Daniela Silivaş

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Olympic medal record
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Gold	1988 Seoul	Uneven bars
Gold	1988 Seoul	Balance beam
Gold	1988 Seoul	Floor exercise
Silver	1988 Seoul	Individual all-around
Silver	1988 Seoul	Team competition
Bronze	1988 Seoul	Vault

Viorca Daniela Silivaş-Harper (born May 9, 1972) is a Romanian gymnast who is most famous for winning six medals (three Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze) in Women's Artistic Gymnastics at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

Contents 1 Early career 2 1988 Olympics 3 Life after gymnastics 4 Skills 5 Trivia 6 Sources 7 External links

[edit] Early career

Born in Deva, Transylvania, Silivaş began gymnastics at age 6 and was coached by the legendary Béla Károlyi for six months before his defection in 1981. She won her school's championships in 1980, and in 1981, became the Junior National Champion.

However, Silivaş did not linger for long in the junior ranks. In 1985, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation changed her birth year from 1972 to 1970 to make her age eligible for the World Championships in Montreal. The falsification was suspected by some, but was never fully verified until Silivaş herself revealed it in 2002. She stated that she was never consulted about the matter; officials simply gave her a new passport, called her attention to the birthdate, and informed her that she was now fifteen.

Although she was only thirteen at the 1985 Worlds, Silivaş scored a perfect 10 en route to capturing the World balance beam title; defeating the reigning Olympic Champion, her fellow countrywoman, Ecaterina Szabo, in the process. She finished behind reigning co-World Champion Yelena Shushunova in the individual all-around at the 1986 World Cup and quickly established herself as the leader of the Romanian gymnastics team.

Her greatest triumph took place at the 1987 European Gymnastics Championships in Moscow where she won the individual all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise titles in addition to taking a silver medal on the vault. At the time, every single dominant nation in women's gymnastics was located in Europe; winning the European title over the deep field of powerful Soviet, East German and Bulgarian gymnasts marked a major victory.

At the 1987 World Championships in Rotterdam, Silivaş helped the Romanian squad win the team title, defeating the nearly invincible world champion Soviet team for the first time since 1979. She was a favorite for the all-around title, but, hampered by low scores carried over from the team optionals (where she had stepped off the balance beam) as well as a shaky uneven bars routine in the all-around, she only managed to win the bronze medal behind teammate Aurelia Dobre and 1985 World Champion Shushunova. In the event finals, Silivaş did win two gold medals, on the uneven bars and the floor.

[edit] 1988 Olympics

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Silivaş, along with Dobre and Shushunova, was considered a heavy favorite for the all-around title. In the team competition, Romania finished second to the Soviet squad.

The stage was set for the all-around, with a hotly anticipated battle between Silivaş, the technician and dancer; and Shushunova, the powerhouse and tumbler. Both gymnasts turned in especially strong performances. Both Silivaş and Shushunova received perfect 10.0 scores on floor; Shushunova received her second 10.0 on vault; Silivaş received hers on the uneven bars. Silivaş was in the lead entering the final rotation, but a score of 9.950 on the vault dropped her to second place behind Shushunova by only 0.025.

The all-around duel between Silivaş and Shushunova is widely acknowledged to have been one of the finest contests in the history of the sport, not to mention most hotly debated. In particular, Silivaş' score on vault came under scrutiny. Of the six judges on the panel, three marked her first vault as a perfect 10.0; two others gave her 9.9s. The Soviet judge on the panel Nellie Kim, however, only scored Silivaş at a 9.8. On her second vault attempt Silivaş took a hop on her landing; all six judges gave her 9.9s. Silivaş was visibly upset after Shushunova's scores were posted and at the medal ceremony; according to a report in International Gymnast, her comment on the competition was "after my last vault, I thought maybe I should be the champion." [1] However, she did not argue the results publicly. Her former coach, Bela Károlyi noted, "This kid had the honesty and decency to shut up. She didn’t want to say ‘I’m better’ because she knows Shushunova is the Olympic champion but she couldn’t praise a rival. So she just didn’t say a word. These kids have more decency than all the judges and coaches in the world." [2]

In spite of the controversy, no score protests were ever filed by Silivaş, her coaches or her Federation, and no disciplinary measures were taken against any of the judges. In addition, even though Kim's first mark was considered questionable by many fans, it did not actually figure into Silivaş' final score: in 1988, the highest and lowest marks of the panel were dropped; the final score was the average of the remaining four marks. Also, in spite of her vault score, Silivaş' cumulative overall all-around total was actually higher than that of Shushunova: if the competition had been held under the New Life rule, she would have won.

Silivaş returned in the event finals to take bronze in the vault behind Soviet Svetlana Boguinskaya (gold) and teammate Gabriela Potorac (silver); and gold on UB, BB and FX, becoming the only gymnast in Seoul to medal in each of the six competitions. In the process, she equaled Nadia Comaneci's record of seven perfect 10s in a single Olympic competition.

Plagued by a knee injury in 1989, Silivaş was able to win only the FX title at the European Championship along with the all-around silver, placing second to Svetlana Boguinskaya. Still injured, she went to the Worlds in Stuttgart where she placed 12th in the All-Around after falling from the Balance Beam. Undaunted, she returned in event finals to capture three more gold medals on the bars, beam and floor. Her nine individual World and Olympic titles is a record unmatched by any gymnast, male or female.

[edit] Life after gymnastics

After several more competitions in 1989, Silivaş underwent surgery on her knee and intended to return to the gym to train. The Romanian Revolution of 1989 closed the National Training Center at Deva, putting an early end to her career. Silivaş retired in 1991 and moved to Atlanta where she coaches gymnastics.

In May 2003, Silivaş married Scott Harper, a sports management graduate living in the Atlanta area. The couple have two children, a son, Jadan Scott (born April 8, 2004), and daughter Ava, who was born in late 2005.

[edit] Skills

The hallmarks of Silivaş' gymnastics were her impeccable form and execution, difficulty and expressive dance. Many of the skills she performed in the 1988 Olympics are still considered to be extremely advanced today. Between 1985 and 1988, the highlights of Silivaş' routines included:

Floor Exercise:

• "Back to back" tumbling: Round-off, back handspring, double twist, punch front, round-off, back handspring, double twist, punch front.
• Triple twist
• Double twisting double back somersault
• Double back tuck
• Double tour-double pirouette
• The "Silivaş" skill, which involved spinning on the ankles

Balance Beam

• The "Silivaş" mount: shoulder stand-pirouette
• Back handspring, two layout step-outs
• Roundoff, two-foot layout
• Aerial front walkover
• Double back dismount

Uneven Bars

• Deltchev
• Tkatchev
• Shaposhnikova transition

[edit] Trivia

• Silivaş became the youngest gymnast ever inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2002.

[edit] Sources

• Bio at romanian-gymnastics.com
• International Gymnast report on the Seoul Olympics
• Silivas profile at the IGHOF

[edit] External links

• Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique profile for Daniela Silivaş

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