Maria Olaru




Born on June 4th, 1982, Maria Olaru started gymnastics at age 7 in her home-town of Falticeni. She has been a member of the National team since 1996, but the gold medal she won in Tianijn represents her first success in a major competition, alongside the silver medal she won on vault at last year's European Championships. Late in the evening, just two hours after her all-around victory, Maria was sitting alone in her hotel room, calmly looking through a magazine, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened that day.

Maria, do you realize you're the best gymnast in the world right now?

I find it hard to believe, but I guess it's true. Still, it's not like I became successful overnight, I had to work very hard to get here.

Did you expect to challenge Svetlana Khorkina and Simona Amanar for the all-around title?

No, not at all. Actually, I wanted to finish 3rd or 4th. I would have been very happy to win the bronze medal.

What's your best quality (as a gymnast)?

I'm sure of myself (self-confident) when I perform

What about a weakness?

That's hard for me to say. Maybe bars, where I couldn't hit my routine in practice. I had to do thousands of reps.

When did you realize you can win the AA?

I really didn't keep track of the other gymnasts' scores, I was focusing on doing my routines as well as I could. My coaches kept talking to me about lots of things, except gymnastics, in order to get me to relax.

Do you have any role models in gymnastics?

Sort of. Cati Szabo, who was also my coach for a few years.

Who's your best friend?

Andreea Raducan, because both of us are always in a good mood.

Could you tell us about your family?

I have two older sisters, my mom who is currently unemployed, and my father died when I was 3 years old. I hope I'll be able to help them with some of the prize money ($3000) I won here.

In which event finals do you think you'll medal?

I think my best chance of medalling is on beam, followed by vault, and bars. As long as I won't have any major mistakes, I'm sure I can win a medal on beam.


This page hosted by   Get your own Free Home Page 1