Ana Porgras (born 18 December 1993) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She won the balance beam gold medal at the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam and the uneven bars bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships. Porgras was considered to be one of the most artistic gymnasts of her generation, reminiscent of the Eastern European gymnasts of the 1980s. She was awarded the Longines Prize for Elegance in 2011.International Gymnast Magazine Uchimura takes third world all around title, Amanda Turner, 14 October
Early life and career Porgras began gymnastics in her native town of Galați with coaches Agripina and Paul Gâlea. Ana Porgras and Anamaria Tamarjan are both struggling with injuries, English compilation of articles (Romanian) in Prosport by Mirela Basescu, November 2009 Later she joined the Romanian Junior National Team coached by Ramona Micu, Florin Cotuțiu and Daniel Nistor. Provisional list for Europeans, March 2008 Porgras had a successful junior career, medaling at various international competitions. In 2007, she won the gold medal on balance beam, bronze with the team, and placed seventh all-around, fifth on vault and eighth on uneven bars at the Massilia Cup.International Gymnast Magazine Galante Wins Massilia Cup, 25 November 2007 She also won the gold medal on balance beam at the 2008 Junior European Championships and placed ninth all-around and fourth with the team. Towards the end of her junior career she needed knee surgery to repair a detached ligament.International Gymnast Magazine Three Romanians face recovery, Amanda Turner, 26 November 2008
Senior career
2009
Not yet fully recovered after knee surgery, Porgras missed the 2009 European Championships. However, she had a promising senior debut at the 2009 World Championships in London. She qualified first on balance beam, second in the individual all-around, third on floor, and seventh on uneven bars.International Gymnast Magazine Prelims Conclude: Bross takes top ranking, Dwight Normile, 14 October 2009 Falls from balance beam in the all-around and balance beam finals prevented her from winning medals in these events, placing seventh all-around and on balance beam. However, she did end her first World Championships experience with a bronze medal on the uneven bars (tied with USA's Rebecca Bross). She also tied for fifth place with Bross on floor. Later that year, Porgras had an excellent showing at the DTB Cup in Stuttgart by winning the gold medal on balance beam.International Gymnast Magazine China takes four as DTB cup concludes, Amanda Turner, 14 November 2009
2010 Still struggling with injuries,Prosport With bleeding hands (Romanian) 27 April 2010 by Mirela Băsescu Porgras was a member of the team at the 2010 European Championships. She helped the team qualify in second place by competing on balance beam and uneven bars. Individually, she qualified first on beam and seventh on bars. She helped her team win the bronze medal by earning the top mark of the day on beam (14.800)International Gymnast Magazine Russian women reclaim European title, by Amanda Turner, 1 May 2010 and by scoring 13.700 on uneven bars. During the team finals, Porgras suffered an injury from her balance beam dismount,International Gymnast Magazine X-rays reveal broken bone for Porgras, by Amanda Turner, 5 May 2010 which forced her to withdraw from the beam and uneven bars finals.International Gymnast Magazine Tweddle, Russia bid golden farewell to Birmingham, by Amanda Turner, 2 May 2010 After her return to Romania, she was diagnosed with a crack in her right fibula. In September she made a successful comeback at the Ghent World Cup, winning the gold medal on balance beam and a silver medal on uneven bars.International Gymnast Magazine Guo golden in Gent as world cup concludes, by Amanda Turner, 12 September 2010 One week later she defended her all-around title at the Romanian National Championships and also won gold on balance beam and bronze on floor.International Gymnast Magazine Porgras, Koczi defend Romanian titles, by Amanda Turner, 18 September 2010Romanian Gymnastics Federation Final events dominated by Sandra Izbașa and Flavius Koczi
In October she was selected in the national team for the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam. Here she helped her team to place fourth in the team finals by performing on beam, floor and uneven bars.International Gymnast Magazine Russian women win first world team title, by Amanda Turner, 20 October 2010 Individually, she placed fifth all aroundInternational Gymnast Magazine Uchimura, Mustafina win all around titles, by Amanda Turner, 22 October 2010 and on uneven bars,International Gymnast Magazine British best in day 1 of event finals, by Amanda Turner, 23 October 2010 respectively, and won the gold medal on balance beam over Rebecca Bross and defending champion Deng Linlin. Porgras was the Romanian women's first world champion since Andreea Răducan won beam and floor in 2001.International Gymnast Magazine Bouhail, Mitchell make gymnastics history, by Amanda Turner, 24 October 2010LIVE: Finalele pe aparate la Campionatul Mondial. Ana Porgras este campioana mondiala!!! Onlinesport.ro
2011 In April, at the 2011 European Championships Porgras competed on two events only (beam and uneven bars) and failed to make the finals.International Gymnast Magazine Mustafina dominates Berlin qualifications, by Amanda Turner, 6 April 2011 However, in August 2011 she had a good showing at the Romanian National Championships, winning her third consecutive all-around national title.International Gymnast Magazine Porgras takes third Romanian title, by Amanda Turner, 29 August 2011 After a good performance at two friendly meets in Germany and Great Britain, Porgras was selected to the team for the 2011 World Championships. In the qualification day she had a weak performance, grabbing the beam on her switch ring and falling on her double layout dismount on uneven bars, failing to make the event finals.International Gymnast Magazine Romania leads gymnastics worlds after day one, by Amanda Turner, 7 October 2011 However, in the team finals competition she helped Romania place fourth by receiving the highest marks on beam (15.300) and uneven bars (14.066) among her team.Gymnastics Results 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Individually, she managed a good performance in the all-around final, but she only placed sixth due to small mistakes on floor and the low difficulty of her vault exercise. She was awarded one of the two Longines Prize for Elegance in 2011.
After injuring her elbow during a training camp in France she announced her retirement from gymnastics in January 2012, only seven months away from the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.International Gymnastics Magazine Romanian star Ana Porgras calls it quits, by Amanda Turner, 16 January 2012
Competitive history
Year EventTeamAAVTUBBBFX2007Elite Gym Massilia 7 5 8 2008European Championships (Junior) 4 9 2009Stuttgart World Cup World Championships 7 7 5 2010European Championships Ghent World Cup Romanian National Championships SUI-GER-ROU Friendly World Championships 4 5 5 2011Romanian National Championships SUI-GER-ROU Friendly World Championships 4 6
References
External links
Gymnastics United: Photo Gallery Ana Porgas