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GINA GOGEAN
Gina Gogean (born 9 September 1977 or 1978) is a former gymnast from Romania who competed internationally
in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
Gogean was born Câmpuri, Vrancea County, Romania. During her career, she competed under a passport that listed her birth
year as 1977. However, in 2002 the Romanian newspaper ProSport obtained hospital records indicating that she had actually been
born in 1978. Gogean and her mother have denied this, and her official birth year is still listed as 1977 or "unknown" in many sources.
Gogean initially trained at CSS Foscani, near her home village, under the tutelage of Sergiu and Tatiana Popa. She made her international
debut at the prestigious Japan Junior International meet in 1989, where she placed fourth in the all-around and took the gold medal on floor
exercise.
By 1990, Gogean was representing Romania at major meets such as the Goodwill Games. She began to make a name for herself at the
1992 European Championships where she finished 2nd all-around and won the floor exercise. Crowds and analysts were impressed with the
young athlete's exceptional difficulty. She was equally impressive at 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. The youngest member of
the experienced Romanian team, Gina put up some of the highest scores for her team throughout the compulsories and optionals. She won a
team silver, finished 6th in the all-around, and was 5th on vault. Though her teammate and close friend
Lavinia Milosovici was one of the stars of the Olympics, Gina nonetheless had established
herself as a gymnast to watch for in the future.
In a sport where young ladies are constantly fighting the battle of time as well as their maturing bodies, Gina continued to be one
of the top gymnasts in the world each year after the Olympics. She was constantly criticized for her lack of artistry in her gymnastics,
and her stoic demeanor. Nevertheless, each year her gymnastics continually showed improvement from the year prior and her results reflected
that. She finished a close 2nd in the all-around behind rival Shannon Miller at the 1993 World
Championships. Though she did not medal in the all-around the following year, she became the World Champion on vault, and won a bronze
on floor. She also became the European All-Around Champion that year, and played a critical role in helping the Romanian team win the 1994
Team World Championship — the country's first since 1987. Gina will always be remembered for the horrendous fall she suffered in the
qualifying rounds of this competition. While attempting a back handspring-layout-back handspring combination on beam, her foot slipped
off the side and the back of her head slammed into the beam before she crashed to the floor. Miraculously, she suffered no injury, and
only took an extra moment to collect herself before jumping back up on the beam.
Though Gina struggled in major all-around competition through 1995 and 1996, her gymnastics continued to improve and she won more individual
event World titles. At the 1995 World Championships, she helped the Romanians win their second team title, and went on to win the bronze on
vault and the gold on floor. She added two more golds to her haul at the 1996 World Championships on vault and floor. Going into the 1996
Summer Olympics, the Romanians were the favorites to win team gold. However, clearly overwhelmed by the raucous American crowd, the
Romanians had a lackluster performance and finished a disappointing 3rd. Gina, however, had the performance of her career during the
all-around and won the silver medal behind Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine. She also won two more
bronze medals on the vault and beam. Her performances in the Olympics were particularly impressive, as Gina underwent an emergency appendectomy
only 5 weeks before the competition. By a bizarre and miraculous stroke of luck, she had been traveling on a train to Bucharest at the time,
which was the only city where hospitals could perform the kind of non-invasive surgery that Gina needed to return to training quickly. Had she
received traditional surgery, she would not have been able to recommence light training for at least 6 weeks and would have missed the Olympics.
Most expected Gina to retire after the Olympics, but she continued to compete after the retirement of
Lavinia Milosovici. She admitted in an ABC interview during the 1997 World Championships in
Lausanne, Switzerland, that the new Code of Points made gymnastics too difficult for her, and that she intended to retire after the competition
was over. Gina, in the unfamiliar role of being the leader of the team, led the Romanians to their 3rd straight World team title. A clear
crowd favorite, she performed well in the all-around finals, but finished just off the podium in 4th. She rebounded by winning the world
title on beam (though it was somewhat controversial), and her third straight title on floor. All-in-all, Gina finished her career by winning
20 World and Olympic medals, nine of them gold. Though she may not have been the most crowd appealing gymnast at times, she was one of the
most successful in gymnastics history and she established an impressive legacy for Romanian gymnastics.
On July 1, 2006 Gina Gogean married Cristian Gorza, a former classmate of hers, in a ceremony in Deva, Romania. Her former coaches,
Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang, served as the godparents. Teammates Andreea Raducan and
Maria Olaru were among the guests.
Recently, Gina is doing much work as a judge, for example at the 2007 Romanian Nationals.
For more information, visit her biography at romanian-gymnastics.com
or her profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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