Elena Leuştean
Elena Leuştean , married Teodorescu , later Popescu , (born July 4, 1935 in Chernivtsi , Greater Romania ; † August 16, 2008 in Bucharest ) was a Romanian artistic gymnast .
She grew up in Chernivtsi, which was then part of Romania. After the city was captured by the Soviet Union in World War II, the family moved to Brașov . There Leuştean operated athletics and handball before she decided to do gymnastics.
At the Gymnastics World Championships in 1954 Leuştean was fourth with the team, fifth in the all-around and sixth on the balance beam. In 1956 she took part in the Olympic Games in Melbourne. There she won the first medal in gymnastics in Romanian Olympic history with bronze on the floor. She won another bronze medal with Elena Săcălici , Emilia Vătăşoiu , Georgeta Hurmuzachi , Sonia Iovan and Elena Mărgărit in the team competition behind the Soviet Union and Hungary. In addition, Leuştean reached sixth place in horse jumping and fifth in group gymnastics.
At the first European Gymnastics Championships , which were held in the Romanian capital Bucharest in 1957, Leuştean won three medals, silver in the all-around competition, on the uneven bars and on the floor. At the gymnastics world championships in 1958 , she won the bronze medal with the Romanian team behind the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. She was also sixth in the horse jump. In 1959 Leuştean was second at the balance beam and in the all- around at the European Championships.
In 1960 Elena Leuştean took part in her second Olympic Games in Rome , where she won bronze with the Romanian team like four years earlier. She was also eleventh in the individual all-around competition. At the European Gymnastics Championships in Leipzig in 1961 , she was fourth on the uneven bars, fifth on the floor and sixth in the all-around competition. At their third and last Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964, Leuştean was sixth with the Romanian team.
After her sports career, Leuştean worked at the Institute for Construction in Bucharest (from 2004 Technical University for Construction Bucharest ). In 2008 she died of cancer.
Web links
- Elena Leuștean at COSR (Romanian)
- Elena Leuștean in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
- Biography at monitorulexpres.ro (Romanian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 1st Gymnastics European Championships for Women 1957
- ↑ 2nd European Women's Gymnastics Championships 1959
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leuştean, Elena |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Leuşteanu, Elena; Teodorescu, Elena; Popescu, Elena |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Romanian gymnast |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th July 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chernivtsi , Greater Romania |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 16, 2008 |
| Place of death | Bucharest |