Ecaterina Szabo

Born to ethnic Hungarian parents, Ecaterina Szabo is a former artistic gymnast from Romania. She has won more than 20 medals in international competitions and was the most decorated athlete at the 1984 Olympic Games. She also led the Romanian team in winning the 1987 World Championships title, defeating the team of the USSR for only the second time in the Championships’ history.

Initially, she was named Katalin but had to change it to Ecaterina to hide her Hungarian background as the Romanian Government wished so. She began practising gymnastics in 1973 and got major success in her junior career. Her first senior international title came in 1983 at the European Championships. She enjoyed huge success at the 1984 Olympic Games and was widely regarded as "the next Nadia”, after Nadia Comăneci.

With her excellent skills showing flexibility, technique and creativity, she was rewarded with 17 perfect ten scores between 1983 and 1984. She took retirement in 1987 and went on to complete her study of physical and sports education, and worked as a coach afterwards.

Have a look at some of her major career achievements:

• With her brilliant form, she won four gold medals and a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in team, vault, balance beam, floor and all-around events, respectively.
• Bagged a gold, a bronze and three silver medals in 1983, three silver medals in 1985 and a gold and a bronze medal in 1987 at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in various events
• Won a bronze medal in the vault event at the 1986 World Cup Final
• Earned gold medals in uneven bars and floor exercise, a silver in vault and a bronze medal in the all-around event in 1983 and a silver medal in vault event in 1985 at the European Women’s Gymnastics Championships
• Inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2000