Aurelia Dobre 1987 World Championship AA Floor

[pinkymonero]

@smugglez123 the title is "music"!



[pinkymonero]

@smugglez123 music by john miles

[serenenz]

Bring back the days where dance AND difficult tumbling matched like this. Ana Porgras is very close to this if she can work on her tumbling but nothing that gymnasts are doing these days compares to this.... I miss it....

[kamkam1200]

At :11 her hands didn't touch the ground!!!!

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

Her gymnastics was reincarnated into Komova.

[UltimateBacon64]

@MrsShazziePepper1996 Aliya Mustafina preforms a graceful routine

[MrsShazziePepper1996]

Why don't we see floor routines like this anymore? So graceful.

[lili24b]

very nice music!!!!!!!!!!!! i got the same last year

[afgymnast96]

no wonder she hurt her knee; it was probably because of 0:37!

[tomsk14]

Anyone else find her slightly reminiscent of our current mustafina ....?

[h3yITSbelle]

Aurelia is one of the alltime best gymnast ever!

[jcbroadw]

Fabulous routine- she makes the spins and turns look so easy- how many modern gymnasts have we seen foiled by a single/double/triple spin on floor and beam these days?

Also, what a shame she wasn't able to have a longer career! She's easily among the top gymnasts who could have been truly legendary if it weren't for injuries, along with Russia's Ekaterina Lobaznyuk from the late 90s and early 00s.

[LMA629]

perfection at its finest!!

[bbhouk1]

Such a crowd pleaser!!'

Love you Aurelia!

[WarrenBeattySplendor]

I think what was so fascinating about Aurelia Dobre was the mixture of elegance, poise and dynamism. She performed difficult gymnastics with exuberance but at the same time it had a regal quality to it. Absolutely sublime!

[pinkymonero]

@WarrenBeattySplendor Nice comment - I totally agree!

[jakewardable]

I have to say I still have my original VHS copy of these championships!!!!

[pinkymonero]

@jakewardable me too!

[kesa0111]

@pinkymonero me too :)

[kayper54]

This has long been one of my favorite FX routines. But oh, I am so glad they did away with that yellow-gold floor carpet. It was hard to look at half the time.

[pinkymonero]

I totally agree! '87 WC is my favourite comp of all time and it is a bummer that the floor is this crappy colour!

[seoknroy]

Thank you for sharing this clip, haven't seen it in decades! It certainly brings back happy memories of WAG in the 1980s and the Eastern Bloc dominance! The routines were so much dancier, and boy did I love the Romanians in those days!

[ramram70]

wow..., she is so artistic, perfect body line, excellent flexibility,.., even no effort when she is running to tumbling,..., she is a real "ARTISTIC" gymnast,...,

[hellomoto77777778]

shes my coach at gymnastics of america in gaithersburg marylandd. shes AMAZING

[reclamantul]

You are lucky to have her as your coach. Just tell her that one of her admirers from Romania salutes her. All the best.

[pinkandgirly1992]

I love this routine!her finishing pose looks like she's about to spin.

[AnnaPavlovaFan]

Gorgeous, memorable routine! Dedicated to every ignorant fan who thinks the Romanian gymnasts can't dance!

[markedexclusive]

Yeah it was great choreography from Dobre. I think everyone knew Romanian gymnasts can dance back then it's just when Belu became head coach that their floor exercsies began to look robotic, with few exceptions like Alexandra Marinescu. They're coming back though with people like Ana Porgras.

[cam2540]

@AnnaPavlovaFan

I would venture to say that the people who say that are Americans because the American commentators always say that the Romanians can't dance. 

[AnnaPavlovaFan]

@cam2540 A bit rich coming from them, but anyway...

[ScorpionallstarFlyer]

im lucky i met her!

[fasgay]

I love this routine. One of the bests. I actually prefer this to Silivas's.

[OanyThePony]

holy crap no joke this is my routine, obviously with a few changes but pretty much exactly the same! :O i had no ideaa LOVE herr.

[Paraiah]

She really is incredible! Her floor routine has as much flair as Korbut's and Comaneci's.

