Sandra Izbașa

Sandra Izbașa
— Gymnast —
Izbaşa on the beam in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Sandra Raluca Izbașa
Country represented	Romania
Born	(1990-06-18) 18 June 1990 Bucharest, Romania
Height	167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Club	CSA Steaua București
Head coach(es)	Octavian Bellu, Mariana Bitang
Former coach(es)	Nicolae Forminte, Livia Ponoran
Choreographer	Puia Valer, Adriana Pop
Music	2008: Taniec Eleny 2010: Kalinka and Hava Nagila 2011: Tango Amore 2012: Shine On You Crazy Diamond 2013: Feeling Good
Retired	2013
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 0 2 World Championships 0 1 2 European Championships 7 4 1 Total 9 5 5 Women's artistic gymnastics Representing  Romania Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Floor Exercise 2012 London Vault 2008 Beijing Team 2012 London Team World Championships 2006 Aarhus Balance Beam 2006 Aarhus All Around 2007 Stuttgart Team European Championships 2006 Volos Floor Exercise 2008 Clermont Team 2008 Clermont Floor Exercise 2011 Berlin Vault 2011 Berlin Floor Exercise 2012 Brussels Team 2012 Brussels Vault 2006 Volos Team 2007 Amsterdam All Around 2007 Amsterdam Balance Beam 2008 Clermont Balance Beam 2006 Volos Balance Beam

Sandra Raluca Izbaşa (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈsandra izˈbaʃa]; born 18 June 1990) is a former Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a double Olympic champion, having won the floor event at the 2008 Olympics and vault at the 2012 Olympics.^[1] She is also a winner of two Olympic bronze medals (as part of the Romanian team in 2008 and 2012) and multiple World Championship and European Championship medals.

Senior career

2006

In April, Izbaşa competed at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Volos, Greece. She helped the Romanian team finish in second place. In event finals, she placed seventh on vault scoring 13.950, third on balance beam scoring 15.300, and first on floor scoring 15.550.^[2]

In October, Izbaşa competed at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. She helped the Romanian team place fourth, and individually she placed third in the all around with a score of 60.250. In event finals, she placed eighth on vault scoring 14.562, second on balance beam scoring 15.500, and sixth on floor scoring 15.375.^[3]

In November, Izbaşa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Glasgow, United Kingdom. She placed third on balance beam with a score of 15.025 and first on floor with a score of 15.300.^[4]

2007

In March, Izbaşa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Paris, France. She placed sixth on vault scoring 13.937, fifth on balance beam scoring 14.950, and third on floor scoring 14.950.^[5]

In April, Izbaşa competed at the 2007 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She placed second in the all around final with a score of 59.900. In event finals, she placed eighth on vault scoring 13.975 and second on balance beam scoring 15.525. She qualified to the floor finals but had to withdraw due to injury.^[6]

In September, Izbaşa competed at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. She helped the Romanian team place third, and individually she placed ninth with a score of 59.225. In event finals, she placed eighth on floor scoring 14.525.^[7]

2008

In April, Izbaşa competed at the 2008 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Clermond-Ferrand, France. She contributed scores of 15.075 on vault, 15.350 on balance beam, and 15.750 on floor toward the Romanian team's first-place finish. In event finals, she placed second on balance beam scoring 15.450 and first on floor scoring 15.775.^[8]

Later in April, Izbaşa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Cottbus, Germany. She placed third on balance beam scoring 15.300 and first on floor scoring 15.300.^[9]

Beijing Olympics

In August, Izbaşa competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. She contributed scores of 15.100 on vault, 15.600 on balance beam, and 15.550 on floor towards the Romanian team's third-place finish.^[10] Individually, she placed eighth in the all around final with a score of 60.750,^[11] and she won the floor final with a score of 15.650.^[12]

In December, Izbaşa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup final in Madrid, Spain. She placed fourth on balance beam scoring 14.925 and third on floor scoring 15.000.^[13]

2009

In March, Izbaşa competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy.^[14]

In April, Izbaşa competed at the 2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Milan, Italy. She placed seventh in the floor final with a score of 13.900.^[15]

Also in April, Izbaşa was on the cover of International Gymnast Magazine celebrating her Olympic achievements.^[16]

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 in Cluj-Napoca.^[17]

In September, Izbaşa tore her right Achilles tendon while performing a piked full-in back-out on floor and also injured her hand during the fall. She said, "I didn't know what happened. I heard a pop and thought it was the floor." She was taken to the hospital and had surgery to repair the tendon.^[18]

2010

Izbaşa (first on the left) with the 2012 Olympic Romanian team on 2 February 2010.

In September, Izbaşa returned to competition at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium. She won the floor final with a score of 14.325.^[19] Izbaşa said, "(I competed) with so many emotions. It was a competition in which I started over from the beginning, a new beginning I went a little bit to see where I am. First place is just a small step in the comeback stage."^[20]

Later in September, Izbaşa competed at the Romanian National Championships in Resita, Romania. She placed second on vault scoring 14.400, second on balance beam scoring 14.800, and first on floor scoring 15.150.^[21]

In October, Izbaşa competed at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She contributed scores of 14.700 on vault, 14.333 on balance beam, and 14.200 on floor towards the Romanian team's fourth-place finish.^[22] In event finals, she placed seventh on floor with a score of 13.983.^[23] Before the competition she said, "I don't plan on winning any (individual) medals. For me the most important thing is to come back and help my team. The fact that I can lend a hand to help the girls in the team competition matters most. I watched several videos of the Russian and American women. The gymnasts are strong and the competition will be quite high."^[24]

2011

Izbasa on floor in 2011

In March, Izbaşa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Paris, France. She won the floor final with a score of 14.833.^[25]

In April, Izbaşa competed at the 2011 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Berlin, Germany. She placed first on vault with a score of 14.525 and first on floor with a score of 14.600.^[26]

In September, Izbaşa competed at an international meet against Germany and Switzerland in Erzingen, Germany. She helped Romania win the team competition with scores of 14.150 on vault, 13.200 on uneven bars, and 14.150 on balance beam.^[27]

In October, Izbaşa was supposed to compete at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan but she injured her foot. Octavian Belu said, "We do not want to push her, she was in pain. She really wanted it, but could not. This is a big loss — her contribution to vault and floor was crucial for the team, but we must adapt. We would worsen her injury (by pushing her)."^[28]

2012

Izbaşa competing on the floor exercise at London 2012 on 29 July.

In April, Izbaşa competed at an international meet against France in Cholet, France. She helped Romania win the team competition and individually she placed second in the all around with a score of 56.600.^[29]

In May, Izbaşa competed at the 2012 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Brussels, Belgium. She contributed a vault score of 15.200 towards the Romanian team's first-place finish, and individually she won the vault final with a score of 14.833.^[30] She said, "It is gold here, but is will be tougher in London."^[31]

At the beginning of July, Izbaşa competed at an international meet against France, Germany, and Italy in Bucharest, Romania. She helped Romania win the team competition, and individually she placed second in the all around with a score of 59.150.^[32]

London Olympics

At the end of July, Izbaşa competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. She helped the Romanian team qualify in fourth place to the team final,^[33] and individually she qualified to the all around final with a score of 57.532.^[34] She qualified second to the vault final with a score of 15.316 and second to the floor final with a score of 15.066.^[35] In the team final, she contributed scores of 15.100 on vault and 15.200 on floor toward the Romanian team's third-place finish.^[36]

Izbașa and Chelaru at the London Olympics.

In the all around final, Izbaşa placed fifth with a score of 58.833.^[37] She won the vault final with a score of 15.191.^[38] Izbaşa said, "Honestly the vault final is a war of nerves and it showed. I can’t say I feel satisfied as I have the floor final to come. It means a lot but honestly I didn’t expect it, especially as I was competing last."^[39] She placed eighth in the floor final with a score of 13.333,^[40] having suffered a fall on her final tumbling pass.^[41] She was also chosen as Romania's flag bearer for the Games' Closing Ceremony.

2013

Izbaşa performing on floor at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.

Izbașa had been preparing for the 2013 European Championships that would take place in Moscow in April, but reportedly decided not to compete due to lack of training.^[42] She took a short break from training to prepare for her Bachelor's degree.^[43]

In October, Izbașa competed at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.^[44] In qualifications, she placed second on floor exercise with a score of 14.733.^[45] She finished seventh in the finals with a score of 13.733.^[46]

She retired shortly afterwards.

Competitive history

Izbasa (right) with Diana Bulimar and Larisa Iordache.

See also

• List of Olympic female gymnasts for Romania

References

External links

• Sandra Izbasa at the International Federation of Gymnastics

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sandra Izbașa.