Gymnasts that never reached their potential: Part 1 Andreea Munteanu

Andreea Aura Munteanu was born in 1988, the same year as Chellsie Memmel, Monette Russo or Cheng Fei. With a much shorter career then theirs, Andreea seems a gymnast from a different epoch.

One of the most charismatic gymnasts that Romania has produced since 1990, she was first noticed in 2002, the year Romania did not participate with a team at the European Championships and Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang were trying to reconstruct the national gymnastics team, searching for talents all over the country.

Andreea Munteanu didn't have a great career as a junior but she was chosen because she was very talented and, more importantly, would become a senior in time for the Olympic Games in Athens.

She began training at Deva, under Belu and Bitang, in October 2002, and only one year later she was a part of the National team in Anaheim.

Romania finished the competition 2nd (Andreea even fell during her floor exercise, causing more trouble for the team); she qualified for the AA finals, finishing 15th, after a fall off the UB and placed 4th on floor in the Event Finals. Although It may not seem much of an accomplishment, Andreea was noticed by gymnastics fans all over the world and her preformance in the floor exercise finals is still remembered; she showed exquisite dance abilities and a very strong personality.

2004 was the year of the big competition: the Olympic Games. The training for the Olympics was going very well for her - she placed 1st in the AA at the Nationals, 2nd on beam and floor. However, Andreea never made it to the Olympics. They say that only two hours before embarking to Athens, she was told she was staying home. The scene with all the Romanian girls crying, Floare Leonida and Andreea Munteanu because they were left home and the rest because they were leaving to Athens without them is famous.

Andreea never appeared in an international competition afterwards. She kept training untill 2006 and that year, she hoped she'd be able to compete at the Worlds in Aarhus but a back injury put an end to her career at only 18.