Celestina Popa

Celestina Popa
— Gymnast —
Country represented  Romania
Born (1970-07-12) 12 July 1970
Ploieşti, Romania
Residence Vancouver, Canada
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Head coach(es) Adrian Goreac
Eponymous skills Popa (floor)
Retired 1989
Medal record
Summer Olympics
1988 Seoul Team competition
World Championships
1987 Rotterdam Team competition
1985 Montreal Team competition

Celestina Popa-Toma (born 12 July 1970 in Ploieşti, Romania) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed in international events between 1985 and 1988.[1] She is an Olympic silver medalist and a world gold and silver medalist with the team. She is best known for her eponymous straddle pike jump with full turn on floor[2][3] as well as for her flexibility and unique style.[4]

Career

In 1984 Popa placed second at the Romanian Junior Nationals and she became a member of the national team. In 1985 she was a member of the silver medal winning team at the 1985 World Championships. Also in 1985, she was the all around champion, vault and beam gold medalist at the International Chunichi Cup in Japan.[2]

Together with Aurelia Dobre, Camelia Voinea, Eugenia Golea, Daniela Silivaș and Ecaterina Szabo, Popa was a member of the gold medal winning team at the 1987 World Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In 1988 she won the silver medal with the team at the Olympics and placed tenth all around in the preliminaries.[4]

Eponymous Skills

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty
Floor Exercise Popa Straddle jump with a full turn C

Post retirement

Popa retired in 1989. After retiring she attended the Sport School in Bucharest from 1989 to 1991. She graduated from University with a degree in Physical Education in 1994. She is a Master of Sports in Gymnastics (1987) and she has the National Romanian Coaching Certification Level III. Popa has been coaching since 1991. Since 1994 she has been a recreational coach at Flicka Gymnastics, Vancouver, Canada.[2] Popa married fellow former Romanian gymnast Flaviu Toma, longtime head coach and technical director at Flicka. In 2009 she opened her own gym "Celestina Popa Gymnastics" in British Columbia, Canada.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Gymn-Forum Celestina Popa
  2. 1 2 3 Flickagymclub Coaches: Celestina Popa Archived October 7, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ FIG Women's artistic Gymnastics. Code of points 2009-2012, page 167
  4. 1 2 3 International Gymnast Magazine Celestina Popa Jumps into Gym Ownerschip, by John Crumlish, June 24, 2009

External links

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