Steliana Nistor
Encyclopedia
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. She was a valuable member of the Romanian team between 2006 and 2008, often contributing to the team final score with the highest marks among all her colleagues.
and of the coach Raluca Bugner (since 1998). In 1998 she placed first with the team at an international competition in France. In 2001 she won the all-around title, gold on bars and beam and bronze on floor at the Romanian junior championships in her age category.
These successes allowed her to join the national junior gymnastic team in 2002. As a national junior she medaled in several international and national competitions. The 2004 European Junior Championships Amsterdam
was an especially successful met for Steliana. She won gold in the all around and floor final events and silver in the team and vault finals. Her all around score was the highest score of all the gymnasts, including the senior ones.
Greece
she medaled silver with the team and she finished 6th on the uneven bars finals. At that competition she only competed on uneven bars. However, during 2006 she reestablished herself as contender in all around competitions wining the all around silver behind Sandra Izbaşa
at the Romanian Nationals.
Steliana was also a member of the national team competing for the 2006 World Championships
in Aarhus
, Denmark
. According to the team's coach Nicolae Forminte, the 2006 team was Romania's most unexperienced generation since the time of Nadia Comăneci
. From all the team members only Floarea Leonida
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. She also placed 4th all-around behind her teammate Sandra Izbaşa
and 7th on beam and on uneven bars.
She ended 2006 by pairing with Marian Drăgulescu
for the silver medal at the Swiss Cup and by winning gold on beam and bronze on floor at the Glasgow Grand Prix.
, The Netherlands she placed second all around, third on beam and floor and fourth on bars. She won silver on bars and bronze on beam. The last Romanian gymnast to medal on bars at European Championships was Claudia Presecan
in 1998. Falls from beam and on floor placed her fourth all-around and fifth on floor. Her team colleague Sandra Izbaşa
won the all around silver medal.
At the 2007 World Championships
, she helped her team to qualify in the third place by scoring the highest all around mark of the women's qualifications. Individually, she qualified first in the all around final and fourth on beam and fifth on uneven bars. She won silver in the all around event behind Shawn Johnson
and silver on beam behind Nastia Liukin
and placed sixth on the uneven bars finals. She also contributed considerably to the team bronze medal by receiving the highest average score of all her team colleagues.
Besides the European and World championships she competed at various world cup events. She won the Swiss Cup mixed pair event with Flavius Koczi
, medaled gold on bars and bronze on floor at the Glasgow Gand Prix and won gold on beam and floor and bronze on bars at the Ghent World Cup
in Clermond-Ferrand, France
. She qualified second and fifth on beam and uneven bars finals, respectively and placed ten on floor and vault. She won gold with the team, silver on the uneven bars and after a fall she placed 6th on beam finals. Had there been a senior all around competition, Steliana would have won the title with her 60.700, highlighted by a 15.400 on bars (toe-on-1 and 1/2 to Jaeger; toe-on-Tkatchev-Pak) and 15.800 on beam (flip-flop full). A picture of her performing on the floor exercise at these European Championships appearead on the cover of May 2008 International Gymnastics Magazine.
The 2008 Romanian Nationals coincided with Nistor's exams, so she juggled a full competition with her studies. Nistor won the all-around and two events and scored 10s on Romanian language and literature, English and Sports. Her final average was 8.95, placing her among the top ten students in Deva. The process, Nistor told Prosport, was "draining," and she only competed bars at a dual meet with Italy the following week to give her mind and body a rest.
Together with Sandra Izbaşa
, Anamaria Tămârjan
, Gabriela Drăgoi
, Andreea Grigore
, and Andreea Acatrinei
, Steliana was a member of the Romanian team at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games Beijing
, China
. In the team competition she did all four events and contributed heavily to the team score on uneven bars with a world class routine (scored 16.150). She won the bronze medal with the team and placed 5th in the all-around and 7th on uneven bars. Following the Olympic games, Nistor went back home while the other gymnasts went to Constanta for a holiday/training camp by the seaside. A few weeks later, she formally announced on television that she would be retiring, having been bothered by back pains for quite some time.
Early gymnastic career
Steliana began gymnastics at the age of five, at the gymnastics club CSS Sibiu under the training of the former Olympic champion Mihaela StănuleţMihaela Stanulet
Mihaela Stănuleţ is a Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed in international events between 1979 and 1984. She is an Olympic gold medalist and a world silver medalist with the team. Individually, she is a European bronze medalist on beam. She also placed fourth on the uneven bars final at the...
and of the coach Raluca Bugner (since 1998). In 1998 she placed first with the team at an international competition in France. In 2001 she won the all-around title, gold on bars and beam and bronze on floor at the Romanian junior championships in her age category.
These successes allowed her to join the national junior gymnastic team in 2002. As a national junior she medaled in several international and national competitions. The 2004 European Junior 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...
was an especially successful met for Steliana. She won gold in the all around and floor final events and silver in the team and vault finals. Her all around score was the highest score of all the gymnasts, including the senior ones.
2005 - 2006
Since 2005, Steliana has been a member of the senior national gymnastic team. Unfortunately she was sidelined for nearly six months with back and knee injuries and she did not compete at all in 2005. It was only after an intensive rehabilitation process that she was able to return, and Nistor sometimes wore a protective brace on her right knee. She returned to the international competitions in 2006 at the Cottbus cup where she finished 6th in the beam finals. At the European Championships, VolosVolos
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....
she medaled silver with the team and she finished 6th on the uneven bars finals. At that competition she only competed on uneven bars. However, during 2006 she reestablished herself as contender in all around competitions wining the all around silver behind Sandra Izbaşa
Sandra Izbasa
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...
at the Romanian Nationals.
Steliana was also a member of the national team competing for the 2006 World 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. She also placed 4th all-around behind her teammate Sandra Izbaşa
Sandra Izbasa
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...
and 7th on beam and on uneven bars.
She ended 2006 by pairing with Marian Drăgulescu
Marian Dragulescu
Marian Drăgulescu is a Romanian artistic gymnast. During his senior gymnastics career he has won an impressive number of 26 medals at Olympic games, World or European Championships among which eight gold medals at World Championships...
for the silver medal at the Swiss Cup and by winning gold on beam and bronze on floor at the Glasgow Grand Prix.
2007
In 2007 she had several successful international meets. In the qualification round of the 2007 European Championships, AmsterdamAmsterdam
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 placed second all around, third on beam and floor and fourth on bars. She won silver on bars and bronze on beam. The last Romanian gymnast to medal on bars at European Championships was Claudia Presecan
Claudia Presecan
Claudia Maria Presăcan, is a world-class Romanian artistic gymnast who competed at the senior international level between 1994 and 2000...
in 1998. Falls from beam and on floor placed her fourth all-around and fifth on floor. Her team colleague Sandra Izbaşa
Sandra Izbasa
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...
won the all around silver medal.
At 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 :...
, she helped her team to qualify in the third place by scoring the highest all around mark of the women's qualifications. Individually, she qualified first in the all around final and fourth on beam and fifth on uneven bars. She won silver in the all around event behind 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...
and silver on beam behind 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...
and placed sixth on the uneven bars finals. She also contributed considerably to the team bronze medal by receiving the highest average score of all her team colleagues.
Besides the European and World championships she competed at various world cup events. She won the Swiss Cup mixed pair event 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:...
, medaled gold on bars and bronze on floor at the Glasgow Gand Prix and won gold on beam and floor and bronze on bars at the Ghent World Cup
2008 and the Olympics
In 2008 she competed at the European Championships2008 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...
. She qualified second and fifth on beam and uneven bars finals, respectively and placed ten on floor and vault. She won gold with the team, silver on the uneven bars and after a fall she placed 6th on beam finals. Had there been a senior all around competition, Steliana would have won the title with her 60.700, highlighted by a 15.400 on bars (toe-on-1 and 1/2 to Jaeger; toe-on-Tkatchev-Pak) and 15.800 on beam (flip-flop full). A picture of her performing on the floor exercise at these European Championships appearead on the cover of May 2008 International Gymnastics Magazine.
The 2008 Romanian Nationals coincided with Nistor's exams, so she juggled a full competition with her studies. Nistor won the all-around and two events and scored 10s on Romanian language and literature, English and Sports. Her final average was 8.95, placing her among the top ten students in Deva. The process, Nistor told Prosport, was "draining," and she only competed bars at a dual meet with Italy the following week to give her mind and body a rest.
Together with Sandra Izbaşa
Sandra Izbasa
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...
, 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:* *...
, Steliana was a member of the Romanian team at the 2008 Summer 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...
. In the team competition she did all four events and contributed heavily to the team score on uneven bars with a world class routine (scored 16.150). She won the bronze medal with the team and placed 5th in the all-around and 7th on uneven bars. Following the Olympic games, Nistor went back home while the other gymnasts went to Constanta for a holiday/training camp by the seaside. A few weeks later, she formally announced on television that she would be retiring, having been bothered by back pains for quite some time.