Mihai Bagiu

Early life and education

Bagiu was born on April 10, 1971, in Timișoara, Socialist Republic of Romania. Bagiu and family moved to Los Angeles in 1979 when he was eight years old. He became a United States citizen in 1989 at 18 years old. In Huntington Beach, California, he trained at SCATS Gymnastics and attended Marina High School. He left for Albuquerque, New Mexico, in September 1992 to train at Gold Cup Gymnastics School under Ed Burch, who previously coached Lance Ringnald and Trent Dimas, and his previous club coach from Southern California, Ron Howard. Like others who trained at Gold Cup, Bagiu did not attend college to focus on his gymnastics training.