Larisa Andreea Iordache (; born 19 June 1996) is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She represented Romania at the 2012 Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal with the team, and at the 2020 Olympic Games.
The Romanian press referred to Iordache as "The New Nadia" as early as 2008, when she was 12, due to her skills and potential. In her first year of competition as a senior, Iordache won two gold medals at the 2012 European Championships, with her team and on floor exercise. She then won a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the team competition. Iordache is the 2013 World bronze medalist on floor exercise, the 2014 World silver medalist in the all-around and on floor exercise, and the 2015 World bronze medalist in the all-around.
Iordache was the 2013 European champion on beam, and the most successful gymnast at the 2014 European Championships, winning gold with her team and as an individual on floor exercise, silver on balance beam, and bronze on vault. She won bronze on beam at the 2017 European Championships, held in her home country in Cluj-Napoca. In 2020, she came back from a three-year break to win gold medals on balance beam and floor exercise at the 2020 European Championships, along with a silver with her team and as an individual on vault. Overall, Iordache has won sixteen medals at the European Championships, making her the second most decorated gymnast at the European level behind Svetlana Khorkina. She is also a twelve-time gold medalist in the World Cups and the 2017 Universiade champion in the all-around and on floor exercise.
Early life Iordache was born in Bucharest, Romania, where she still lives today. Her mother, Adriana Iordache, was a handball player, and her father played football. She has an older brother named Răzvan who also plays football. Iordache was introduced to gymnastics after being spotted rollerblading by her first coach, Mariana Câmpeanu-Silişteanu. Câmpeanu-Silişteanu asked Iordache's mother to put her into gymnastics classes, and although her mother was initially reluctant, Iordache began gymnastics at the age of five. When explaining how she began gymnastics, Iordache stated, "I think [Câmpeanu-Silişteanu] noticed the speed and the energy and that impressed her. I didn't choose gymnastics – it chose me. It just happened. I am very glad to have got so far." She also said that on her first day of training, she was too afraid to go into the gym, but after three days, she went into the gym and then she fell in love with gymnastics.
Iordache began her gymnastics training at CSS Dinamo Club in Bucharest. She became a member of the junior national team in 2008, and she was coached by Ramona Micu, Adela Popa, Lacramioara Moldovan, and Claudiu Moldovan. In 2008, she began receiving press attention in Romania comparing her to Nadia Comăneci, the 1976 Olympic all-around champion. Iordache later said of the comparison that "I feel honored to be compared to Nadia, but every gymnast has her own qualities and every gymnast is good enough on her own and doesn't have to be compared to anyone."
Junior career
Iordache made her junior international debut at the 2009 Top Gym Trophy in Charleroi, Belgium. She won a bronze medal in the team event with Diana Bulimar and Slovenian gymnasts Rebeka Sarec and Tatjana Holeczek. Individually, she won a gold medal in the all-around and on the balance beam.
2010 Iordache's first major international competition was the European Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom. She contributed an all-around score of 55.550 toward the Romanian team's second-place finish behind Russia. Iordache won the bronze medal in the all-around final behind Russians Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina, with a score of 55.675. In the event finals, she placed fourth on vault, scoring 13.862, second on balance beam scoring 14.575, and tied first on floor with Anastasia Grishina, scoring 14.275.
In September, Iordache competed at the Romanian Championships in Reșița. She won the all around competition with a score of 58.400, nearly four points ahead of second-place teammate Diana Bulimar. Then in October, she competed at the Schiltigheim International in Schiltigheim, France. She won the all-around final with a score of 58.000. She placed second on vault behind France's Elodie Perez scoring 14.350, first on uneven bars, scoring 14.250, first on balance beam scoring 14.900, and first on floor scoring 14.500.
2011 In May, Iordache competed as a guest at the French Team Championships, held in Toulouse. She contributed an all-around score of 58.800 towards Alliance Dijon's first-place finish. The Alliance Dijon team included Iordache, Daniela Andrei, and Raluca Haidu from Romania, and French gymnasts Sophia Serseri, Laurie Antoniazzi, and Julie Roemer. Then in June, Iordache competed at the Gym Festival in Trnava, Slovakia, where 29 gymnasts from nine countries competed. She won the all-around final with a score of 59.500, and she finished nearly two points ahead of two-time Olympian Anna Pavlova. In the event finals, she placed first on uneven bars scoring 14.250, first on balance beam scoring 15.600, and first on floor exercise scoring 14.850. Later that month, she competed in an international meet against Great Britain in Lilleshall. The Romanian team finished in first, and they outscored the British on every event except the uneven bars. Iordache won the all-around title with a score of 58.300, nearly five points ahead of British silver medalist Gabby Jupp.
