Gina Gogean

Gina Gogean
— Gymnast —
Personal information
Country represented	Romania
Born	(1978-09-09) 9 September 1978 (age 38) Câmpuri, Vrancea, Romania
Height	150 cm (4 ft 11 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Club	CSS Focşani
Head coach(es)	Octavian Bellu
Assistant coach(es)	Mariana Bitang, Nicolae Forminte, Toma Ponoran
Former coach(es)	Tatiana and Sergiu Popa
Medal record Representing  Romania Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team 1996 Atlanta All-around 1996 Atlanta Team 1996 Atlanta Vault 1996 Atlanta Balance beam World Championships 1994 Dortmund Team 1994 Brisbane Vault 1995 Sabae Team 1995 Sabae Floor exercise 1996 San Juan Vault 1996 San Juan Floor exercise 1997 Lausanne Team 1997 Lausanne Balance beam 1997 Lausanne Floor exercise 1993 Birmingham All-around 1993 Birmingham Floor exercise 1993 Birmingham Balance beam 1994 Brisbane Floor exercise 1995 Sabae Vault 1997 Lausanne Vault World Cup Final 1998 Sabae Vault 1998 Sabae Floor Exercise 1998 Sabae Balance Beam European Championships 1992 Nantes Floor exercise 1994 Stockholm Team 1994 Stockholm All-around 1994 Stockholm Balance beam 1996 Birmingham Team 1992 Nantes All-around 1992 Nantes Vault 1996 Birmingham Vault 1996 Birmingham Balance beam 1994 Stockholm Floor exercise

Gina Elena Gogean (born 9 September 1978) is a retired artistic gymnast from Romania who competed internationally in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. During her career she won an impressive number of 30 medals at Olympic Games, world championships or continental championships. Her best events were the floor exercise (three-time world champion), the vault (two-time world champion) and the balance beam (1997 world champion). She was also an excellent all around gymnast winning several medals on this event, the European title in 1994, a silver Olympic medal (1996) and a silver medal at the 1993 World Championships. She helped the Romanian team win three consecutive world titles (1994, 1995 and 1997) and two Olympic team medals, a silver and a bronze (1992 and 1996). Gogean was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2013. Criticized for her lack of artistry and expression, Gogean nonetheless had nearly unmatched consistency, longevity and efficiency that made her a backbone of the Romanian team in the 1990s.

Her passport listed her birth year as 1977. However, in 2002 the Romanian newspaper ProSport obtained hospital records indicating that she had actually been born in 1978. Gogean and her mother have denied this, and her official birth year is still listed as 1977 or "unknown" in many sources. Gogean initially trained at CSS Focşani, near her home village, under the tutelage of Sergiu and Tatiana Popa. She made her international debut at the Japan Junior International meet in 1989, where she placed fourth in the all-around and took the gold medal on floor exercise.

By 1990, Gogean was representing Romania at major meets such as the Goodwill Games. She began to make a name for herself at the 1992 European Championships where she finished second all-around and vault. She also won the floor exercise. Crowds and analysts were impressed with the young athlete's exceptional difficulty. She was equally impressive at 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. The youngest member of the experienced Romanian team, Gina put up some of the highest scores for her team throughout the compulsories and optionals. She won a team silver, finished 6th in the all-around, and was 5th on vault. Though her teammate and close friend Lavinia Miloşovici was one of the stars of the Olympics, Gina nonetheless had established herself as a gymnast to watch for in the future.

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