[12bmills]

1987 Worlds = Romanian Dominated. The only two gold medals that weren't Romanian were Shushunova and Thummler.

[cooasha]

just like 2004 ...

[12bmills]

Yeah, team gold, beam, floor, and vault gold. US won AA and French won UB.

[Vaticinato]

The question is: did Yelena Shoushounova diserve the all around medal? Honestly I dont think so. By the way, what happened to her in the next day? Daniela Silivas Smashed her!!!!

[Sallyhmag]

Silivas is a legend!!

[SmartShArk1986]

Well, do you think Shushunova was overscored / Silivas underscored? On which apparatus?

[morenodelaorilla]

I miss this beauty

[maireinez]

buen video, saludos desde México...

[TuesdayPillow]

Silivas and Dobre were better all-around gymnasts than Shushonova, period. End of debate.

[karbru2000]

This must be why Elena won Euros, Worlds, World Cup, University Games, and Olympics while Daniela and Aurelia alltogether won one Euros and one Worlds. God, can people be ignorant creating their own reality. Sweet Dreams...

[sfnbyw]

I now understand her KNEE INJURY.

the 2nd pass with the double twist linked to a punch front landing in a sort of a half-pike with the right foot touching the floor first is a knee buster.

i don't see a similar landing nowadays in WAG/MAG. WuShu who have similar one foot landingS have a lot of BUSTED KNEES AMONGST ITS PRACTITIONERS.

do we have sports medicine/science professionals here in youtube to share their expert views?

[pinkymonero]

This is one of the only competitions i know of where she performed the punch front in this manner. I would have to check all the footage to be sure though. She took the move out in the '88 olympics. Not sure if the move was linked to her knee injury. She had already had surgery on the knee prior to this competition and recovered in time to put in a great performance. That's why Aurelia is missing from a lot of competitions leading up to this time. She was unfortunately prone to injuries.

[ralucagymnast]

Yes, the punch front to a sitting position was actually a deliberate element. A lot of people thought it was an error!! I love it; its very unique, but yes, I can see why it could be problematic if performed constantly. I never saw her perform it at any other competition other than this one either.

[ralucagymnast]

Also, the only other person I can think of who did anything similar was Jana Bieger's beam combination of tuck back somi to sit to an immediate front somi to sit, and she only performed it for a few competitions; the knees have to take a lot of strain, so elements such as these landing where the knees take all of the impact are rare, and are generally performed as "one-off's".

[STARTEEZE46]

I love her grace and beauty. She gave me so much inspiration that I even took the same music for my own floor routine. ;D

[TuesdayPillow]

I always felt like Aurelia could have outclassed the field even more than she did if she had better music choices.

[ComtessedeLaFere]

I don't really get it.  I love her music choices!

[AndreaRaducan4Eva]

She's the prettiest gymnast ever, even prettier than Olessia Dudnik, Henrietta Onodi, etc. She was the best gymnast in 1987, but she's ROmanian, no surprise there ;D This is going in my faves immediately!

[cherrymangocitrus]

Her first pass was so high, you could see the full in hang in the air for a bit before landing- AWESOME!

[Sileeee56]

What music it is, please?

[Eer2507]

"Music" by John Miles. I remember this exercise, I was 16 at that time and very much into gymnastics. She was my absolute favorite.

[elamantebilingue]

Aurelia Dobre's performances were subtle, substantial and sublimely beautiful.

She indulged gymnastics fans around the world with a mixture of impeccable technique and enticing artistry!

This was one AA World Championship that no one could dispute.

[ralucagymnast]

The punch front to sitting position is just so beautiful and innovative. Why isnt artistic gymnastics artistic anymore?????

[molly2222]

Yes, her beauty was also awarded. And I agree that Shushunova was overscored through her career. In vault final, Golea should've won with her super difficulty and execution.I think Silivas, Voinea and Dobre were superb in FX in this meet. Poor Voinea couldn't go to the FX event final even though she scored 10. Romanian team was a true dream team in 87.

[Bronxfan]

Did you know that Aurelia was actually given an award at the 1987 Worlds by the international press for being the "most charming" gymnast?

