Lavinia Miloşovici

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Olympic medal record
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Gold 1992 Barcelona Vault (tie)
Gold 1992 Barcelona Floor exercise
Silver 1992 Barcelona Team competition
Bronze 1992 Barcelona All-around
Bronze 1996 Atlanta Team competition
Bronze 1996 Atlanta All-around
World Championships
Gold 1991 Indianapolis Vault
Gold 1992 Paris Uneven Bars
Gold 1993 Birmingham Balance Beam
Gold 1994 Dortmund Team
Gold 1995 Sabae Team
Silver 1994 Brisbane All-Around
Silver 1994 Brisbane Floor Exercise
Bronze 1991 Indianapolis Team
Bronze 1993 Birmingham Vault
Bronze 1994 Brisbane Vault
Bronze 1995 Sabae All-Around
Bronze 1996 San Juan Floor Exercise
European Championships
Gold 1994 Stockholm Team
Gold 1994 Stockholm Vault
Gold 1996 Birmingham Team
Gold 1996 Birmingham Floor Exercise
Silver 1994 Stockholm Floor Exercise
Bronze 1994 Stockholm Balance Beam
Bronze 1996 Birmingham All-Around

Lavinia Corina Miloşovici (born October 21, 1976 in Lugoj) (Serbian: Lavinija Milošević/Лавинија Милошевић) is a Romanian Olympic gymnast of Serbian origin.[1] An exceptionally successful athlete on the international competition circuit, Miloşovici, also known as "Milo" in the gymnastics community, is considered to be one of Romania's top gymnasts of the 1990s and the most prolific female all-around gymnast of the decade, earning a total 19 World Championships or Olympic medals in a span of six years. She medalled in every single World Championships meet, Olympic Games and European Championships between 1991 and 1996, and is only the third female gymnast ever, after Larissa Latynina and Vera Caslavska, to win at least one World Championships or Olympic title on all four events. Miloşovici was also the last gymnast ever to receive the perfect mark of 10.0 in an Olympic competition and the last to receive the benchmark score of 9.95 at the World Championships.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Lavinia Miloşovici was born on October 21, 1976 in Lugoj. Her mother, Ildiko, was a competitive volleyball player, while her father, Tănase, was a national team wrestler. She began gymnastics at the age of 6 and moved to the Deva National Traning Centre as she excelled in the sport.[2][3][4]

Miloşovici's gymnastics career was nearly derailed when she contracted scarlet fever at the age of 10, and again when the Romanian Revolution in 1989 temporarily closed Deva. However, she continued to train, and by 1990, was representing Romania in such international meets as the American Cup and the World Sports Fair.[5][3] She competed well at the 1991 Junior European Championships, winning two gold medals.[5]

[edit] Senior career

Miloşovici made her debut as a senior in 1991, winning her first all-around title at the Romanian National Championships.[5] She joined the Romanian team at the 1991 World Championships, where she contributed to the team's bronze medal and won her first individual World Championships title, on the vault, and placed third on the balance beam.[2]

Miloşovici won her second individual world title on uneven bars at the 1992 World Championships. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Miloşovici won a total of four medals, placing third in the all-around, second with the Romanian team, tieing with Hungarian Henrietta Onodi for the vault gold medal, and winning floor exercise with a perfect score of 10.0. Miloşovici's 10, in the event finals, was only the second awarded in Barcelona, and the last ever awarded at any Olympics.[6][7]

After the 1992 Olympics, Miloşovici continued to compete, winning the world title on beam in 1993, and leading the Romanian team to two World Championships team titles in 1994 and 1995. Shortly before the 1994 World Championships, she and her teammates staged a strike at Deva to protest nonpayment of prize money owed from the Romanian Gymnastics Federation; in spite of the depleted training time, they still won the team gold medal at Worlds.[8][5]

Miloşovici also led the Romanian team to a bronze at the 1996 Olympics, in spite of a spate of injuries that left the squad depleted of several key gymnasts and forced them to compete with only six athletes instead of seven.[9] At the 1996 Olympics, Milo had the rare opportunity to improve upon her third place all-around finish in Barcelona--as did her longtime rival Shannon Miller, who looked to improve upon the all-around silver medal she had won in Barcelona. Though Miloşovici was largely overlooked throughout the competition, her trademark consistency allowed her to take advantage of her competitors' mistakes, and she became the first gymnast since Nadia Comaneci to medal in the all-around at consecutive Olympics.

