Sandra Izbașa

Romanian artistic gymnast

Sandra Raluca Izbașa (; born 18 June 1990) is a retired artistic gymnast from Romania. She is a double Olympic champion, having won the floor event at the 2008 Olympics and vault at the 2012 Olympics. She is also a winner of two Olympic bronze medals (as part of the Romanian team in 2008 and 2012) and multiple World Championship and European Championship medals.

In April, Izbașa competed at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Volos, Greece, where she helped the Romanian team finish in second place. In event finals, she placed seventh on vault, scoring 13.950; third on balance beam, scoring 15.300; and first on floor, scoring 15.550. In October, she competed at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. She helped the Romanian team place fourth and placed third in the individual all around with a score of 60.250. In event finals, she placed eighth on vault, scoring 14.562; second on balance beam, scoring 15.500; and sixth on floor, scoring 15.375. In November, Izbașa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Glasgow, United Kingdom. She placed third on balance beam with a score of 15.025, and first on floor with a score of 15.300.

In March, Izbașa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Paris. She placed sixth on vault, scoring 13.937; fifth on balance beam, scoring 14.950; and third on floor, scoring 14.950. The following month, she competed at the 2007 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Amsterdam. She placed second in the all around final with a score of 59.900. In event finals, she placed eighth on vault, scoring 13.975, and second on balance beam, scoring 15.525. She also qualified to the floor finals but had to withdraw due to injury. In September, Izbașa competed at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. She helped the Romanian team place third, and finished ninth individually with a score of 59.225. In event finals, she placed eighth on floor, scoring 14.525.

In April, Izbașa competed at the 2008 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Clermond Ferrand, France. She contributed scores of 15.075 on vault, 15.350 on balance beam, and 15.750 on floor toward the Romanian team's first place finish. In event finals, she placed second on balance beam, scoring 15.450, and first on floor, scoring 15.775. Later in April, she competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Cottbus, Germany. She placed third on balance beam, scoring 15.300, and first on floor, scoring 15.300.

In August, Izbașa competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She contributed scores of 15.100 on vault, 15.600 on balance beam, and 15.550 on floor toward the Romanian team's third place finish. Individually, she placed eighth in the all around final with a score of 60.750, and she won the floor final with a score of 15.650. In December, she competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup final in Madrid. She placed fourth on balance beam, scoring 14.925, and third on floor, scoring 15.000.

In March, Izbașa competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy. Shortly thereafter, she competed at the 2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Milan, Italy, where she placed seventh in the floor final with a score of 13.900. In April, she was featured on the cover of International Gymnast Magazine for her Olympic achievements. Later in 2009, she enrolled as a student at the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education of Babeș Bolyai University in Cluj Napoca. In September, Izbașa tore her right Achilles tendon and injured her hand while performing a piked full in back out on floor. She had surgery to repair the tendon.

In September, Izbașa returned to competition at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium. She won the floor final with a score of 14.325. Later in September, she competed at the Romanian National Championships in Reșița, where she placed second on vault, scoring 14.400; second on balance beam, scoring 14.800; and first on floor, scoring 15.150. In October, she competed at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam. She contributed scores of 14.700 on vault, 14.333 on balance beam, and 14.200 on floor toward the Romanian team's fourth place finish. In event finals, she placed seventh on floor with a score of 13.983. Before the competition, she said, "I don't plan on winning any (individual) medals. For me the most important thing is to come back and help my team. The fact that I can lend a hand to help the girls in the team competition matters most. I watched several videos of the Russian and American women. The gymnasts are strong and the competition will be quite high."

In March, Izbașa competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Paris. She won the floor final with a score of 14.833. In April, she competed at the 2011 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Berlin. She placed first on vault with a score of 14.525 and first on floor with a score of 14.600. In September, Izbașa competed at an international meet against Germany and Switzerland in Erzingen, Germany. She helped Romania win the team competition with scores of 14.150 on vault, 13.200 on uneven bars, and 14.150 on balance beam. In October, she was supposed to compete at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo but injured her foot.

In April, Izbașa competed at an international meet in Cholet, France. She helped Romania win the team competition and placed second in the individual all around with a score of 56.600. In May, she competed at the 2012 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Brussels, Belgium. She contributed a vault score of 15.200 toward the Romanian team's first place finish, and won the vault final with a score of 14.833. At the beginning of July, she competed at an international meet against France, Germany, and Italy in Bucharest, Romania. She helped Romania win the team competition and placed second in the all around with a score of 59.150.

At the end of July, Izbașa competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She helped the Romanian team qualify in fourth place to the team final, and qualified to the individual all around final with a score of 57.532. She qualified second to the vault final with a score of 15.316 and second to the floor final with a score of 15.066. In the team final, she contributed scores of 15.100 on vault and 15.200 on floor toward the Romanian team's third place finish. In the all around final, Izbașa placed fifth with a score of 58.833. She won the vault final with a score of 15.191. "Honestly, the vault final is a war of nerves, and it showed," she said. "I can’t say I feel satisfied as I have the floor final to come. It means a lot, but honestly, I didn’t expect it, especially as I was competing last." She placed eighth in the floor final with a score of 13.333 after falling on her final tumbling pass. She was chosen as Romania's flag bearer for the Olympic closing ceremony.

Izbașa prepared for the 2013 European Championships in Moscow in April, but reportedly decided not to compete due to lack of training. She took a short break from training to prepare for her bachelor's degree. In October, Izbașa competed at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp. In qualifications, she placed second on floor exercise with a score of 14.733. She finished seventh in the finals with a score of 13.733 after falling out of her final pass in a series of twisting and bounding skills just like she did in the individual floor final at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She initially decided to retire following the World Championships, but returned to training in 2015 in a bid to make the 2016 Olympic team. However, this effort was short lived, as she decided she would not be ready to compete with elite level routines in time for the Olympics.