Lavinia Milosovici is perhaps the luckiest Romanian gymnast in the '90's. She received the attention that many other's don't receive. Since she is indeed a great gymnast who has four web sites that's totally dedicated to her, I decided to take advantage of it. I had combined what I considered to be the most interesting parts of all four of her web site, please enjoy.

- Amanar Admirer               

To the youth in Romainina Milo is a hero. She provides them with a ray of hope in a life that can be fulled with desperate times. Her inpact as well as other Romanian gymnasts cannot be understanded by those of us wha have never faced those situations.

In an era of rebuilding after a the reign of a heartless and Ruthless dictitor, the people and espectually the children in Romania look for a light to brighten their lives. Often athletes provide the distraction due to their public and international exposure.

No sport in Romania reaches out to the people like woman's gymnastics and no star shines brighter than

Lavinia Milosovici

- Todd Sheraw              

"The road of a champion"

By Álvaro Cortés Calabuig

Lavinia Corina Milosovici was born in Lugoj, a small town in the northwest of Bucharest (Romania), on October 21, 1976. Her last name was originally Milosovici, but due to political problems in Romania, the termination of the last name was modified and it finally derived in Milosovici. Her parents, both very vinculated to sports, brought her to the gym for the first time at age 7. When she was 9, fell ill of scarlet fever and she almost had to leave gymnastics. Once recovered and being a member of the gymnastics academy Cetate Deva, Lavinia began to be considered one of the most promissory figures of Romanian gymnastics, and at a very low age she started to be compared with exceptional gymnasts like Nadia Comaneci and Daniela Silivas.

In 1991, during the World Championships at Indianapolis (USA), Lavinia proved that she wasn't just the project of a great gymnast but a reality. There, at 14 years old, she won the gold medal on vault and, in addition to this, she became one of the favourite gymnasts for winning the all-around in the next Olympic Games at Barcelona. Soon, that predictions would be confirmed.

The 1992 Olympics supposed the definitive consecration for Lavinia. After getting the silver medal with her teammates in the optional, she took third all-around, just 0.05 points below the highest score obtained by the Ukrainian gymnast, Tatiana Gutsu. Some days after, she ratified her world champion title on vault when she tied for the first place with the Hungarian gymnast, Henrietta Onodi. The following apparatus were not Lavinia's best; because of a poor participation she could only finish in the 4th place on uneven bars and 8th on beam. The Barcelona Olympics were being a true success for Lavinia, 5 participation's and three medals, but there was still something missing...

With the music "Bugle Boy"(you are listening to it right now) as background and a greater part of Catalan crowd packing the Palau Sant Jordi of Barcelona, Lavinia astonished everybody with her graceful dancing movements and her difficult and perfect tumbling. Once finished, the crowd was delighted...they realized that Milo's floor routine was something really exceptional. A brief tense instants and, finally, the score: a perfect 10. Lavinia entered in the selected group of gymnasts that have taken the maximum punctuation in any Olympics. After that, Milo would not stop taking medals until 1996.

Already being a national hero, in 1993, with a new code and new demands, Lavinia did not arrived to the World Championships in Birmingham in her prime...and she knew it. In spite of this, she took the first place on beam defeating Dominique Dawes (USA) in a hard-fought final, and the 8th position in the all-around. Something similar happened in the 1994 worlds, where Milo lived one of her most bitter moments in her career when she was beat again in the all-around (where she finished second) by the American gymnast Shannon Miller. Anyway, she could take the gold medal in the team competition at Dortmund.

In the 1995 world championships, in Sabae (Japan), she took again a medal in the team optional, but she missed to win the all-around one more time, but this time was defeated by the brilliant Ukrainian gymnast, Lilia Podkopayeva. In 1996, Lavinia continued collecting medals in the European Championships (third place in the all-around) and in the World Championships (Third position on floor). Again, Milo was one of the main Romanian candidates for winning some medal in the next Olympic Games.

And she finally arrived to Atlanta'96, her second and last Olympics. With the premature injury of Ana Maria Bican, the chances of winning a medal in the team optionals almost disappeared. With this inconvenient added to the American crowd packing the Georgia Dome and supporting all the American gymnasts, the bronze medal was well received by Lavinia and her teammates. After that, in the all-around competition, Lavinia competed with a maturity and self-confidence never seen in competitions of this level. She finally took a deserved third place, this time leaving behind her Shannon Miller, and sharing the podium with her teammates Simona Amanar (tied for the third place with her) and Gina Gagean (who finished second). The Ukrainian Podkopayeva was the winner. Finally, she participated for the last time in an Olympic competition, in the uneven bars final, where she finished sixth. Lavinia proved that even being almost 20 years old she could still achieve great things.

Having achieved everything, Milo announced on September 18, 1997 her retirement from competitive gymnastics. Afterwards, she joined the Gold World Tour until the end of 1997. Then, she returned to Romania and started the construction of her new house, where she´s planning to live with her older brother Christian. In the future, Lavinia wants to finish her studies at the institute of physical education in Timisoara and, later on, she would like to become a coach.

Have you ever seen the web sites that only has links? I happen to hate that so I don't want to put a lot of links.( Since I hate to ceate links anyway, too much trouble! :o) Anyhow, here is a link to the "A Tribute to Milo" section on the Romanian Gymnastic Lives, which contains interview and quotes of Milo.