Daniela Viorica Siliva?-Harper (Romanian pronunciation: [dani'ela sili'va?]; born May 9, 1972), best known as Daniela Siliva?, is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who is most famous for winning six medals (three gold, two silver, and one bronze) at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. In her five-year tenure as a member of the Romanian senior national team, Siliva? earned six individual World Championships titles as well as the 1987 European Championships all-around title. She was the only gymnast, male or female, to medal in every single event at the 1988 Olympics, where she earned seven perfect 10 scores. She was known for her technical excellence, difficult routines, charming performances, and artistic flair.
In 1989, Siliva?'s training was hampered by a knee injury and by the closure of the Deva National Training Center during the Romanian Revolution. She retired in 1991 and moved to the United States, where she is now a gymnastics coach. In 2002, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Video Daniela Siliva?
Early life and career
Siliva? was born in Deva, Transylvania, on May 9, 1972. She began gymnastics at age 6 and was coached by Béla Károlyi for six months before his defection in 1981. Siliva? won her school's championships in 1980, and was the Romanian junior national champion in 1981 and 1982. She continued to compete in various junior meets through 1984, with a particularly strong showing at the 1984 Junior European Championships, where she won the balance beam title, earned silver medals on the uneven bars and floor exercise, and placed fourth in the all-around. At the 1984 Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), she won gold medals in the all-around and uneven bars over a strong field that included future Olympic and World medalists Svetlana Boguinskaya, Aurelia Dobre, and Dagmar Kersten.
Maps Daniela Siliva?
Senior career
Age falsification
In 1985, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation changed Siliva?'s birth year from 1972 to 1970 to make her age eligible for the World Championships in Montreal. The falsification was suspected by some, but was never proved until Siliva? herself revealed it in 2002. She stated that she was never consulted about the matter: officials simply gave her a new passport, called her attention to the birth date, and informed her that she was now 15.
1985-1987
Although she was only 13 at the 1985 Worlds, Siliva? scored a perfect 10 en route to capturing the balance beam title, defeating the reigning Olympic champion, her teammate Ecaterina Szabo, in the process. She finished behind reigning co-world champion Yelena Shushunova in the individual all-around at the 1986 World Cup and quickly established herself as the leader of the Romanian gymnastics team.
Siliva?'s greatest triumph took place at the 1987 European Gymnastics Championships in Moscow, where she won the individual all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise titles in addition to taking a silver medal on the vault. At the time, every dominant nation in women's gymnastics was located in Europe, and winning the European title over a deep field of Soviet, East German, and Bulgarian gymnasts was a major victory.
At the 1987 World Championships in Rotterdam, Siliva? helped the Romanian squad win the team title, defeating the Soviet team for the first time since 1979. She was a favorite for the all-around title, but--hampered by low scores carried over from the team optionals, where she had fallen off the balance beam, as well as a shaky uneven bars routine in the all-around--she only managed to win the bronze medal behind teammate Aurelia Dobre and Shushunova. In the event finals, she won gold medals on the uneven bars and floor exercise.
1988 Olympics
At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the Romanian team finished second to the Soviets. Individually, Siliva? was one of the favorites, along with Dobre and Shushunova, for the all-around title.
The all-around was a hotly anticipated battle between Siliva?, the technician and dancer, and Shushunova, the powerhouse and tumbler. Both received scores of 10.0 on floor. Shushunova received her second 10.0 on vault; Siliva? received hers on the uneven bars. Siliva? was in the lead entering the final rotation, but a score of 9.950 on the vault dropped her to second place, 0.025 behind Shushunova.
Siliva?'s score on vault came under particular scrutiny. Of the six judges on the panel, three gave her first vault a 10.0; two others gave her 9.9s. However, the Soviet judge on the panel, Nellie Kim, gave her a 9.8. On her second vault, Siliva? took a hop on her landing; all six judges gave her 9.9s. Siliva? was visibly upset after Shushunova's scores were posted and at the medal ceremony; according to a report in International Gymnast, she said, "After my last vault, I thought maybe I should be the champion." However, she did not argue the results publicly. Her former coach, Bela Károlyi, noted, "This kid had the honesty and decency to shut up. She didn't want to say 'I'm better' because she knows Shushunova is the Olympic champion, but she couldn't praise a rival. So she just didn't say a word. These kids have more decency than all the judges and coaches in the world."
