Simona Amanar gave Andrea her gold medal back. Liu Xuan refused the bronze medal, which has remained kept into a CIO safe ever since. Andreea, the true Queen at Sidney 2000, got hundreds of symbolic medals on her neck and a real medal (yes, one made from gold). If all these facts mean nothing to you, than ... I couldn't care less. Andreea Raducan will always remain in history as one of the best gymnast ever!
I'm just heartbroken that she hasn't got a gold medal in Sydney when what happened at that time but at least you got inducted into the Hall of Fame for the international in 2018 that I saw a video
@@azfadaniel8203 it was just a gesture to show solidarity and sportsmanship. She will forever be recognized "officially" as the bronze medalist whether or not she physically has the medal.
I remember watching this when I was 10 and hoping she would do great because this was the routine that would ensure her the medal.later that day when the medals were awarded, everyone in the world saw three Romanian flags rising.We won gold, silver and bronze. I don't care what they say, she deserved that medal, she worked for it. I guess envy goes very deep...
The all around competition was a mess and many gymnats suffered because the vault and Raducan because of the policy no longer in place that didn't help her win. Its so sad to see them work so incredibly hard and then their dreams be crushed because of others mistakes.
Aw, such beautiful work. Andreea's brand of gymnastics was refreshing in every sense of the word. Screw the IOC and the FIG - she's my AA champion! And she could have easily taken a medal on floor too if they hadn't stupidly sabotaged her routine by telling her about the investigation.
Hey IOC - up yours!!! You can throw out whatever decisions you want, but the world of Gymnastics never has and never will belong to you! It belongs to all the gymnasts and fans right across the globe who hold this sport dear to our hearts. And despite what your records say, our hearts say that Andreea Raducan was and always will be the true Olympic Champion of Sydney 2000!
Ik this is 13 years ago and you’ll probably never see this but she was short on her 2.5 twist to punch front but covered it and barely made her triple twist but other than that no deductions it should have been 9.9+ at least
Watching this, one can readily see how the Sudafed gave her a little extra boost.... :/ (That was sarcasm, by the way.) Seriously, Andreea deserves this gold all the more for, A) having to vault on a faulty horse, B) Staying incredibly consistent when virtually everyone else in this meet faltered, and C) Doing this all while woozy from cold medicine. The IOC should be ashamed of itself.
what was also sad was that they told her right before the floor final- which she would have been the favorite to win. she might have got another medal instead of falling if they had waited.
@Gr33nkiwi Simona Amanar (her teammate who originally placed second) gave the medal to her so even though amanar is listed as the winner Andreea has the medal. Also Liu Xuan (original fourth place winner) refused to take the bronze so the IOC still has that medal, unless they awarded it as some other competition
Whenever her and her teammates got back to Romania, Simona Amanar returned the gold medal to her. She was also given many gifts from the Romanian people such as flowers and jewelry as thanks for representing her country so well. Amanar refuses to acknowledge herself as the Olympic champion even though she technically is the 'official' winner. Raducan has petitioned to have a hearing to hopefully receive the credit that she deserves as the true women's all-around gold medalist at the Sydney games
Seriously give her gold medal back. If the Olympic committee could go for a great deal to disqualify the team medal of China, and handed it to USA after almost a decade since the Sydney Olympic. I don't see an issue with reinstating Raducan as the rightful AA champion as that cold medicine is no longer banned since 2001.
She should get her gold back. Though the whole AA was a farce because of the problems with the vault. The girls who fell because of the error should have had a do-over.
They did allow the girls who had vaulted on the wrong height a do over. But they didn't stop the competition and make an announcement, so many went on thinking they had lost it completely and made other mistakes like Khorkina, so it didn't matter if they did a better vault. Others still had been injured and couldn't participate. The officials did just about everything wrong.
withlove312 True. In my opinion the officials should have stopped the entire competition and pushed it back a day. Sure they would've fallen ridiculously behind schedule but it would've been less embarrassing and shameful in the long run for everyone involved. Also in my opinion Khorkina was set up by the FIG. I have a hard time buying that they just "overlooked" a few centimeters on that apparatus. Everything about that story just seems fishy. How did that vault even get that low when there are specific requirements that are followed before every single event for the safety of the gymnasts? They had received complaints all day about that Vault not feeling right even Raducan said it didn't feel right yet she being super short was able to put her feet down to get a decent score. But it takes an Australian Gymnast to get someone to actually go and take a look and then right in the middle of competition decided to set it right after your highest qualifier failed on her attempts on the vault and then took that over with her to her bars set. They waited.... They waited for her to either hit or miss her bar routine to set the vault right and give her another attempt when they knew damn well it was pointless by that time. My point is that they did not want Khorkina as the Olympic AA champion then or ever. Little did they know that by setting up the Queen of gymnastics controversy, that they unleashed even more with Raducans drug testing ordeal. Karma is a bitch too bad it has Andrea caught in the middle. To me she should have her gold back none of the circumstances I just spoke about were her doing or fault.
