Celestina Popa

Celestina Popa
— Gymnast —
Personal information
Country represented  Romania
Born (1970-07-12) 12 July 1970
Ploiești, Romania[1]
Residence Vancouver, Canada
Height 145 cm (4 ft 9 in)
Discipline Women's artistic gymnastics
Head coach(es) Adrian Goreac, Maria Cosma, Octavian Bellu[2]
Former coach(es) Leana Sima[2]
Eponymous skills Popa (floor)
Retired 1989
Medal record
Olympic Games
1988 Seoul Team competition
World Championships
1987 Rotterdam Team competition
1985 Montreal Team competition

Celestina Popa-Toma (born 12 July 1970) is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed internationally between 1985 and 1988.[3] She is an Olympic silver medalist and a world gold and silver medalist with the team. She is best known for her eponymous straddle pike jump with full turn on floor[4][5] as well as for her flexibility and style.[6]

Career

In 1984 Popa placed second at the Romanian Junior Nationals and she became a member of the national team. In 1985 she was a member of the silver medal winning team at the 1985 World Championships. Also in 1985, she was the all around champion, vault and beam gold medalist at the International Chunichi Cup in Japan.[4]

Together with Aurelia Dobre, Camelia Voinea, Eugenia Golea, Daniela Silivaș and Ecaterina Szabo, Popa was a member of the gold medal winning team at the 1987 World Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In 1988 she won the silver medal with the team at the Olympics and placed tenth all around in the preliminaries.[6]

Eponymous skills

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty
Floor exercise Popa Straddle jump with a full turn C

Post retirement

After retiring from competitions in 1989 she studied at a sport school in Bucharest until 1991, and in 1994 graduated from university with a degree in physical education. She hold the National Romanian Coaching Certification Level III. Popa has been coaching since 1991, and since 1994 she has been a recreational coach at Flicka Gymnastics, Vancouver, Canada.[4] She is married to fellow former Romanian gymnast Flaviu Toma, who was a longtime head coach and technical director at Flicka. In 2009 she opened her own gym "Celestina Popa Gymnastics" in British Columbia, Canada.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Celestina Popa. sports-reference.com
  2. 1 2 Celestina Stefania Popa. Romanian Olympic Committee
  3. ↑ Gymn-Forum Celestina Popa
  4. 1 2 3 Flickagymclub Coaches: Celestina Popa Archived October 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ FIG Women's artistic Gymnastics. Code of points 2009-2012, page 167
  6. 1 2 3 International Gymnast Magazine Celestina Popa Jumps into Gym Ownerschip, by John Crumlish, June 24, 2009
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