In spite of the controversy, no score protests were ever filed by Siliva?, her coaches, or her federation, and no disciplinary measures were taken against any of the judges. In addition, even though Kim's first mark was considered questionable by many fans, it did not figure into Siliva?'s final score: in 1988, the highest and lowest marks of the panel were dropped, and the final score was the average of the remaining four marks. Also, in spite of her vault score, Siliva?'s all-around total was higher than that of Shushunova: if the competition had been held under the New Life rule, she would have won. It is also important to notice that, in the third rotation, the Romanian judge awarded Shushunova a 9.9 score on the Floor Exercise out of an unanimous 10's from the rest of the judging panel and that score was also not taken in consideration on her final scoring.
Siliva? returned in the event finals, with vengeance, to win gold medals on the uneven bars, floor, and beam, as well as bronze on vault behind Soviet Svetlana Boguinskaya (gold) and teammate Gabriela Potorac (silver). In the process, she became the only gymnast in Seoul to win medals on every event in all three competitions (team, all-around, and event finals). She also equaled Nadia Com?neci's record of seven perfect 10 scores in a single Olympic Games.
Post-Olympics
Despite a serious knee injury in 1989, Siliva? successfully defended her floor exercise title at the European Championships and won three additional medals. In the all-around, she placed second to Svetlana Boguinskaya. Still injured, she went to the 1989 World Championships, where she placed 12th in the all-around after falling from the balance beam. In event finals, however, she captured three more gold medals on the bars, beam, and floor.
After several more competitions in 1989, Siliva? underwent surgery on her knee. She intended to start training again afterward, but the Romanian Revolution of 1989 closed the National Training Center at Deva, putting an early end to her career.
Life after gymnastics
Siliva? retired from gymnastics in 1991 and moved to the United States, settling in Atlanta. In 2002, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame; she still holds the record as the youngest gymnast to receive this honor.
Siliva? works full-time as a gymnastics coach in Sandy Springs, Georgia. In May 2003, she married Scott Harper, a sports management graduate living in the Atlanta area. The couple have three children: two sons, Jadan Scott (born April 8, 2004) and Rylan Bryce Harper (born October 2009), and a daughter, Ava Luciana (born November 8, 2005). They live in Marietta, Georgia.
Skills
The hallmarks of Siliva?'s gymnastics were her impeccable form and execution, difficulty, and expressive dance. Many of the skills she performed in the 1988 Olympics still carry high difficulty ratings in the Code of Points today including the "Silivas" on floor, which is a double-twisting double back tucked somersault and has the second highest difficulty assignment of "H" in women's gymnastics. Between 1985 and 1988, the highlights of Siliva?'s routines included:
Vault
- Tucked Yurchenko full
- Layout Yurchenko full
Uneven bars
- Stalder 1/2 pirouette directly into Endo 1/2 pirouette
- Straddled Deltchev
- Straddled Tkatchev
- Shaposhnikova transition
- Free hip frontaway to front 1/2 dismount
Balance beam
- The "Siliva?" mount: shoulder stand-pirouette to chest stand
- Back handspring, two layout step-outs
- Back handspring, layout on two feet
- Aerial front walkover
- Double back tuck dismount
Floor exercise
- "Back to back" tumbling: Round-off, back handspring, double twist, punch front, round-off, back handspring, double twist, punch front.
- Triple twist
- Double twisting double back tuck ("Siliva?")
- Tucked full-in
- Piked full-in
- Double back tuck
- Double tour-double pirouette
- The "Siliva?" skill, which involved spinning on the ankles
See also
- List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games
- List of Olympic female gymnasts for Romania
- List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists
- List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
References
External links
- Daniela Siliva? at the International Federation of Gymnastics
- List of competitive results at Gymn Forum
- Siliva?(Floor Exercise skills)
- Ultima mare reprezenta?ie a Danielei Siliva?, 3 noiembrie 2009, Marius Mihalcea, Jurnalul Na?ional
Source of article : Wikipedia
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