Cristina Bontaș

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Cristina Bontaş (later Tăntaru, born December 5, 1973) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast, who competed in international events between 1987 and 1993.[1] Her best events were the floor exercise, the vault, and the all around. She is a world champion on floor, a double olympic medalist and a six-time world medalist. Bontaş scored a perfect ten on floor in the all around event of the 1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[2]

Early life and career

She started training at the age of seven at the CSM Oneşti club under coaches Dorin and Mihai Săndulescu.[3] She had a successful junior career, medaling in various competitions. In 1987 her debut at a major international event (International Japan Junior Invitational) brought her four medals, one gold for vault and three silver for the all around, uneven bars and floor. At the 1988 Junior European Championships, Avignon, France she won bronze in the all around event and she managed a fifth place on vault and a seventh place on floor. The 1988 Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba) was another especially successful meet: she won gold for floor, bronze for balance beam and vault and finished fourth in the all around event. In spite of her successful junior career she was the second and therefore the non traveling alternate for the team at the 1988 Olympics.[4]

Senior career

1989–1990

Bontaş' debut as a senior in an international event was at the 1989 Romanian Internationals where she medaled silver for all around, uneven bars and floor and bronze for vault. 1989 was the start of a series of medals for floor and vault in international events. Bontaş was the surprise top Romanian gymnast at the 1989 World Championships, finishing in fourth place in the all around event ahead of the great Daniela Silivaş and just behind the trio of Soviet medalists (Boginskaya, Laschenova and Strazheva).[5] In the all around event she scored a perfect 10 for the floor exercise.[2] She won bronze on floor and tied for silver on vault with Brandy Johnson.[6] Bontaş also contributed to the team's silver medal by achieving the third highest average score on her team.[7] In 1990 she won silver medal on vault at the European Championships in Athens, Greece and placed seventh in the floor and uneven bars events.[8]

1991

At the 1991 World Championships in Indianapolis, United States Bontaş tied for gold for floor with Oksana Chusovitina.[9][10] Her performance on the floor exercise based on a musical background of well-known American songs (e.g., "The Star-Spangled Banner" (USA anthem), "Oh Susanna", "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again", "Yankee Doodle" and "Deep in the Heart of Texas") energized the crowds.[11] She also won the bronze medal on the all-around event, contributed heavily to the team bronze with the highest average score on her team[10][12] and placed fourth on vault, seventh on uneven bars and eight on balance beam.[13]

1992 Olympic Games

Together with Lavinia Miloşovici, Gina Gogean, Mirela Paşca, Vanda Hădărean, and Maria Neculiţă, Bontaş was a team member of the Romanian team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. In the team finals she had once again the highest contributing score of all her colleagues, highlighted by an average 9.95 on the floor exercise.[14] She qualified first in the floor finals, third all around and fifth in the balance beam finals.[15] She won silver with the team, tied for the bronze medal on floor exercise with Tatiana Gutsu and Shannon Miller, and placed fourth in the all-around and beam finals.[16][17]

Post retirement

Bontaş retired after the 1992 Olympic games. She first coached in Romania and did some TV commentaries for gymnastics events. Later, she coached in Italy and in Wales. When the contract in Wales was up, Bontaş immigrated to Canada to coach at Hamilton's Mountain Star Gymnastics. She went back to Romania in 1998 to marry, returning to Canada without husband Gabi Tăntaru while they waited for immigration papers. After several months, her husband was able to join her in Canada, he too coaching at Hamilton Mountain Gym Elites (formerly Mountain Star Gymnastics). The couple have a daughter named Elissa, also a gymnast, born April 1999 and a son Eric, born in April 2002.[1]

In September 2003, Bontaş and her husband opened their own gymnastics club in Hamilton, World Class Gymnastics.[18] Here Bontaş was training her pupils for the 2012 Olympic Games. Bontas also recently started an aerobic gymnastics program at her gym which has produced many national team members. .[19]

