Elena Leușteanu

Elena Leuşteanu
Full name	Elena Leuşteanu
Country represented	Romania
Born	(1935-07-04)July 4, 1935 Cernivtsi, Ukraine
Died	August 16, 2008(2008-08-16) (aged 73)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Medal record Women's Artistic Gymnastics Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne Team 1956 Melbourne Floor Exercise 1960 Rome Team World Championships 1958 Moscow Team European Championships 1957 Bucharest All-Around 1957 Bucharest Uneven Bars 1957 Bucharest Floor Exercise 1959 Krakow All-Around 1959 Krakow Uneven Bars

Elena Leuşteanu-Popescu (-Teodorescu), (July 4, 1935 – August 16, 2008) was a female Romanian artistic gymnast who represented Romania at three Olympic games. During her career she won three Olympic bronze medals, one world bronze medal and five continental silver medals. She was the first artistic gymnast of Romania to win an individual Olympic medal (in 1956).

1954 - 1956: World Championships and Olympic Games Debut

Leuşteanu made her debut at the 1954 World Championships in Rome, Italy, where she placed 4th with her team, 5th in the individual combined standings, and was a vault finalist.

At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Leuşteanu led her Romanian team the bronze medal at these games, a first for Romania at any World Championships or Olympics. In the individual combined standings, she tied Olga Tass of Hungary for 4th place, just .100 behind bronze medal position. She qualified for three of the four event finals: vault, where she placed 6th; balance beam, where she placed 6th; and floor exercise, where she became the first Romanian woman to win an individual Olympic gymnastics medal - a bronze.

1957 - 1960: Continued Success

The first ever European Artistic Gymnastics Championships for women, held in 1957 in Bucharest in her native country of Romania, saw Leuşteanu win the silver in the individual all-around competition behind Soviet Larisa Latynina. In the event finals, she collected two more medals in both the uneven bars and floor exercises.

In Moscow at the 1958 World Championships, competing under her newly acquired married name, 'Elena Teodorescu', she helped her team to the bronze medal and placed 17th in the individual combined exercises and was, again, a vault finalist.

At the second European Artistic Gymnastics Championships for women, held in 1959 in Krakow, Poland, she repeated her 2nd-place all-around finish and qualified to three of the four event finals where she won silver on the uneven bars as she had at the previous European Championships.

At the 1960 Rome Olympics, she buttressed her stronger teammate Sonia Iovan, helping their team to the bronze and she was 11th in the individual combined standings.

Post 1960 and Later Life

In Leuşteanu's 3rd appearance at the European Championships held in 1961 in Leipzig, East Germany, she placed 6th in the all-around and qualified to two event finals - uneven bars and floor where she placed 4th and 5th, respectively. In 1964 she was a member of the team representing Romania at the Olympic Games. She placed 6th with the team and 20th all around.

In 2006, at a celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Leuşteanu was the first gymnast to be mentioned and honoured and clips of her performance on the uneven bars were presented. She took part in the celebration, ascending to the podium along with other notable Romanian gymnasts of the past such as Nadia Comăneci, Daniela Silivaş, and Lavinia Miloșovici.

While her fellow Romanians were at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, successfully defending the legacy of Romanian gymnastics she helped to create, Leuşteanu died in mid August 2008 at the age of 73 after a struggle with pancreatic cancer.

External links

• Gymn-Forum: Results
• Elena Leuşteanu at the International Gymnastics Federation