[edit] Post-retirement

Miloşovici announced her official retirement in the summer of 1997.[10] After retiring, she returned to Lugoj to coach gymnastics and attended the Sports University in Timisoara.[3]

In 2002, Miloşovici, along with former teammates Corina Ungureanu and Claudia Presecan, sparked controversy by posing naked in photographs for a Japanese photobook, LCC Gold ISBN 4872791185, and performing gymnastics routines topless for the Japanese DVDs Gold Bird and Euro Angels. A number of photographs from the photobook and DVDs were subsequently published in the Japanese magazine Shukan Gendai, and an edited version of the DVDs entitled 3 Gold Girls was released in Germany in 2004. Because the gymnasts had posed for some of the photographs and footage wearing their official Romanian team leotards, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation banned them from coaching and judging in the country for five years, and the Japanese Junior Gymnastic Club Federation contemplated banning Romanian gymnasts from a major international junior competition.[11][12]

Miloşovici has been married to police officer Cosmin Vânatu since 1999.[5] They have one daughter, Denisa Florentina, who was born in 2004.[13][4]

[edit] Major results

1996 Olympic Games: 3rd team; 3rd AA; 8th UB
1996 European Championships: 1st team; 1st FX; 3rd AA; 4th UB
1996 World Championships: 3rd FX
1995 World Championships: : 1st team; 3rd AA; 5th UB
1995 Romanian Nationals: 1st AA
1994 World Championships: : 2nd AA; 2nd FX; 3rd VT; 5th BB; 6th UB
1994 Team World Championships: 1st team
1994 European Championships: 1st team; 1st VT; 2nd FX; 3rd BB; 6th AA; 7th UB
1993 World Championships: : 1st BB; 2nd VT; 5th FX; 5th UB; 8th AA
1993 Romanian Nationals: 1st AA; 1st FX; 1st BB; 1st VT; 3rd UB
1992 Olympic Games: 1st FX; 1st VT (tie); 2nd team; 3rd AA; 4th UB; 8th BB
1992 World Championships: 1st UB; 4th VT; 8th FX
1992 Romanian Nationals: 1st AA; 1st UB; 1st FX; 1st VT
1991 World Championships: 1st VT; 3rd team; 3rd BB; 4th FX; 7th AA
1991 Romanian Nationals: 1st AA; 1st VT; 2nd FX
1991 Junior European Championships: 1st VT; 1st FX; 2nd BB; 6th AA
1990 World Sports Fair: 3rd FX; 3rd VT; 7th AA
1990 American Cup: 5th AA

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Romanian Coach Keeps Up the Fight" Jane Perlez, New York Times, July 13 1995
  2. ^ a b FIG biography International Gymnastics Federation
  3. ^ a b c Whatever happened to Lavinia Miloşovici? Gymnastics Greats, 2008
  4. ^ a b Legends:Lavinia Miloşovici International Gymnast
  5. ^ a b c d e List of competitive results Gymn-Forum
  6. ^ " BARCELONA: GYMNASTICS; Miller Picks Up 3 Medals In a Day" Gerard Eskenazi, New York Times, August 2 1992
  7. ^ "Comaneci gets world record status" International Gymnast, July 19 2007
  8. ^ " The Cost of Freedom: Romanian Gymnasts Stage Training Slowdown" Jere Longman, New York Times, September 28 1994
  9. ^ "Romanian Women Are Uneasy Favorites" Christopher Clarey, New York Times, July 17 1996
  10. ^ "Gymnastics: Milosovici retires" The Independent, July 19 1997
  11. ^ "Five year suspension for retired Romanians" International Gymnast, December 18 2002
  12. ^ "Romania in clear over naked Gymnastics" Sports Illustrated/Associated Press, December 17, 2002
  13. ^ "Hope Growing Along with Milosovici's Baby" International Gymnast April 4 2004

[edit] External links

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World champions in artistic gymnastics – women's team competition

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