[solara3]

she was so gorgeous! if only more gymnasts danced like that, listening and feeling the music. i feel they are getting so robotic now. shawn just won the gold and deserves it for sure, but she is not quite an artist the way aurelia and oksana omeliantchik were.

[puaalaaumoe]

I really agree with you.

[azurariviera]

Definetly, me too

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

This really isn't my business I'm just here to collect some Aurelia clips, but I think *artistic* gymnastics is slowly, very slowly, turning back to artistic again. Jiang Yuyuan, Alina Kozich, Daria Joura and Sandra Izbasa are a few samples of what I mean

[ilovemntwins]

yeah not so much....

[TuesdayPillow]

Wishful thinking I am afraid! I would like to think that as well. Let's keep hoping, shall we?

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Hoping we should! OMG, you know what would make me faint? Shawn actually have artistry! :-O

[ChildofPluto]

And I thought exactely the opposite about Beijing Olympics! My impression was that we may have seen some of the last great gymnasts... I liked a lot of them, but they were just too technical for me, I don't know...

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

There was too many unartistic gymnasts at the Olympics, but some of the most important like Pavlova and Yuyuan were very artistic

[divnast7]

WOW Karen!!! You really are not very smart. You completely left out Nastia Liukin. The Olympic Champion. She has some of the most artistic talent of all time.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Nastia is not artistic. She has great choreography, but she doesn't have dance. Look at her routine again. Most of it is just poses, beautiful poses, but still poses.

[elamantebilingue]

We share the same opinion about Nastia Liukin. I'm not captivated by her. She's a great technician but I don't see anything riveting about her gymnastics.

I hope that the sport can be salvaged because you could see the expressions of some of the more artistic gymnasts in Beijing that they have had it. Pavlova looked demoralized and Catalina Ponor opted out of the sport rather than be ridiculed like she was at 2005 worlds where she placed behind Liukin and Memmel on BB.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

I'm hoping right with you. Hopefully some like Semenova, Pavlova, and Yuyuan can help make the sport what it's supposed to be- ARTISTIC gymnastics.

[GlobalGal1976]

@KarenLovesGymnastics Nastia has won nine World medals and five Olympic medals. Enough said.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

@GlobalGal1976 Being decorated these days doesn not equal being good. Anyone with a high enough difficulty can do it.

[GlobalGal1976]

@KarenLovesGymnastics Are you high? Let me say again - Nastia has won nine World medals and five Olympic medals. I hardly think that that would qualify as a fluke or a flash in the pan, despite your anti-American hatred. Grow up.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

@GlobalGal1976 Are YOU high? Let me say again ; Being decorated =/= being artistic, OR good. The code allows anyone with a high diffculty score to win medals. It's funny how the only thing you can resort to is saying "Grow up." & no , i do not hate America at all. Not liking most American gymnasts =/= American hatred.

[nandafra]

i was 10 in 1987...i have world games 87 recorded in vhs, but only 3 gymnastic routines...Olimpic games 88 i have all recorded and never got tired to watch...88 was the most beautiful gym i have seen...

[Kingers41]

Absolutely flawless. Anyone who does not believe that Aurelia was the greatest of all wants their head shutting in a door! Thanks so much for posting this.

[emmyjo720]

Prefered Shushunova, Omelianchek and Aleftina Priakhina that year but Dobre was beautiful.

[Klesien]

Thanks rpaulv=)

[Klesien]

What's the name of this song?

[rpaulv]

the name of the song is "Music" by John Miles I believe. You can download the song with the music edits Aurelia used. w w w. freewebs. com /ram83160/floormusic. htm

[ChildofPluto]

I'm afraid it doesn't work anymore, I've just tried to find it :(

[elamantebilingue]

Aurelia Dobre was a great and captivating gymnast! She was incomparable at the World Championships while Daniela Silivas was wonderful but errant. Yelena Shoushounova was questionably overscored throughout the meet. Aurelia deserved the FX gold with Silivas!

