Lavinia Miloșovici

Lavinia Miloșovici
— Gymnast —
Full name Lavinia Corina Miloșovici
Nickname(s) Milo
Country represented  Romania
Born October 21, 1976
Lugoj, Romania
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Level Senior International
Gym Deva National Training Center
Head coach(es) Octavian Belu
Assistant coach(es) Mariana Bitang
Retired 1997

Lavinia Corina Miloșovici (born October 21, 1976 in Lugoj) is a Romanian Olympic gymnast.[1] An exceptionally successful athlete on the international competition circuit, Miloșovici, also known as "Milo" in the gymnastics community, is considered to be one of Romania's top gymnasts of the 1990s and one of the most prolific female all-around gymnasts 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 Larisa Latynina and Věra Čáslavská, to win at least one World Championships or Olympic title on all four events. Miloșovici was also the last gymnast along with Lu Li to ever 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. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2011.[2] Her trademarks include her four-event mastery, consistency, longevity and versatile skill set, as well as her leadership abilities.

Early life and career

Lavinia Miloșovici was born on October 21, 1976 in Lugoj in a family with Serbian roots.[1] 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 Training Centre as she excelled in the sport.[3][4][5]

Miloșovici'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.[4][6] She competed well at the 1991 Junior European Championships, winning two gold medals.[6]

Senior career

Miloșovici made her debut as a senior in 1991, winning her first all-around title at the Romanian National Championships.[6] 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.[3]

Miloșovici won her second individual world title on uneven bars at the 1992 World Championships. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Miloșovici won a total of four medals, placing third in the all-around, second with the Romanian team, tying with Hungarian Henrietta Ónodi for the vault gold medal, and winning floor exercise with a perfect score of 10.0. Miloșovici's 10, in the event finals, was only the second awarded in Barcelona, and the last ever awarded at any Olympics.[7][8]

After the 1992 Olympics, Miloșovici continued to compete, winning the world title on beam in 1993, which completed her quartet of golds on each of the individual apparatuses, and the world silver medal on vault that same year. In 1994 and 1995, she led the Romanian team to two World Championships team titles. 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.[6][9] Milosovici's best all-around finish in World Championship or Olympic competition came in 1994 when she took second to Shannon Miller in a controversial finish, after being considered the early favorite. Milo concluded the 1994 Worlds with a silver on floor and a bronze on vault. At the 1995 Sabae World Championships, she captured the all-around bronze.

Miloșovici 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.[10] At the 1996 Olympics, Milo had the rare opportunity to improve upon her third place all-around finish in Barcelona and only because of her consistency did she take advantage of her competitors' mistakes, and she became the first gymnast since Nadia Comăneci to medal in the all-around at consecutive Olympics. This also marked her fourth all-around medal in World and Olympic competition, a feat since equalled only by Svetlana Khorkina.

Post-retirement

Miloșovici announced her official retirement in the summer of 1997.[11] After retiring, she returned to Lugoj to coach gymnastics and attended the Sports University in Timisoara.[4]

In 2002, Miloșovici, along with former teammates Corina Ungureanu and Claudia Presecan, sparked controversy by posing naked in photographs for a Japanese photobook, LCC Gold ISBN 4-87279-118-5, 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.[12][13]

On October 23, 1999, Milo married her childhood friend, Cosmin Vinatu. According to Prosport, Cosmin is a sergeant major in the police force.[6] The two were childhood friends, but lost touch when Milo moved to Deva. Then, in 1998, Milo was out with her brother and a group of his friends and they ran into Cosmin at a bar. Needless to say, Milo and Cosmin's friendship was renewed. Their wedding took place at the Termal restaurant in Timisoara, with over 350 guests. Milo told Prosport that the couple expected to live in Timisoara after the wedding, though she does own a house in her hometown of Lugoj. They had one daughter, Denisa Florentina, who was born in 2004 and died in 2008. The Godmother is former teammate, Simona Amanar. In January 2013, Lavinia gave birth to a boy, Mihai. [5][14]

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; 10th UB
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

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Romanian Coach Keeps Up the Fight" Jane Perlez, New York Times, July 13, 1995
  2. ↑ Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique IGHF presents Class of 2011, May 6, 2011
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 FIG biography International Gymnastics Federation
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Whatever happened to Lavinia Miloşovici? Gymnastics Greats, 2008
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Legends:Lavinia Miloşovici International Gymnast, 2001
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 List of competitive results Gymn-Forum
  7. ↑ " BARCELONA: GYMNASTICS; Miller Picks Up 3 Medals In a Day" Gerard Eskenazi, New York Times, August 2, 1992
  8. ↑ "Comaneci gets world record status" International Gymnast, July 19, 2007
  9. ↑ " The Cost of Freedom: Romanian Gymnasts Stage Training Slowdown" Jere Longman, New York Times, September 28, 1994
  10. ↑ "Romanian Women Are Uneasy Favorites" Christopher Clarey, New York Times, July 17, 1996
  11. ↑ "Gymnastics: Milosovici retires" The Independent, July 19, 1997
  12. ↑ "Five year suspension for retired Romanians" International Gymnast, December 18, 2002
  13. ↑ "Romania in clear over naked Gymnastics" Sports Illustrated/Associated Press, December 17, 2002
  14. ↑ "Hope Growing Along with Milosovici's Baby" International Gymnast April 4, 2004

External links