Simona Amânar

Simona Amânar
Amânar at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Personal information
Full name	Simona Amânar
Nickname(s)	Simi
Country represented	Romania
Born	(1979-10-07) October 7, 1979 (age 37) Constanța, Romania
Height	158 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International
Gym	Deva National Training Center
Head coach(es)	Octavian Bellu
Assistant coach(es)	Mariana Bitang
Eponymous skills	Amânar (vault)
Retired	2000
Medal record Representing  Romania Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta Team 1996 Atlanta All-Around 1996 Atlanta Floor Exercise 1996 Atlanta Vault 2000 Sydney Team 2000 Sydney All-Around 2000 Sydney Floor Exercise World Championships 1994 Dortmund Team 1995 Sabae Team 1995 Sabae Vault 1997 Lausanne Team 1997 Lausanne Vault 1999 Tianjin Team 1996 San Juan Vault 1997 Lausanne All-Around 1999 Tianjin Vault 1999 Tianjin Floor Exercise World Cup Final 1998 Sabae Vault 1998 Sabae Floor Exercise 2000 Glasgow Vault 2000 Glasgow Balance Beam 2000 Glasgow Floor Exercise European Championships 1994 Stockholm Team 1996 Birmingham Team 1996 Birmingham Vault 1996 Birmingham Uneven Bars 1998 St. Petersburg Team 2000 Paris Vault 1998 St. Petersburg All-Around 1998 St. Petersburg Vault 2000 Paris Balance Beam 1998 St. Petersburg Balance Beam 1998 St. Petersburg Floor Exercise 2000 Paris Team

Simona Amânar (Romanian pronunciation: [siˈmona amɨˈnar]; born October 7, 1979) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She is a seven-time Olympics and ten-time World Championships medalist.

Amânar helped Romania win four consecutive world team titles (1994–1999), as well as the 2000 Olympic team title. She is also the 2000 Olympic all-around champion. She has a vault named after her and was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2007.

In 1994, her first year on the senior national team, Amânar contributed to Romania's team titles at the World and European Championships.

She began to excel as an individual performer at the 1995 European Cup, placing second in the all-around behind Svetlana Khorkina of Russia and winning gold on both vault and floor exercise. At the 1995 World Championships, she helped Romania secure its second consecutive world team title and became co-champion on vault (with all-around winner Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine). Amânar's powerful floor routine and vaults put her in the lead after two rotations in the all-around, but she dropped to fourth after an average uneven bars routine and a shaky balance beam routine.

Amânar won a silver medal on vault at the 1996 World Championships, behind teammate Gina Gogean and ahead of Cuba's Annia Portuondo-Hatch.