For anyone who follows gymnastics, Daniela Silivas of Romania needs little introduction. She combined high difficulty with elegance and became one of the defining gymnasts of the late 1980s.
Early start
Silivas burst onto the scene at the 1985 World Championships in Montreal, where she scored a perfect 10 on her way to the beam title. In 2002 she revealed that she had been only 13 at the time: she had been given a passport with a new date of birth so that she could compete as a senior, when the age limit was 15.
1987: Moscow and Rotterdam
At the 1987 European Championships in Moscow she won the all-around, bars, beam and floor, and silver on vault. Later that year she led Romania to the world team title in Rotterdam, the first time Romania had beaten the Soviet Union for the world team gold since 1979. A fall from beam in qualification kept her out of contention for the all-around, which went to team-mate Aurelia Dobre.
Seoul 1988
At the Seoul Olympics Silivas won three gold medals, on bars, beam and floor, and scored seven perfect 10s, equalling Nadia Comăneci’s record from Montreal 1976.
After competition
Silivas later moved to the United States, where she worked as a coach and choreographer. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Related: our Women’s Artistic Gymnastics page.