Well, I definitely disagree about there being a conspiracy to keep Khorkina from winning, since that makes, forgive me, absolutely no sense. The truth is the FIG and IOC were being stupid and proud, and it wouldn't be the first or last time that they screwed over athletes with their mistakes. But there's no way that it was done to set up Khorkina or any gymnast. The reality is far more banal and meaningless - it was just several dumb mistakes after another, culminating in an attempt to save face by denying Raducan her gold.
ajhornell True! Started from scratch. The girls who did fall, it ruined their whole momentum. And by setting up Khorkina, they just cemented her place in history. The least they could do at this point in time is to give Andreea her medal back. That drug isn't even on the ban list any more.
withlove312 I see where you are coming from but I still find it extremely suspicious. Khorkina was not looked on highly for her character outside of gymnastics at that point anyway having posed nude for a magazine, flaunting a "Diva" like personality and being extremely outspoken in general. I still don't think that the FIG wanted her to be the face of the Olympic AA champion due to being an extremely controversial figure. I would NEVER put it past the FIG to do something like that when they have been known to be corrupt for the right amount of money or power. Thats just my opinion anyway. I don't with all respect understand how they saved face by denying (to this day) Raducan of her gold medal to me it just made it look even worse.
@itstheapocalypse yes,i exagerated and i will delete that comment,but i was so frustrated in that moment by so many negative comment about a gymnast who was in her such a short career,nothing but greatness.
I think of this Olympics in gymnastics the Olympics where everything went wrong for everyone. It's as if the whole stadium had collapsed and people were killed.
@Gr33nkiwi Not just her, but they should give all the ones who have lost their medals b/c of this type of things their gold, too. It's happened in other sports, too. So ridiculously unfair! She EARNED this medal!
aww it's still hard to watch this.....you see how overjoyed and elated she is. And to think, only a few days later, everything would fall apart for her....
It doesn't, and they said as much. It was just a trace amount. You'd have to take a LOT for it to enhance your performance. It's ridiculous. And she's not the first or the last to have that happen. Usually, what happens is there IS a legal one and the athlete is told the type is legal and it turns out it isn't. Same happened to Silken Laumann at the 1995 PanAmerican Games, and to pair skater Elena Berezhnaya at the 2000 European Championships. There should be some middle ground.
The 2000 olympics were a mess. That the vault was set to low almost killed a number of gymnasts, when they realized their mistake they didn't even stop the competition and then they robbed Andreea of her medal.
@Gr33nkiwi Yeah, that's so cute. What kills me with the disqualification is she didn't take any more than was allowed technically. The only reason she showed up as having taken too much was because she was so small. Simona took the same pill and did fine. That's just crap.
Comaneci was not robbed by the AA gold medal. Actually she said that Davidova was better than her. Comaneci falls on the UB in TO. Do you remember that or do you know about that? Team Optionals scores carrying to AA. Karoly said that about those Olympic Games but every one who knows about gymnastics knows the truth
While I have great sympathy for the shameful way Raducan was treated by the IOC 1) a lot of other gymnasts also had to vault on the mis-set vault, many of whom could've been badly hurt.Andreea was at less risk for falling due to her height; 2) Virtually everyone else faltered *because* of that stupid vault error!Nearly breaking your neck & not knowing why when you've always hit that vault would shake up anyone.Andreea did a great job but IMO they should've chucked ALL the results & started over.
not really. Khorkina took a spill off the bars as well. She did the same thing in 96. If she would had received the score that she earned in the EF on bars, she still would had placed 2nd to Raducan.
yes, you're right. it was a joke taking away her gold medal for the AA, but they were right in what they have done. yes, it was'nt HER fault, but...and that's the case...it doesn't matter which fault it was or not...the only that mattered was, that she took a forbidden medicine. therefore, i can understand the descision of the IOC... Nevertheless, she IS the true and only AA gold medal winner, no doubt about it.
how in this world does cold medicine enhance performance? i think that it would be tougher for you to win because you still RECOVERING, the committee should be ashamed of themselves for denying such a great athlete her gold medal...
Pseudoephedrine is a stimulant, and it was banned at the time. She had just small amounts (normal for taking one dose) in her system. Also, the drug is allowed now as someone would have to take huge amounts to get any boost in performance, if any. Other stimulants like caffeine never were banned. She was treated so poorly.
It wasn't even a fair competetion with vault being the wrong height. Many gymnasts fell on vault or got injured which effect their rest of their performance for the rest of the meet, not knowing the the vault was the wrong height and some fell on the other events believing they won't have any chance in winning a AA medal after they fell on vault. If the vault was the correct height, the outcome of the AA would have been different.
Sydney 2000 sucked sooo bad for these poor gymnasts even the gymnasts reported the floor being way too slippery I hope the 2012 olympics in London won't be too controversial
It can't. The thing is that the component was considered as a doping product by the IOC, even if few months later they recognized it didn't dope her! Andreea never got her medal back btw.
I was talking about the AA !No.1 - Romania, No2 - Rom, No3 - Romania. From that point of view, YES, China and Russia were humiliated, since Liu Xuan was on fourth place and Lobazniuk fifth! Second - My comment it`s about the fact that politics makes the law in sport! Think about that! 3. How do you explain that after Sydney the "drug" was no longer "banned" ? Anyway, it would not be the first time when Romania is robbed by the gold medal(Nadia C. ,1980, Moscow).
I agree.But when a small country like Romania writes history and steps on somebodies toes is "wrong".So why not penalize those innocent girls, that work so hard( we all know what they have to sacrifice) and change rules and make up excuses for whatever imaginary reasons, the so called big powers , can find.Go Romania.Good luck in London!
Say she was Khorhina. Khorhina wouldve gottwn to keep the medal. But cause Raducan kicked her a**, Raducan got her medal tooken away. The COP was ffd up. The IOC was mad cause they never got to be champions in the AA. Thank you Raducan, for proving that there are other Romanians that can kick a**. Not kust Nadia C.
This Olympics must have sucked for most of the gymnasts. People fell on the incorrect vault, and others who were in the lead fell on their final apparatus. And now this poor gymnast gets her gold taken away. :(
