Simona Amanar Romanian gymnast Date of Birth: 07.10.1979 Country: Romania

Biography of Simone Amanar

Simone Amanar, born in Constanta, Romania, is an outstanding Romanian gymnast who is a three-time Olympic champion and multiple-time world and European champion. She began her journey in sports gymnastics at the age of six. In 1994, she joined the national team and won her first gold medal in team competitions at the World Championships in Dortmund. A year later, Amanar and the Romanian team repeated their success at the championships in Sabae, Japan.

In 1996, Amanar achieved individual success by finishing second in the vault at the World Championships in San Juan and winning three gold medals at the European Championships in Birmingham – in the vault, on balance beam, and in the team competition. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Amanar was considered one of the main favorites and leaders of the Romanian team. However, the competition started off poorly for her as she fell from the beam and finished fourth in the Romanian team, which meant she did not qualify for the all-around finals. Nevertheless, due to a coaching decision, she was allowed to compete in the all-around event instead of Alexandra Marinescu. As a result, Amanar shared the third-place podium with her teammate Lavinia Milosovici. She also won a bronze medal in the team competition. Amanar only failed to reach the individual finals in the balance beam event. In the uneven bars, she tied for fifth place, won a silver medal in the floor exercise, and became the Olympic champion in her signature event, the vault, confidently surpassing her competitors.

The four-year period between the Atlanta and Sydney Olympic Games solidified Amanar's status as the leader of the Romanian team. However, she was unable to win the all-around title in any major competitions during this period. All the gold medals she won at the World Championships and European Championships were either in team events or in the vault. Amanar had a successful performance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, even though the younger Andrea Raducan was already considered the leader of the Romanian team. The Romanian gymnasts won the team gold medal after a fierce battle, surpassing the strong Russian team led by Svetlana Khorkina and Elena Zamolodchikova. They also achieved a magnificent success in the all-around event, with Raducan taking first place, Amanar in second, and Maria Olaru in third. However, a few days later, Raducan's doping test revealed the presence of a banned substance. The disqualification of her teammate awarded Amanar the long-awaited all-around gold medal. The story continued when the substance that led to Raducan's disqualification was later removed from the banned list. Despite this, the disqualification was not lifted, and Simone Amanar continues to be recognized as the Olympic champion in this event. At the 2000 Games, Amanar only competed in the vault (6th place) and floor exercise (bronze medal) individual events. After the Sydney Games, Simone Amanar retired from the sport. Throughout her career, she won a total of seven Olympic medals (including three gold), six gold medals at the World Championships, and five gold medals at the European Championships.