Simona Amânar is a gymnast who has competed for Romania. She competed at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games. She is widely regarded as one of the most successful female gymnasts of all-time. She won a total of seven medals throughout her Olympic career, including two prestigious titles in the all-around events.
Amanar arrived at her first Olympics in 1996 as a frontrunner for several individual medals. She started her Olympic stint ominously with a haphazard fall on the balance beam during the compulsory routine. Though she posted the highest all-around score in the optional routine, the combined scores placed her fourth among the Romanian women and failed to enter the final. Fortunately, she replaced her teammate Alexandra Marinescu for the all-around final, heeding the head coach's plea for her utmost dedication and endeavor. Amanar ended sharing the bronze medal with teammate Lavinia Miloșovici behind the runner-up Gina Gogean and winner Lilia Podkopayeva. She redeemed from her unfortunate all-around routine to claim a silver on the floor exercise and dominate the vault. She also helped the Romanian women secure a bronze in the team all-around.
Four years later in Sydney, the Romanian women, with Amanar anchoring the squad, overhauled the Russians to capture the team all-around title, marking their first since Los Angeles 1984 and first-ever at a non-boycotting Olympics. They continued their success by dominating the top three spots in the all-around final and swept the medals with Andreea Răducan capturing the gold, Amanar taking the silver, and Maria Olaru locking the podium spot for the bronze. A few days later, Raducan was stripped of the individual all-around title after testing positive for a banned substance over a cold medicine, handing it to Amanar. Initially, she refused to accept the gold medal, insisting that Raducan had rightfully earned the title. Olaru adopted the same stance when she was awarded a silver medal but both of them reconsidered and decided to bring the medals home to Romania as symbolic victories of the country. Amanar continued to insist that Raducan was the true Olympic all-around champion.
In the vault finals, Amanar sought the opportunity to defend her title, but she stumbled poorly with a two and a half twisting laid-out Yurchenko, one of the most difficult routines performed by any female gymnast named for her, dropping her to sixth overall. She finished her Olympic run with a bronze on the floor exercise after deducting points for a step out of bounds on her last tumbling pass.
Shortly after the Olympics, Amanar officially retired from competitive gymnastics.
Olympic Results[]
Year | Event | Result |
---|---|---|
1996 | Women's individual all-around | |
Women's team | ||
Women's floor | ||
Women's vault | ||
Women's uneven bars | 5th | |
Women's balance beam | 45th | |
2000 | Women's individual all-around | |
Women's team | ||
Women's floor | ||
Women's vault | 6th | |
Women's uneven bars | 35th | |
Women's balance beam | 15th |
1996[]
Discipline | Stage | Score |
---|---|---|
Individual all-around | Qualification | 77.436 |
Final | 39.067 | |
Team | Final | 388.246 (77.436) |
Floor | Qualification | 19.599 |
Final | 9.850 | |
Vault | Qualification | 19.675 |
Final | 9.825 | |
Uneven bars | Qualification | 19.675 |
Final | 9.787 | |
Balance beam | Qualification | 18.487 |
Final | Did not advance |
2000[]
Discipline | Stage | Score |
---|---|---|
Individual all-around | Qualification | 38.700 |
Final | 38.642 | |
Team | Qualification | 153.991 (38.700) |
Final | 154.608 (38.567) | |
Floor | Qualification | 9.800 |
Final | 9.712 | |
Vault | Qualification 1 | 9.700 |
Qualification 2 | 9.750 | |
Final 1 | 9.625 | |
Final 2 | 9.450 | |
Uneven bars | Qualification | 9.550 |
Final | Did not advance | |
Balance beam | Qualification | 9.625 |
Final | Did not advance |