Gina Gogean facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gina Gogean
Personal information
Full name	Gina Gogean
Country represented	Romania
Born	(1977-09-09) 9 September 1977 (age 47) Câmpuri, Vrancea County, Romania
Height	150 cm (4 ft 11 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team	1989–1998 (ROM)
Club	CSS Focșani
Head coach(es)	Octavian Bellu
Assistant coach(es)	Mariana Bitang, Nicolae Forminte, Toma Ponoran
Former coach(es)	Tatiana and Sergiu Popa
Eponymous skills	Floor: Tour jeté with additional 1/1 turn (360°), landing on one or both feet
Medal record Representing  Romania Olympic Games Silver 1992 Barcelona Team Silver 1996 Atlanta All-Around Bronze 1996 Atlanta Team Bronze 1996 Atlanta Balance Beam Bronze 1996 Atlanta Vault World Championships Gold 1994 Brisbane Vault Gold 1994 Dortmund Team Gold 1995 Sabae Team Gold 1995 Sabae Floor Exercise Gold 1996 San Juan Floor Exercise Gold 1996 San Juan Vault Gold 1997 Lausanne Team Gold 1997 Lausanne Balance Beam Gold 1997 Lausanne Floor Exercise Silver 1993 Birmingham All-Around Silver 1993 Birmingham Floor Exercise Bronze 1993 Birmingham Balance Beam Bronze 1994 Brisbane Floor Exercise Bronze 1995 Sabae Vault Bronze 1997 Lausanne Vault World Cup Final Silver 1998 Sabae Vault Silver 1998 Sabae Floor Exercise Bronze 1998 Sabae Balance Beam European Championships Gold 1992 Nantes Floor Exercise Gold 1994 Stockholm Team Gold 1994 Stockholm All-Around Gold 1994 Stockholm Balance Beam Gold 1996 Birmingham Team Silver 1992 Nantes All-Around Silver 1992 Nantes Vault Silver 1996 Birmingham Vault Silver 1996 Birmingham Balance Beam Bronze 1994 Stockholm Floor Exercise

Gina Elena Gogean (born 9 September 1977) is a former artistic gymnast from Romania. She competed internationally from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. During her amazing career, Gina won 30 medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, and European Championships.

She was especially strong on the floor exercise, winning three world titles. She also won two world titles on vault and one on balance beam. Gina was a great all-around gymnast too. She won the European all-around title in 1994 and an Olympic silver medal in 1996. She helped the Romanian team win three World Championship titles in a row (1994, 1995, and 1997). She also earned two Olympic team medals. In 2013, Gina Gogean was honored by being added to the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She was known for her amazing consistency and how long she stayed at the top of the sport. This made her a very important part of the Romanian team.

Early Life and Gymnastics Beginnings

Gina Gogean was born on September 9, 1977, in Câmpuri, Romania. Some records suggest she might have been born in 1978, but her official birth year is 1977. She started her gymnastics training at CSS Focșani, which was close to her home. Her first coaches were Sergiu and Tatiana Popa.

Gina first competed internationally at a junior event in Japan in 1989. There, she placed fourth in the all-around competition. She also won her first gold medal on the floor exercise.

Senior Career Highlights

By 1990, Gina Gogean was already representing Romania at big events like the Goodwill Games. She really started to get noticed at the 1992 European Championships. At this competition, she won the gold medal on floor exercise. She also earned silver medals in the all-around and on vault. People were very impressed with how difficult her routines were for such a young athlete.

1992 Barcelona Olympics

Gina was just as impressive at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. She was the youngest member of the experienced Romanian team. Gina scored some of the highest points for her team during the competition. She helped her team win a silver medal. Individually, she finished 6th in the all-around and 5th on vault. Even though her teammate Lavinia Miloșovici was a big star at these Olympics, Gina showed everyone that she was a gymnast to watch in the future.

Consistency and World Medals

In gymnastics, athletes often struggle with time and growing bodies. But Gina continued to be one of the best gymnasts in the world year after year. Some people said her routines lacked artistic expression, especially after 1992. However, her gymnastics kept getting better, and her results showed it.

At the 1993 World Championships, she finished a very close second in the all-around. She lost by only 0.007 points to her rival, Shannon Miller. Gina also won a silver medal on floor exercise and a bronze medal on balance beam.

The next year, in 1994, she didn't win an all-around medal, finishing 4th. But she became the World Champion on vault, which was her first World Championships gold medal. She also won a bronze on floor. That same year, she became the European All-Around champion. Gina played a very important part in helping the Romanian team win the 1994 Team World Championship. This was Romania's first team world title since 1987.

During the 1994 team competition, Gina had a scary fall on the balance beam. Her foot slipped, and the back of her head hit the beam before she fell to the floor. Amazingly, she wasn't hurt. She took a moment to get herself together and then bravely got back on the beam.

More World and Olympic Success

Even though Gina faced challenges in the all-around competitions in 1995 and 1996, her gymnastics continued to improve. She won more individual event World titles. At the 1995 World Championships, she helped the Romanian team win their second team title. She then won a bronze medal on vault and a gold medal on floor.

She added two more gold medals to her collection at the 1996 World Championships, winning on vault and floor. A few weeks later, at the European Championships, she won the team gold. She also earned silver medals on vault and beam. She couldn't defend her all-around title because she fell on the uneven bars during the team final.

Going into the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Romanian team was expected to win the team gold. However, the team had several injuries and didn't perform as well as expected. They ended up winning a disappointing bronze medal. Gina, though, had a very strong performance in the all-around competition. She won the silver medal, finishing behind Lilia Podkopayeva from Ukraine. She also won two more bronze medals on the vault and balance beam.

Gina's performances at the 1996 Olympics were especially impressive. This is because she had an emergency appendectomy only five weeks before the competition! Luckily, she was traveling on a train to Bucharest at the time. Bucharest was the only city where hospitals could perform the special non-invasive surgery she needed to get back to training quickly. A traditional surgery would have meant waiting at least six weeks to start light training, which would have made her miss the Olympics.

Gina Gogean continued to compete even after her teammate Lavinia Miloșovici retired. In an interview during the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, Gina said that the new Code of Points made gymnastics too hard for her. She planned to retire after that competition. Still, she led the Romanian team to their third straight world team title. Gina herself finished just off the podium in fourth place in the all-around. She then bounced back by winning the world title on beam and her third straight title on floor. Gina never won an Olympic gold medal, but she finished her career with an amazing thirty Olympic, World, and European medals, with fourteen of them being gold!

Gina Gogean's Special Skill

Gina Gogean has one skill named after her in the Code of Points. This is a special list of gymnastics moves.

Life After Gymnastics

Gina Gogean retired from gymnastics after the 1998 World Cup. At that event, she won medals in all three of her events. After finishing her studies, she worked as a coach in Romania and later in Scotland. She also worked as a television commentator for gymnastics events. Since 2001, she has regularly worked as a gymnastics judge.

In 2000, the President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, gave her the Cross of Faithful Service, 1st class. This is a very high honor.

On July 1, 2006, Gina married Cristian Gorza, who was a former classmate. Their wedding was in Deva, Romania. Her former coaches, Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang, were their godparents. Her teammates Andreea Răducan and Maria Olaru were also among the guests.

See also

In Spanish: Gina Gogean para niños

• List of Olympic female gymnasts for Romania
• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists
• List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships