Daniela Silivaș

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. After several more competitions in 1989, Silivaș underwent surgery on her knee. She intended to start training again afterwards, but the National Training Center at Deva was closed during the Romanian Revolution of 1989, putting an early end to her career. ==Life after gymnastics==

Silivaș retired from gymnastics in 1991 and moved to the United States, settling in Atlanta. 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. ==Competitive history==