Catalina Ponor: Her Events

  With Romania's Catalina Ponor being retired, I thought it would be a nice treat if I did a Her Events segment on this Romanian Great.


Vault: This was never Cata's best event, but what she does, she does cleanly, as we saw in 2012, Catalina did the 1 1/2 twist, not the hardest vault, but that vault among others gave them an edge over China, giving them the team bronze, and allowing them to medal in team finals 10 years in a row.

Bars: Catalina hasn't competed on this event since 2004, she does not do amazingly on this event, Romania never relies on her for this event, instead, she is more of a beam-worker or a floor exercise specialist


Beam: Catalina truly shines on this event, having tremendous difficulty on this event. She won the 2004 gold, beating the All-Around champion Carly Patterson. She was amazing. She stuck every trick, and stuck her dismount, which meant that she was Olympic Champion. Unfortunately, Catalina did not get to defend her title in 2008, making a comeback, or in 2012, having issues on beam, tying for third, with USA's Alexandra Raisman, but on behalf of tie breaking, Aly clenched the bronze, leaving Catalina with nothing


Floor: Once again, Catalina is dominant on this event. Once again, winning gold in 2004, but then, in 2012, Aly Raisman beat her on floor, with dynamic routine.