Sabina Cojocar
Encyclopedia
Sabina Carolina Cojocar (born October 23, 1985, Sibiu
, Romania
) is a retired international elite artistic gymnast from Romania
as well as a singer. She is a world gold medalist with the team (2001) and a five-time medalist at the 2000 Junior European Gymnastics Championships.
and after one year she was accepted as a member of the National Team in Deva under the direct guidance of head-coach Octavian Bellu
. She made her international debut at the age of fourteen at the 2000 Junior European Championships in Paris
, France
where she three gold medals: on the all around (ahead of teammate Silvia Stroescu
), on vault and beam and two silver medals: on floor and with the team. She was touted as the new leader of the young Romanian team and quickly drew international attention, appearing on the cover of the June/July 2000 edition of the International Gymnast Magazine.
in Brisbane
, Australia
. She won the all around title, upsetting more established gymnasts such as Svetlana Khorkina
, and earned a bronze medal on the floor exercise. Her first major senior event was the 2001 World Championships
in Ghent
, Belgium
, later in the year. Here placed first with the Romanian team, sixth in the all-around, and fourth on beam. Cojocar underwent shoulder surgery in December 2001. In early 2002, she was one of the gymnasts affected when coach Octavian Bellu
decided to send the entire senior national team home from the Deva training center. Cojocar returned to her home club in Sibiu to train. She was one of the only gymnasts eventually asked to return to Deva, and competed in the 2002 World Championships
placing fifth on vault and ninth on floor exercise.
(high level of cholesterol in the blood) in 2000 and prescribed Zocor. The medicine was not intended for use by children, and had several serious side effects for Cojocar. She complained of weakness and severe muscle and ligament pain, but Belu forced her to continue training and taking the medicine. After leaving Deva, Cojocar was vocal in the media about the problems on the national team. In addition to the medication problems, she alleged that Belu was physically abusive to the gymnasts, and that some girls had suffered "terrible beatings." In 2004, Sabina returned to training to make one final push towards the Olympic Games, however she was not successful. After retirement she pursued her education and in 2008 she graduated Pysical Education and Sport Faculty at "Lucian Blaga" University of Science in Sibiu. After graduation she worked as a coach at her former club in Sibiu
and at a club in Norway. Cojocar is also a jewelry designer and she has her online shop.
, a song she wrote herself ('I don't wanna lose U'). Sabina also tried out to become Romania's entrant in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. She worked with Romania's 2006 representative, Mihai Trăistariu
to achieve this goal but, she did not pass the national song selection.
Uneven bars: Kip; cast to handstand; clear hip to handstand; toe-on to high bar; kip; cast to handstand; giant; hop full; full pirouette; 1 ½ pirouette; Tkatchev; kip; cast; overshoot; kip; cast; sole circle; jump to high bar; kip; cast to handstand; giant; giant; full in dismount.
Balance beam: Jump to knee mount, back handspring, back handspring, tucked full; switch split leap; Chen; front aerial; full turn; salto sideward tucked; back handspring, back handspring, triple twist.
Floor exercise: Front handspring, 2 1/2 twist; round off, back handspring, double pike; double twisting cat leap, hitchkick; round off, back handspring, double salto backward tucked with 1/1 twist (360); switch ring leap, double twisting tuck jump; full turn (with leg horizontal); round off, whip, triple twist.
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
) is a retired international elite artistic gymnast from Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
as well as a singer. She is a world gold medalist with the team (2001) and a five-time medalist at the 2000 Junior European Gymnastics Championships.
Early life and career
Cojocar began gymnastics at the age of three years and eight months though, she told her coach she was five. She was afraid that the coach will not accept a gymnast who was only three. A few years later she was accepted into the Junior National Team in OneştiOnesti
Onești is a city in Bacău County, Romania, with a population of 51,681 inhabitants.Administratively, the villages of Slobozia and Borzești form part of Onești...
and after one year she was accepted as a member of the National Team in Deva under the direct guidance of head-coach Octavian Bellu
Octavian Belu
Octavian Ioan Atanase Bellu is the current head of the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team. He was the main coach with interruptions, between 1990 and 2005 and returned as head of the national team in 2010...
. She made her international debut at the age of fourteen at the 2000 Junior European Championships in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where she three gold medals: on the all around (ahead of teammate Silvia Stroescu
Silvia Stroescu
Silvia Alexandra Stroescu is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic, world, and European gold medalist with the team. A skill on the floor exercise is named after her; "Stroescu" is a stretched forward salto with 2½ twists.-Early life and career:She was one of the most successful junior...
), on vault and beam and two silver medals: on floor and with the team. She was touted as the new leader of the young Romanian team and quickly drew international attention, appearing on the cover of the June/July 2000 edition of the International Gymnast Magazine.
Senior career
In August 2001, Sabina competed in the Goodwill GamesGoodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. She won the all around title, upsetting more established gymnasts such as Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina is a popular Russian gymnast and seven-time Olympic medalist, who is now a deputy at the Russian State Duma. With an unprecedented nine gold, eight silver, and three bronze World Championships medals, she is one of the most successful female gymnasts of her era and has...
, and earned a bronze medal on the floor exercise. Her first major senior event was the 2001 World Championships
2001 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 35th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Ghent, Belgium, in 2001 at the Flanders Sports Arena. This was the first Worlds at which the 6-3-3—six athletes per team, three compete, all three scores count—format was used in team finals...
in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, later in the year. Here placed first with the Romanian team, sixth in the all-around, and fourth on beam. Cojocar underwent shoulder surgery in December 2001. In early 2002, she was one of the gymnasts affected when coach Octavian Bellu
Octavian Belu
Octavian Ioan Atanase Bellu is the current head of the Romanian national women's artistic gymnastics team. He was the main coach with interruptions, between 1990 and 2005 and returned as head of the national team in 2010...
decided to send the entire senior national team home from the Deva training center. Cojocar returned to her home club in Sibiu to train. She was one of the only gymnasts eventually asked to return to Deva, and competed in the 2002 World Championships
2002 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 36th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2002 at Főnix Hall.The team and all-around events were not contested at the 2002 Worlds. The format was similar to that of the 1992 Worlds, with medals being awarded for the individual WAG and MAG apparatus...
placing fifth on vault and ninth on floor exercise.
Retirement
However, in 2003 Sabina was forced into retirement due to a chronic liver problem. She was diagnosed with hypercholesterolemiaHypercholesterolemia
Hypercholesterolemia is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is not a disease but a metabolic derangement that can be caused by many diseases, notably cardiovascular disease...
(high level of cholesterol in the blood) in 2000 and prescribed Zocor. The medicine was not intended for use by children, and had several serious side effects for Cojocar. She complained of weakness and severe muscle and ligament pain, but Belu forced her to continue training and taking the medicine. After leaving Deva, Cojocar was vocal in the media about the problems on the national team. In addition to the medication problems, she alleged that Belu was physically abusive to the gymnasts, and that some girls had suffered "terrible beatings." In 2004, Sabina returned to training to make one final push towards the Olympic Games, however she was not successful. After retirement she pursued her education and in 2008 she graduated Pysical Education and Sport Faculty at "Lucian Blaga" University of Science in Sibiu. After graduation she worked as a coach at her former club in Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
and at a club in Norway. Cojocar is also a jewelry designer and she has her online shop.
Music career
In 2006 Cojocar released the single "Domine" and in September 2007, Sabina released on MyspaceMyspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, a song she wrote herself ('I don't wanna lose U'). Sabina also tried out to become Romania's entrant in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. She worked with Romania's 2006 representative, Mihai Trăistariu
Mihai Traistariu
Mihai Trăistariu is a Romanian singer and musician. He represented Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 held in Athens, Greece, with the song "Tornero". Since that competition the song has been broadcast in over 30 countries in Europe.- Biography :...
to achieve this goal but, she did not pass the national song selection.
Skills
Vault: Double-twisting Yurchenko; Round-off, flic-flac with 1/1 turn (360) on - piked salto bwd off.Uneven bars: Kip; cast to handstand; clear hip to handstand; toe-on to high bar; kip; cast to handstand; giant; hop full; full pirouette; 1 ½ pirouette; Tkatchev; kip; cast; overshoot; kip; cast; sole circle; jump to high bar; kip; cast to handstand; giant; giant; full in dismount.
Balance beam: Jump to knee mount, back handspring, back handspring, tucked full; switch split leap; Chen; front aerial; full turn; salto sideward tucked; back handspring, back handspring, triple twist.
Floor exercise: Front handspring, 2 1/2 twist; round off, back handspring, double pike; double twisting cat leap, hitchkick; round off, back handspring, double salto backward tucked with 1/1 twist (360); switch ring leap, double twisting tuck jump; full turn (with leg horizontal); round off, whip, triple twist.