Wikipedia

Ana Porgras

Ana Porgras (born 18 December 1993) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She won the balance beam gold medal at the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam and the uneven bars bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships. Porgras was considered to be one of the most artistic gymnasts of her generation, reminiscent of the Eastern European gymnasts of the 1980s. She was awarded the Longines Prize for Elegance in 2011.[1]

Ana Porgras
Porgras at the 2009 World Championships
Personal information
Full nameAna Porgras
Country represented Romania
Born (1993-12-18) 18 December 1993 (age 30)
Galați, Romania
HometownBârlad, Vaslui County, Romania
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior
ClubFarul Constanta
Head coach(es)Octavian Bellu, Mariana Bitang
Assistant coach(es)Liliana Cozma, Lucian Sandu, Florin Cotuțiu
Former coach(es)Nicolae Forminte
ChoreographerPuia Valer
MusicThe Second Waltz (2009-2010)
Retired16 January 2012
Medal record
Women's gymnastics
Representing  Romania
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2010 Rotterdam Balance Beam
Bronze medal – third place 2009 London Uneven Bars
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Birmingham Team
FIG World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2009 Stuttgart Balance Beam
Gold medal – first place 2010 Ghent Balance Beam
Silver medal – second place 2010 Ghent Uneven Bars
Silver medal – second place 2011 Paris Balance Beam

Early life and career edit

Porgras began gymnastics in her native town of Galați with coaches Agripina and Paul Gâlea.[2] Later she joined the Romanian Junior National Team coached by Ramona Micu, Florin Cotuțiu and Daniel Nistor.[3] Porgras had a successful junior career, medaling at various international competitions. In 2007, she won the gold medal on balance beam, bronze with the team, and placed seventh all-around, fifth on vault and eighth on uneven bars at the Massilia Cup.[4] She also won the gold medal on balance beam at the 2008 Junior European Championships and placed ninth all-around and fourth with the team.[5] Towards the end of her junior career she needed knee surgery to repair a detached ligament.[6]

Senior career edit

2009 edit

 
Porgras on the balance beam during the beam finals at the 2009 World Championships.
 
Porgras at the 2009 World Championships uneven bars podium

Not yet fully recovered after knee surgery, Porgras missed the 2009 European Championships. However, she had a promising senior debut at the 2009 World Championships in London. She qualified first on balance beam, second in the individual all-around, third on floor, and seventh on uneven bars.[7] Falls from balance beam in the all-around and balance beam finals prevented her from winning medals in these events, placing seventh all-around and on balance beam. However, she did end her first World Championships experience with a bronze medal on the uneven bars (tied with USA's Rebecca Bross). She also tied for fifth place with Bross on floor. Later that year, Porgras had an excellent showing at the DTB Cup in Stuttgart by winning the gold medal on balance beam.[8] In October 2009, during a ceremony at the Presidential Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, Porgras received a medal honoring her achievements at the 2009 World Championships.[citation needed]

2010 edit

Still struggling with injuries,[9] Porgras was a member of the team at the 2010 European Championships. She helped the team qualify in second place by competing on balance beam and uneven bars. Individually, she qualified first on beam and seventh on bars.[10] She helped her team win the bronze medal by earning the top mark of the day on beam (14.800)[11] and by scoring 13.700 on uneven bars. During the team finals, Porgras suffered an injury from her balance beam dismount,[12] which forced her to withdraw from the beam and uneven bars finals.[13] After her return to Romania, she was diagnosed with a crack in her right fibula.[12] In September she made a successful comeback at the Ghent World Cup, winning the gold medal on balance beam and a silver medal on uneven bars.[14] One week later she defended her all-around title at the Romanian National Championships and also won gold on balance beam and bronze on floor.[15][16]

In October she was selected in the national team for the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam. Here she helped her team to place fourth in the team finals by performing on beam, floor and uneven bars.[17] Individually, she placed fifth all around[18] and on uneven bars,[19] respectively, and won the gold medal on balance beam over Rebecca Bross and defending champion Deng Linlin. Porgras was the Romanian women's first world champion since Andreea Răducan won beam and floor in 2001.[20][21]