[emmyjo720]

Silivas was lucky to get the bronze with the errors on bars and beam... Shushunova had far more difficulty on beam and floor than Silivas, she always did and deserved every ten she got... She may not have had the grace of Dobre, but that is her body type, she made up for it in power, innovation and she looked like a woman not a little girl... She may have been the start of the journey back to gymnasts that are women, not little girls which is the best thing for the sport.

[elamantebilingue]

Your observations are very generalized.

I was captivated by all 3 gymnasts at these championships but the most riveting was Aurelia Dobre. I acknowledged Daniela Silivas' mistakes and maintain that Yelena Shushunova was overscored.

Shushunova's routines were amazing and difficult but lacked the compusure and impeccable quality of Dobre and Silivas. My critique has nothing to do with her body type. She was impassioned and absolutely perfect in Seoul on FX and various other apparatus.

[emmyjo720]

Shushunova didn't make any errors on floor and was underscored on bars in the AA, how could she not get a ten with that tumbling and the height of her summersaults, Dobre didn't score that high on floor in the AA.

Shushunova has enough composure to make less errors then either of them, with the pressure of the USSR in her shoulders. Silivas was bloody lucky to get the bronze and made it because of her compulsories.. The gap between her and inexperienced Baitova was small.

[elamantebilingue]

Your comment about Silivas and Dobre being little girls and Shushunova a woman has no relevance and is not very well thought out.

Silivas and Dobre were poignant and artistic...absolutely glorious! They did not look like little girls performing acrobatic gymnastics. They performed with such compusure and their routines were very artistic and mature. Resoundingly beautiful!

I adore Yelena Shushunova but this was not her best competition. She looked frazzled and disembodied.

[emmyjo720]

Shushunova wasn't at her best, she was under huge pressure, she was struggling with her weight, a point that John Taylor had to make, body type was an issue but she still took silver AA and gold on floor and vault... She was still incredible..

For me beautiful and mature was Silivas' floor in 1989, that was flawless..

The difference between the girls that were Silivas and the more grown up Shushunova is relevent because she is compared to them as though smiling is what gets a gold medal..

[WSggs]

You really need to get off your Shushunova soap box.

What happened happened, and debating so blindly just makes you look ignorant.

Silivas, and Dobre captured the essence of artistic gymnastics, Shushunova could tumble there's no question, but there's a reason she lost when she did.

[BlackSatechi]

Shushunova had more difficulty on floor than Silivas, this is true.(With the exception of team optional in 88 where Silivas did a double double!)

But Silivas did have more on beam than Shushunova according to the current code of points.

[emmyjo720]

Silivas was a beam virtuoso, while for Shush it was her worst piece, yet she nearly always got a silver medal because of her level of difficulty and execution.

On floor Shush in 88 had that middle tumble run, with a move that has been banned, a flick off her knees and then finished with the Shushunova out the the final tumbling run.

Silivas had that great double tumble, they both did that properly with no break, gymnast now don't do continuous runs, they pause before the second run.

[BlackSatechi]

I agree, certainly.

But Silivas deserved all the gold's she won, because she was bloody brilliant and had more difficulty than anyone save maybe Dobre.

If we're discussing back-to-back tumbling then yes.

Omelianchik and Silivas were the masters.

They did it first, Shushunova had a slight back to back in 87, but her best was in 88.

Milosovic and Bontas were good aswell, but no one did it like Silivas and Omel.

Shushunova was great too.

[josecalvosotelo]

Thanks for this posting. I was also 11 by then and I remember myself being amazed by her performance. She´s my fav. A pity she couldn´t go on a bit longer because of her injury...

[cityboyz1uk]

Thank you so much for sharing this. It's great to see the original footage with the commentary. I was just 11 in 1987 and when I hear the original commentary that I saw back then (I must've watched that video hundreds of times!) it's like meeting a long lost friend. Thank you so much for sharing.

[pinkymonero]

Thanks for your comment...i was 11 back then too...and same, i couldn't say how many times i watched it! Aurelia is my fav

[molly2222]

She was awesome,perfect excecution, posture and her perfect "made for gymnastics body"...

[rpaulv]

Thanks for posting this. It's one of my all-time favorite floor routines! Aurelia was one of the greats in my opinion. Too bad for her injury leading up to the Olympics.