Daniela Silivaș

Daniela Viorica Silivaș-Harper (, ; born 9 May 1972) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast best known for medaling in every single event at one Olympics, winning six medals (three gold, two silver, and one bronze) at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. In doing so, she was the fourth female gymnast to achieve this, after Maria Gorokhovskaya, Larisa Latynina (1960, 1964) and Věra Čáslavská (1968). As of 2024, Silivaș is the last gymnast, male or female, to have accomplished this feat.

Also, Silivaș is the first gymnast in history to win 3 Olympic and World individual titles on three (from four) apparatus: uneven bars and floor (1988 OG, 1987 and 1989 WC) and beam (1988 OG, 1985 and 1989 WC), an achievement equaled only by Simone Biles, 20 years later. She won 16 Olympic and World medals, 10 of which were gold. In 1987, she dominated the European Championships held in Moscow, medaling on every single event: 4 gold (individual AA, bars, beam and floor) and silver on vault. During her career, she earned 24 perfect 10 scores, of which 7 were earned in Seoul, equaling 1976 Nadia Comăneci's record. She was named the BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year in 1988.

Silivaș was chosen as one of the "Top Ten All-Around Gymnasts of All Time", in a poll in Inside Gymnastics magazine. She was known for her technical excellence, difficult routines, charming performances, and artistic flair.

In 1989, Silivaș'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.

Early life and career Silivaș was born in Deva, Romania, on 9 May 1972. She began gymnastics at age 6 and was coached by Béla Károlyi for six months before his defection in 1981. Silivaș 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.

Senior career Age falsification In 1985, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation changed Silivaș'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 proven until Silivaș 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.

Silivaș'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.

The all-around was a hotly anticipated battle between Silivaș, 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; Silivaș received hers on the uneven bars. Silivaș 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.

Silivaș'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, Silivaș took a hop on her landing; all six judges gave her 9.9s. Silivaș 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."

In spite of the controversy, no score protests were ever filed by Silivaș, 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 Silivaș'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, Silivaș'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. In the third rotation, Shushunova was awarded 10s for her floor exercise by every judge except the Romanian judge, who gave her a 9.9, which did not count towards her final score.

Silivaș returned in the event finals 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 doing this, she became the only gymnast in Seoul to win medals in every event (team, all-around, and the four apparatus finals). She also equaled Nadia Comăneci's record of seven perfect 10 scores in a single Olympic Games.

Post-Olympics Despite a serious knee injury in 1989, Silivaș 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. 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.

Silivaș works full-time as a gymnastics coach at Jump Start Gymnasium 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 8 April 2004) and Rylan Bryce Harper (born October 2009), and a daughter, Ava Luciana (born 8 November 2005). They live in Marietta, Georgia.

Skills The hallmarks of Silivaș'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 third highest difficulty assignment of "H" in women's gymnastics. Between 1985 and 1988, the highlights of Silivaș'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 "Silivaș" 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 ("Silivaș") Tucked full-in Piked full-in Double back tuck Double tour–double pirouette The "Silivaș" skill, which involved spinning on the ankles

Eponymous skills Silivaș has two eponymous skills listed in the Code of Points. ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficultyBalance beam Silivaș Jump with ½ turn (180°) over shoulder to neck stand, ½ turn (180°) to chest stand B (0.2)Floor exercise Silivaș Double salto backward tucked with 2/1 turn (720°) H (0.8)

Competitive history YearEventTeamAAVTUBBBFX Junior 1981 Daciada 1982 Junior Romanian Championships Peace Cup Romanian Cup 1983 International Junior Championships 4 Romanian Championships 1984 Blume Memorial Coca-Cola International Junior Balkan Championships Junior European Championships 4 Junior Friendship Tournament 4 Moscow News 8 8 5 Paris Grand Prix Riga International Senior 1985 McDonald's American Cup Balkan Championships Champions All DTB Cup 5 5 ESP-ROM Dual Meet European Championships 8 5 FRG-ROM-SUI Tri-Meet Gander Memorial HOL-ROM Dual Meet International Championships of Romania International Mixed Pairs Romanian Championships ROM-CSSR Dual Meet 4 World Championships 7 4 1986 Ahoy Cup Antibes International Balkan Championships DTB Cup ESP-ROM-BUL Tri-Meet International Championships of Romania Romanian Championships ROM-CSSR Dual Meet World Cup 4 4 1987 Avignon International DTB Cup European Championships Gander Memorial ITA-ROM Dual Meet Romanian Championships SUI-ROM Dual Meet Swiss Cup World Championships 1988 Chunichi Cup DTB Cup International Championships of Romania Olympic Games ROM-CSSR-SUI Tri-Meet Tokyo Cup 1989 Blume Memorial Chunichi Cup 4 European Championships 4 French International 6 International Championships of Romania Tokyo Cup 7 World Championships 12 1991 World Professional Championships 6 6