twist.

2006

Floor Exercise: Round-off, back layout 1 twist, punch front layout full to punch front tuck full; round-off, back handspring, tucked full-in; full-twisting split leap; triple turn; round-off, back handspring, 2 twist to punch front 1 tuck; full-twisting switch leap, half-twisting split leap; round-off, back handspring, triple twist.

2007

Floor Exercise: Round-off, back handspring, piked full-in; round-off, back handspring, tucked full-in; triple turn; round-off, back handspring, 2 twist to punch front layout full; round-off back 1 twist to punch front 1 twist layout; tour jete 1/2 to split leap 1/2; round-off, back handspring, triple twist.

2008

Floor Exercise: Round-off, back 1 twist to punch front 2 twist; round-off, back handspring, piked full-in; triple turn; round-off, back handspring, 2 twist to punch front layout full; round-off, backhandspring, tucked-full-in; tour jete 1/2 to split leap 1/2; round-off, backhandspring, triple twist.

Floor music

2008 - "Taniec Eleny" by Michał Lorenc

2010 - "Kalinka" and "Hava Nagila"

2011 - "Tango Amore" by Edvin Marton

External links

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