2011 edit

In April, at the 2011 European Championships Porgras competed on two events only (beam and uneven bars) and failed to make the finals.[22] However, in August 2011 she had a good showing at the Romanian National Championships, winning her third consecutive all-around national title.[23] After a good performance at two friendly meets in Germany and Great Britain, Porgras was selected to the team for the 2011 World Championships. In the qualification day she had a weak performance, grabbing the beam on her switch ring and falling on her double layout dismount on uneven bars, failing to make the event finals.[24] However, in the team finals competition she helped Romania place fourth by receiving the highest marks on beam (15.300) and uneven bars (14.066) among her team.[25] Individually, she managed a good performance in the all-around final, but she only placed sixth due to small mistakes on floor and the low difficulty of her vault exercise.[26] She was awarded one of the two Longines Prize for Elegance in 2011.[1]

After injuring her elbow during a training camp in France she announced her retirement from gymnastics in January 2012, only seven months away from the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.[27]

Competitive history edit

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2007 Elite Gym Massilia 3rd 7th 5th 8th 1st
2008 European Championships (Junior) 4th 9th 1st
2009 Stuttgart World Cup 1st
World Championships 7th 3rd 7th 5th
2010 European Championships 3rd
Ghent World Cup 2nd 1st
Romanian National Championships 1st 1st 3rd
SUI-GER-ROU Friendly 1st 1st
World Championships 4th 5th 5th 1st
2011 Romanian National Championships 1st
SUI-GER-ROU Friendly 1st 1st
World Championships 4th 6th

References edit

  1. ^ a b International Gymnast Magazine Archived 13 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine Uchimura takes third world all around title, Amanda Turner, 14 October
  2. ^ Steliana Nistor Unofficial website Archived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine Ana Porgras and Anamaria Tamarjan are both struggling with injuries, English compilation of articles (Romanian) in Prosport by Mirela Basescu, November 2009
  3. ^ Steliana Nistor, Unofficial website Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Provisional list for Europeans, March 2008
  4. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Galante Wins Massilia Cup, 25 November 2007
  5. ^ European Union of Artistic Gymnastics Statistics 2008 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships[dead link]
  6. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Three Romanians face recovery, Amanda Turner, 26 November 2008
  7. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Prelims Conclude: Bross takes top ranking, Dwight Normile, 14 October 2009
  8. ^ International Gymnast Magazine China takes four as DTB cup concludes, Amanda Turner, 14 November 2009
  9. ^ Prosport With bleeding hands (Romanian) 27 April 2010 by Mirela Băsescu
  10. ^ Longines Timing[permanent dead link] 28th European Artistic Gymnastics Championships: List of qualifiers[dead link]
  11. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Russian women reclaim European title, by Amanda Turner, 1 May 2010
  12. ^ a b International Gymnast Magazine X-rays reveal broken bone for Porgras, by Amanda Turner, 5 May 2010
  13. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Tweddle, Russia bid golden farewell to Birmingham, by Amanda Turner, 2 May 2010
  14. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Guo golden in Gent as world cup concludes, by Amanda Turner, 12 September 2010
  15. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Porgras, Koczi defend Romanian titles, by Amanda Turner, 18 September 2010
  16. ^ Romanian Gymnastics Federation Final events dominated by Sandra Izbașa and Flavius Koczi
  17. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Russian women win first world team title, by Amanda Turner, 20 October 2010
  18. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Uchimura, Mustafina win all around titles, by Amanda Turner, 22 October 2010
  19. ^ International Gymnast Magazine British best in day 1 of event finals, by Amanda Turner, 23 October 2010
  20. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Bouhail, Mitchell make gymnastics history, by Amanda Turner, 24 October 2010
  21. ^ LIVE: Finalele pe aparate la Campionatul Mondial. Ana Porgras este campioana mondiala!!! Archived 2012-07-16 at archive.today Onlinesport.ro
  22. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Mustafina dominates Berlin qualifications, by Amanda Turner, 6 April 2011
  23. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Archived 2012-06-06 at the Wayback Machine Porgras takes third Romanian title, by Amanda Turner, 29 August 2011
  24. ^ International Gymnast Magazine Romania leads gymnastics worlds after day one, by Amanda Turner, 7 October 2011
  25. ^ Gymnastics Results Archived 2012-02-08 at the Wayback Machine 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
  26. ^ "Wieber wins women's all around title". International Gymnast Magazine. 13 October 2011.
  27. ^ International Gymnastics Magazine Romanian star Ana Porgras calls it quits, by Amanda Turner, 16 January 2012

External links edit

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