Sunday Spotlight: Diana Bulimar (ROM)

Diana (Didi) Bulimar is one of Romania's younger team members who was part of the 2012 London Olympic Games. She was born in 1995 and competed in her first World Championships in Tokyo, 2011. Particularily strong on floor exercise and balance beam, Bulimar's talent was first recognised at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games where she competed against Russia's Victoriya Komova, China's Tan Sixin and Italy's Carlotta Ferlito. Low scores on bar and a few shaky beam routines kept her out of the running for an all-around medal.

Diana competes on floor at the 2010 YOG in Singapore, finishing second in the final (photo credit:wikia)

At the 2011 World Championships, Bulimar competed a new floor routine in the team final, showing great tumbling and plenty of charm. Bulimar was one of the many gymnasts to pull out of the floor final due to injury. Romania finished fourth in the team competition and sadly left Tokyo with a medal count of zero. Team coach Octavian Bellu described this competition as being 'Catastrophic'- see the Couch Gymnast's article from 2011 here: http://www.thecouchgymnast.com/?p=4453

Diana on floor at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo. She was forced to withdraw from the floor final due to injury (credit: International Gymnast Magazine)

2012 proved to be a much better year for the Romanians, with a gold medal win at the European Championships, which proved to be a suprise for many. Romania was back with a bang! Diana was an excellent table setter for bars put up strong routines for the team on beam and floor. Her floor routine from this competition can be viewed below. The music and choreography suits her so well, the tumbling is high, clean and difficult to boot. I love the interesting arm movement in her leaps at 1:18, which add a bit of flourish to the routine. The huge smile at the end is so gorgeous!

Diana's floor performance during the team finals at the 2012 European Championships in Brussels. Team Romania took home the gold medal

Coach Octavian Bellu hugs Diana and Larisa Iordache, the youngest members of his gold medal winning team (credit: The Gymnastics Examiner)

Cata Ponor, one of the veterans of the team congratulates Didi after her routine- so cute! (credit: instagram)

Golden team: Sandra Izbasa, Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Raluca Haidu and Catalina Ponor (credit: tumblr)

During the team final at the Olympic Games in London, Diana put forwards strong scores on bar, beam and floor (14.066, 14.533 and 14.700 respectively). Romania managed to edge out 2008 Olympic Champions China to take the bronze medal. Bulimar's solid performances, along with the rest of the team allowed them to take this prize. Bulimar also qualified for the balance beam final. Unfortunately her coaches decided that Larisa Iordache would take her place in the final. This seems unfair to me, not only for Bulimar, but also for the other competitors who did not get a second chance to redeem themselves after a bad qualification round (eg. World Champion Jordyn Wieber missed the all-around final due to the two per country rule- she was beaten by her country women Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas in the qualifications round). It would be nice if the FIG could make it a rule that qualifiers must compete, unless of course they become ill or are injured (which must be approved by an FIG doctor).

Bulimar on floor in the team final at the London 2012 Olympic Games (credit: GSP)

I look forwards to seeing Bulimar around for many years to come, especially on floor and beam. She is a consistent and trustworthy member to have on your team! Over time, her and Iordache are likely to become the leaders of the Romanian team and I hope that they continue to perform strongly over the years to come! If only Romania could get their bar routines up to scratch with the rest of the competition, they would truely be a formidable team! I'd also love to see Diana get that beam medal that she so well deserves at the 2013 Worlds!

Article by @ImogenMireille