Maria Olaru

Born in Fălticeni, Olaru began gymnastics at the age of six there, but quickly transferred to the local gymnastics club in Deva. She moved up to the junior national team in 1993, but after six months, she returned to her home club. In 1995 she rejoined the junior team in Bucharest. Olaru graduated to the Deva national training facility in 1996, after winning gold on vault at the Junior European Championships.[3] In the same year she also won the Top Gym Trophy in Charleroi, Belgium.[4]

In 1998 Olaru moved up to senior competition, taking first place with the Romanian team and second on vault at the European Championships.[5] The following year, she contributed to the team gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in Tianjin, China and became the second Romanian gymnast in history, after Aurelia Dobre, to win the all-around title. In 2000, she was, with Simona Amânar, Loredana Boboc, Andreea Isărescu, Claudia Presăcan and Andreea Răducan, a member of the Romanian team at the 2000 Olympics. There she shared in the team gold medal and won a silver in the all-around (after the Răducan controversy). She also qualified for the balance beam event final and placed sixth.

Olaru retired after the 2000 Olympics, noting that the new Code of Points would not be suited to gymnasts of her height, and enrolled as a student at the West University of Timișoara. After graduation she continued her studies, and she became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of the West University of Timișoara.[2]

In 2016, Olaru published her autobiography, The Price of Gold. Uncomfortable Sincerity. In it, she recounted how she and her Romanian teammates were hit and beaten by their coaches during training.[6]

• Vault: Double-twisting Yurchenko, Phelps
• Uneven Bars: Kip cast to handstand 1.5 handstand pirouette to mixed grip giant, immediate pike Jaeger; giant 1.5 pirouette into Tkatchev, Pak salto, Back-in Full-out tucked dismount
• Balance Beam: piked front mount, wolf jump, tucked Korbut; flip flop, full (or flip flop, layout step out, Korbut); switch side; front tuck, tuck jump; 3/4 twisting Shushonova; cartwheel, swing through double full dismount
• Floor Exercise: Round-off, whip back, 2.5 twist, punch pike; front-handspring, front double twist, punch front; Round-off, back-handspring, triple twist. Her music for floor routines was:
  • 1999: "Invisible Circus" by Vienna Symphony Orchestra
  • 2000: Soundtrack from the film Black Cat, White Cat

• Maria Olaru at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Maria Olaru interview 2003, International Gymnast Magazine
• "Maria Olaru update". Agenda Timişoara. 26 February 2002. Retrieved 11 October 2020 – via geocities.com/gimnastica.
• List of competitive results at Gymn Forum