In July, Iordache competed at the 2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Trabzon, Turkey. She contributed an all around score of 57.800 towards the Romanian team's second-place finish behind Italy. Iordache won the all-around final with a score of 57.550, over two points ahead of the second-place finisher Erika Fasana. In the event finals, she placed second on vault scoring 14.225, second on uneven bars, scoring 13.475, first on balance beam, scoring 15.000, and first on floor exercise, scoring 14.275.
Senior career
2012 Iordache became age eligible for senior international competition in 2012. At the beginning of March, Iordache competed at the American Cup in New York City, United States. She placed third in the all-around behind Americans Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman with a score of 59.332. Then at the end of March, she competed at the World Cup in Doha, Qatar. She placed fourth in the uneven bars final with a score of 14.525.
In April, Iordache competed at an international meet against France in Cholet, France. She helped Romania win the team competition, and individually, she won the all-around with a score of 60.150. Later that month, she competed at an international meet against Germany and the United Kingdom in Ulm, Germany. She helped Romania win the team competition, and individually, she won the all-around with a score of 59.750.
In May, Iordache competed at the 2012 European Championships in Brussels, Belgium. She contributed an all-around score of 58.757 toward the Romanian team's first-place finish. In the event finals, she placed second on the balance beam behind teammate Cătălina Ponor with a score of 15.133 and first on the floor exercise with a score of 15.233. At the beginning of July, she competed at an international meet against France, Germany, and Italy in her hometown, Bucharest. Romania won the team competition, and individually, she won the all-around with a score of 60.850.
London Olympics
At the end of July, Iordache represented Romania at the 2012 Summer Olympics alongside teammates Diana Bulimar, Diana Chelaru, Sandra Izbașa, and Cătălina Ponor. Prior to the competition, she developed plantar fasciitis in her left foot, which caused severe pain. Her coach, Mariana Bitang said about Iordache's condition prior to the Olympics, "We don't know what will happen — it depends how things go after this. If she's fine, she will do all events to qualify to the all-around final. It's hard to say now." During podium training, Iordache only performed full routines on the uneven bars and the balance beam. Mariana Bitang explained that there was a 50–50 chance of whether she would be able to compete in all four events.
Iordache did compete in all four events in the qualification round, and she helped Romania finish fourth. Individually, she qualified for the all-around final in ninth place with a score of 57.800. In the team final, she contributed scores of 14.800 on vault, 13.766 on uneven bars, and 15.300 on balance beam toward the Romanian team's third-place finish behind Russia and the United States. After the team final, Iordache said on Romania's performance, "You always want to do better, but any Olympic medal is important for a team. We are happy." She placed ninth in the all around final with a score of 57.965 and sixth in the balance beam final with a score of 14.200. The Olympics were Iordache's last competition of the season.
2013
At the 2013 Doha World Cup, Iordache placed second in the vault final behind Phan Thị Hà Thanh with a score of 14.675, and seventh in the uneven bars final with a score of 13.325. She also placed first in the balance beam final ahead of Zeng Siqi and Gabrielle Jupp with a score of 15.500, and second in the floor exercise final behind Diana Bulimar with a score of 14.425.
At the 2013 European Championships in Moscow, Iordache qualified first into the all-around final and the balance beam final, second to the floor exercise final, and fourth to vault final. In the all-around final, she scored 14.833 on beam, 14.866 on floor exercise, 14.900 on vault, and 13.833 on uneven bars. She won the silver medal behind Aliya Mustafina of Russia. In the vault final, she tied with Dutch gymnast Noël van Klaveren for the silver medal with a score of 14.466. Additionally, she won the silver medal in the floor exercise final behind Russia's Ksenia Afanasyeva and the gold medal in the balance beam final. Then at the 2013 Anadia World Cup, Iordache won the gold medal on the balance beam and on the floor exercise.
In October, Iordache competed at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. In the all-around final, she finished fourth due to a fall from the balance beam on a back handspring full twist. She fell on the same skill in the balance beam final and scored 13.933 for seventh place. Then, in the floor exercise final, she won the bronze medal behind American Simone Biles and Italian Vanessa Ferrari.
After the World Championships, Iordache competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial in Morges, Switzerland where she won the gold medal in the all-around. She then competed at the Swiss Cup, which is a team competition where each country is represented by one female and one male gymnast. With her teammate Andrei Muntean, Romania won the gold medal ahead of Germany, Switzerland, and Ukraine. She competed at the Elite Gym Massilia in Marseille, France where she won the gold medal in the all-around, the silver medal on vault behind Russia's Alla Sosnitskaya, and the gold medal on both balance beam and floor exercise. Then, she won the silver medal in the all-around at the Stuttgart World Cup behind American Elizabeth Price. Her last competition of the season was the Glasgow World Cup where she won the gold medal in the all-around.
2014
In March, Iordache competed at the Doha World Cup where she won gold on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise. Then in April, she helped her team win gold at the France-Romania-Belgium Tri-Friendly meet. She had the highest scores of the competition on every apparatus, and she won the all-around title by three points over teammate Diana Bulimar.