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
1986 Cottbus International Template:Gold1
Senior
1987 Blume Memorial 5
International Junior Championships Template:Silver2 Template:Gold1 Template:Silver2 Template:Gold1
Junior Friendship Tournament Template:Gold1 Template:Bronze3 Template:Bronze3 Template:Gold1 Template:Bronze3
Kosice International Template:Gold1 4 Template:Silver2 Template:Gold1 5
1988 Balkan Championships Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1
Catania Cup Template:Bronze3 Template:Silver2 Template:Gold1 Template:Silver2
Champions All Template:Gold1
Junior European Championships Template:Bronze3 5 7
Junior Friendship Tournament Template:Silver2 4 Template:Bronze3 8 Template:Bronze3 Template:Gold1
1989 Chunichi Cup Template:Bronze3
CSSR-ROM Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1
European Championships 9 Template:Bronze3 Template:Bronze3
French International Template:Bronze3 5 4 4
International Championships of Romania Template:Silver2
ROM-CSSR Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1
Rome Grand Prix Template:Gold1
Tokyo Cup Template:Silver2 7
World Championships Template:Silver2 4 Template:Silver2 Template:Bronze3
1990 Blume Memorial 11
DTB Cup 4 Template:Bronze3 Template:Bronze3 Template:Silver2
European Championships 7 Template:Silver2 7 7
French International 19
GBR-ROM Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Bronze3
HUN-ROM Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Bronze3
International Championships of Romania Template:Silver2
Romanian Championships Template:Gold1 Template:Silver2 Template:Gold1 Template:Silver2
ROM-TCH Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Silver2
World Cup Final 6 7 7 Template:Bronze3 7
1991 BEL-FRA-ROM-URS Meet Template:Gold1
Chunichi Cup Template:Bronze3 Template:Silver2 Template:Silver2
DTB Cup 4 Template:Silver2 Template:Bronze3 Template:Gold1
Dutch Open 4 Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1
Romanian Championships Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1
ROM-GER Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1
ROM-ITA Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Silver2
Tokyo Cup Template:Silver2 Template:Silver2
USA-ROM Dual Meet 7
World Championships Template:Bronze3 Template:Bronze3 4 7 8 Template:Gold1
1992 Chunichi Cup Template:Silver2 Template:Silver2 6 Template:Gold1
FRA-ROM Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Bronze3
HUN-ROM Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Bronze3
Romanian Championships Template:Silver2 4 4 Template:Bronze3
ROM-GER Dual Meet Template:Gold1 Template:Gold1
Tokyo Cup Template:Gold1 Template:Bronze3 Template:Silver2
Olympic Games Template:Silver2 4 4 Template:Bronze3

[20]

References

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  1. ↑ a b "Gymnastics Greats: Cristina Bontas" Template:Webarchive
  2. ↑ a b 1989 World Championships Women's AA. gymn-forum.net
  3. ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  4. ↑ "Gymnastic Greats: The Alternate" Template:Webarchive
  5. ↑ "Romanian gymnasts profiles". Romanian-gymnastics.com (1973-12-05). Retrieved on 2016-10-06.
  6. ↑ Gymn Forum 1989 World Championships Women's EF
  7. ↑ Gymn Forum 1989 World Championships Women's Team FinalScript error: No such module "Unsubst".
  8. ↑ Gymn Forum 1990 European Championships Women's EF
  9. ↑ Gymnstands World Championships by event Template:Webarchive
  10. ↑ a b "1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships"
  11. ↑ "The New York Times" Gymnastics; Star-spangled Romanian, Michael Janofsky, April 7, 1991
  12. ↑ Gymn Forum Results 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Team Final
  13. ↑ Gymn Forum Results 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Events Final
  14. ↑ Gymn Forum 1992 Olympic Games, Team Final
  15. ↑ Sports References Gymnastics at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Women's Individual All-Around Qualifying
  16. ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  17. ↑ 1992 Olympic Games Template:Webarchive. Gymnastics results
  18. ↑ Our gym Template:Webarchive. Worldclassgymnastics.ca. Retrieved on 2016-10-06.
  19. ↑ "The Hamilton Spectator" Tumbling to the top: Romanian Olympic medallist shares her talents with local gymnasts by Raveena Aulakh, August 2007
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

Template:NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsWomenFloorExercise

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