MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

Daniela Silivas (Harper) Olympic Gold medalist, World Champion, European Champion and now, a gymnastics coach, a wife and a mother of three children. Yesterday, Daniela posted a conversation she had with her five-year-old son, Rylan on her Facebook page. What a gem. Kids say the darnedest things....

After months of back and forth and an extended vacation, famed Romanian head coaches, Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang have returned to the helm of Romanian Gymnastics. Oh and they might be bringing Catalina Ponor and Sandra Izbasa with them.

With the World Championships just around the corner, Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache has gone into beast mode.

For the second year in a row, Romanian gymnast Diana Bulimar will be out of the World Championships due to injury.

After an amazing performance during today's team finals at the European Championships, team Romania took home the gold medal. The Romanians, led by Diana Bulimar and Larisa Iordache had issues in the qualification round yesterday, but today, they on fire.

The results are in from the junior team competition and qualifying session. The Russian juniors already have a take no prisoners strong hold as they won by well over three points.

On the final day of the Doha World Cup, Larisa Iordache went into complete beast mode and won the balance beam and floor exercise titles, giving her gold medals on (almost) every event.

At 33-years-old, Romanian gymnast Marian Dragulescu is making a go for Rio.

I've been a complete slacker this week on the blogging. But, when you come down with a cold, your priority is getting better. Anyways, I am doing my usual Tumblr trolling for things to blog about. I found this GIF of the glorious Sandra Izbasa on the floor exercise during the world championships in Antwerp, working it in her floor routine.

It's easy to see why Ana Porgras was awarded the Longines Prize for Elegance in 2011. The retired Romanian gymnast became a balance beam world champion in 2010.

Who doesn't love vintage footage of their favorite athletes?

Romanian Gymnast, Daniela Silivas is known for her many unique skills. Notably, a double double on the floor exercise and the wicked cool beam chest stand turn that Dominique Moceanu did in her 1996 routine. Mad props for the latter skill, the coolest beam mount in the world.

On the first day of the Romanian National Championships was the all-around competition. Larisa Iordache took home the all-around national title to add to the growing collection she's been amassing all year.

The list of World Championship athletes who are injured/sick keeps getting longer. The Couch Gymnast reported that Diana Bulimar injured her left knee right before the start of the Romanian Nationals.

The FIG has released a nominative list of competitors for Worlds.  Romania, USA and Russia have both named complete teams after much speculation. This is just a nominative list, so it is subject to change.

This weekend saw the return of Sandra Izbasa at the Dutch Friendly meet this weekend while the Chinese Nationals got underway.

After months of anticipation and waiting very, very patiently, Sandra Izbasa has returned her awesome self to competition. Great timing with Worlds in a few weeks. Sandra made her post Olympic debut at the Dutch Invitational this weekend in, Alphen aan den Rijn. Sandra only competed on the floor exercise. But she debuted a new routine and she took second behind Olympic teammate, Diana Bulimar.

For this Gymnast Profiles edition, I am featuring European Championships Silver Medalist, Larisa Iordache. Vital Statistics Date of Birth: June 19, 1996 Age: 16 going on 17 Height:1.50 meters, 4'11" Hometown: Bucharest, Romania Club: CSS Dinamo Coaches: Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang Best Events: Balance beam and Floor Exercise Nickname: Pici Larisa Iordache has been called the next Nadia. It's easy to see why. In her first year as a senior, Larisa was a part of the gold medal winning Romanian team at the 2012 European Championships and helped the Romanians bring home the bronze medal at the London Olympics in July.

Sandra Izbasa has won gold medals at two Olympic games.Won multiple World and European medals and now, she's achieved yet another honor. The Romanian Ministry of Defence announced via their Facebook page, today that Sandra was promoted to lieutenant ranking.

Today, Stirile TV posted this video of the Romanian team during podium training for the Euros. We see head coach Octavian Belu speaking with a reporter. Unfortunately, I do not posses skills in speaking Romanian so I can't tell you what he said. (If you speak Romanian and English and want to provide me with a GOOD translation, I'd appreciate it) This is what we see: we see Diana Bulimar warming up on the floor exercise and doing a beautifully executed double twisting Yurchenko. Larisa Iordache is showing some gorgeous lines on the uneven bars. See for yourself: