Lavinia Corina Miloșovici (born 21 October 1976) is a retired

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n artistic gymnast.Jane Perlez (13 July 1995
"Romanian Coach Keeps Up the Fight"
''New York Times'' An exceptionally successful athlete on the international competition circuit, Miloșovici, also known as "Milo" in the gymnastics community, is considered to be one of Romania's top gymnasts ever and one of the most prolific female all-around medalists ever, earning a total 19 World Championships or Olympic medals in a span of six years. She medalled in every single World Championships meet, Olympic Games and European Championships between 1991 and 1996, and is only the third female gymnast ever, after

Larisa Latynina Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (russian: link=yes, Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and ...

and Věra Čáslavská, to win at least one World Championships or Olympic title on all four events. Miloșovici was also the last gymnast along with

Lu Li Lu Li (; born August 30, 1976) is a Chinese gymnast. Lu made the Chinese national team in late 1991. However, liver illness almost prevented her from competing in the Olympic Games. In April 1992, just a few months before the Barcelona Games ...

to ever receive the perfect mark of 10.0 in an Olympic competition and the last to receive the benchmark score of 9.95 at the World Championships. She was inducted into the

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IGHO ...

in 2011.Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
IGHF presents Class of 2011, 6 May 2011 Her trademarks included her four-event mastery, consistency, longevity, versatile skill set, and leadership abilities.

Early life and career

Miloșovici was born in a family with Serbian roots. Her mother, Ildiko, was a competitive volleyball player, while her father, Tănase, was a national team

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

. She began gymnastics at the age of 6 and moved to the Deva National Training Centre as she excelled in the sport.FIG biography
International Gymnastics Federation
Gymnastics Greats, 2008
''International Gymnast'', 2001 Miloșovici's gymnastics career was nearly derailed when she contracted scarlet fever at the age of 10, and again when the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

in 1989 temporarily closed Deva. However, she continued to train, and by 1990, was representing Romania in such international meets as the American Cup and the World Sports Fair.List of competitive results
Gymn-Forum She competed well at the 1991 Junior European Championships, winning two gold medals.

Senior career

Miloșovici made her debut as a senior in 1991, winning her first all-around title at the Romanian National Championships. She joined the Romanian team at the 1991 World Championships, where she contributed to the team's bronze medal and won her first individual World Championships title, on the

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

, and placed third on the

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...

. Miloșovici won her second individual world title on uneven bars at the 1992 World Championships. At the

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Miloșovici won a total of four medals. She placed third in the all around and second with the Romanian team. She was very close to winning the all around, being tied for 1st with eventual winner Tatiana Gutsu after 3 rotations, but a big hop on her beam dismount to start the night (9.850) and a small hop on her uneven bars dismount in the final rotation (9.900) cost her the victory. In the event finals, she tied with Hungarian Henrietta Ónodi for the vault gold medal and won

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...

with a perfect score of 10.0. She scored her 10 on the same night that China's

also scored a 10 (hers being for her performance on the

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

). Miloșovici's 10, in the event finals, was only the second awarded in Barcelona, and the last ever awarded at any Olympics." BARCELONA: GYMNASTICS; Miller Picks Up 3 Medals In a Day"
Gerard Eskenazi, ''New York Times,'' 2 August 1992 She was the only gymnast at those Games to win 2 individual golds, and combined with an all around medal and 4 overall medals, made the most successful overall gymnast of the Games. After the 1992 Olympics, Miloșovici continued to compete. In the 1993 European Cup, she finished third in the all around, won gold on vault and uneven bars, and silver on floor. At the World Championships, she made all four apparatus finals. By winning the world title on beam, which completed her quartet of golds on each of the individual apparatuses. She also won the silver medal on vault, even though she finished a disappointing eighth in the all around after a fall on beam. In 1994 and 1995, she led the Romanian team to two World Championships team titles. Shortly before the 1994 World Championships, she and her teammates staged a strike at Deva to protest nonpayment of prize money owed from the Romanian Gymnastics Federation; in spite of the depleted training time, they still won the team gold medal at Worlds. Miloșovici's best all around finish in World Championship or Olympic competition came in 1994 when she took second to

Shannon Miller Shannon Lee Miller (born March 10, 1977) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 1993 and 1994 world all-around champion, the 1996 Olympic balance beam champion, the 1995 Pan American Games all-around champion, and a member of the g ...

(losing by a margin of 0.038), after being the early favourite as the top qualifier to the all around final. A step on dismount on the uneven bars routine and a minor wobble in the side somersault on beam cost her the win. Milosovici once again made all four apparatus finals, and concluded concluded the 1994 Worlds with a silver on floor and a bronze on vault. She lost the floor gold by 0.013 to Dina Kochetkova. At the Europeans a fall off the uneven bars on the dismount kept her off the all around podium but she rebounded to win a gold on vaulting, silver on floor, and bronze on beam in the individual event finals. She delivered a dominant performance at the 1994 Team Worlds where she easily won the individual all around points tally with an astounding 39.500 point total, an average score of 9.875 over the 4 events, and led Romania to an emphatic victory. A performance which had she duplicated it at the individual worlds in Brisbane would have easily won her the All Around and likely several event golds. She also received the highest score of the quadrennium at this meet with a 9.950 on Floor exercise. At the 1995 Sabae World Championships, she captured the all around bronze, although she was in tears after the competition as she realized this was likely her last realistic shot at a major all around title. At this point she was affected by growth spurt, and overshadowed by younger teammates

Gina Gogean Gina Elena Gogean (born 9 September 1977) is a retired artistic gymnast from Romania who competed internationally in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. During her career she won an impressive number of 30 medals at Olympic Games, world cha ...

and

Simona Amânar Simona Amânar (; born 7 October 1979) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She is a seven-time Olympic and ten-time World Championship medalist. Amânar helped Romania win four consecutive world team titles (1994–1999), as well as the 20 ...

. The only event final she qualified for due to the 2 per country rule was the uneven bars, despite being the fourth highest qualifier on floor (Amanar and Gogean were the top two qualifiers). Miloșovici won the bronze medal on floor at the 1996 World Championships, before winning the team and floor gold medals at the European Championships. She also finished third in the all around. Miloșovici led the Romanian team to a bronze at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, in spite of a spate of injuries that left the squad depleted of several key gymnasts and forced them to compete with only six athletes instead of seven. Milosovici had the rare opportunity to improve upon her third place all around finish in Barcelona; with her consistency and competitors' mistakes, she was tied for the bronze with Amanar, and became the first gymnast since

Nadia Comăneci Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 ...

to medal in the all around at consecutive Olympics. This also marked her fourth all-around medal in World and Olympic competition, a feat since equalled only by

Svetlana Khorkina Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina (russian: Светлана Васильевна Хоркина; born 19 January 1979) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2000 Summer Olympics, and the 2004 Summer Ol ...

Aliya Mustafina Aliya Farkhatovna Mustafina (russian: Алия Фархатовна Мустафина) is a Russian former artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 45 Olympic, World and European Championship medals, she is considered one of the most success ...

and

Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most de ...

. Interestingly, whilst Milosovici won the all around bronze medal at the 1995 Worlds, 1996 European and 1996 Olympics, Lilia Pokdopayeva was the gold medalist in all three finals. In her last competition, Milosovici finished eighth in the uneven bars final. She originally qualified for the beam final, but was replaced by her teammate Alexandra Marinescu. Overall, she won a total of 26 Olympic, World and European medals in her career, with 11 of them gold. She is currently ranked fifth in terms of the total number of medals won at the World Championships, behind Simone Biles, Svetlana Khorkina, Gina Gogean and Larisa Latynina. She is also one of the only 10 female gymnasts to have medalled in all six events at the World Championships.

Post-retirement

Miloșovici announced her official retirement in the summer of 1997. After retiring, she returned to Lugoj to coach gymnastics and attended the Sports University in Timișoara. On 23 October 1999, Milo married her childhood friend, Cosmin Vinatu. According to Prosport, Cosmin was a sergeant major in the police force. The two were childhood friends, but lost touch when Milo moved to Deva. Then, in 1998, Milo was out with her brother and a group of his friends and they ran into Cosmin at a bar. Needless to say, Milo and Cosmin's friendship was renewed. Their wedding took place at the Termal restaurant in Timișoara, with over 350 guests. Milo told Prosport that the couple expected to live in Timișoara after the wedding, though she does own a house in her hometown of Lugoj. They had one daughter, Denisa Florentina, who was born in 2004 and died in 2008. Milosovici grieves chronically for the loss of her daughter, Denisa, going to the cemetery once or twice per week with her family.Kanal D Romania (18 October 201

"Kanal D Romania" (18 October 2016) The godmother was former teammate,

. In January 2013, Lavinia gave birth to a boy, Cosmin Mihai, and in July 2016 Lavinia's second son, Andrei Nicolae, was born. Adding to her numerous post-career tragedies, however, in-between the birth of her first and second sons, she also suffered a miscarriage. In 2002, Miloșovici, along with former teammates

Corina Ungureanu Corina Georgiana Ungureanu (born 29 August 1980 in Ploieşti) is a world-class Romanian artistic gymnast who competed internationally between 1993 and 1999. She was a member of two gold medal-winning World Championships teams and was the 1998 Eu ...

and

Claudia Presăcan Claudia Maria Presăcan (born 28 December 1979 in Sibiu) is a Romanian artistic gymnast who competed at the senior international level between 1994 and 2000. She was a three-time team gold medalist at the World Championships with the Romanian t ...

, sparked controversy by posing naked in photographs for a Japanese photobook, ''LCC Gold'', and performing gymnastics routines topless for the Japanese DVDs ''Gold Bird'' and ''Euro Angels''. A number of photographs from the photobook and DVDs were subsequently published in the Japanese magazine '' Shukan Gendai'', and an edited version of the DVDs entitled ''3 Gold Girls'' was released in Germany in 2004. Because the gymnasts had posed for some of the photographs and footage wearing their official Romanian team

leotards A leotard () is a unisex skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso from the crotch to the shoulder. The garment was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard (1838–1870). There are sleeveless, short-sleeved, and l ...

, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation banned them from coaching and judging in the country for five years, and the Japanese Junior Gymnastic Club Federation contemplated banning Romanian gymnasts from a major international junior competition."Five year suspension for retired Romanians"
''International Gymnast'', 18 December 2002"Romania in clear over naked Gymnastics"
''Sports Illustrated''/Associated Press, 17 December 2002

Major results

References

External links