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Andreea Raducan was one of the "new generation gymnasts" groomed to take over the torch of Romanian gymnastics excellence after the retirements of Olympic medalists Lavinia Milosovici and Gina Gogean. She began gymnastics at the age of four and a half in her hometown of Birlad. In 1996, after winning over twenty medals in local and regional competitions, she was invited to train at the Romanian junior team facility in Onesti. Two years later, she was promoted to the national training center in Deva.
Raducan made her international debut at the 1998 Junior European Championships, taking fourth place in the all-around. The next year, she rose to the senior ranks and made an impact at the World Championships in Tianjin, China, winning the FX final and placing fifth in the all-around.
While Raducan's work on the uneven bars was considered weak, her skills on beam, vault and floor exercise were applauded. She was also admired because, unlike other members of the Romanian team, she showed a great deal of expression in her choreography and a wide variety of complex skills in her routines. At the 1999 World Championships, commentator Bart Conner noted, "it is so refreshing to see a Romanian who can dance!"
Scandal at the Sydney Olympics
Raducan competed well at the Sydney Olympics, helping the Romanian women to win their first Olympic team gold medal since 1984. She qualified for the floor and vault event finals, and, along with teammates Simona Amanar and Maria Olaru, the all-around finals.
The all-around, unfortunately, was mired in controversy. The vault was accidentally set several centimeters too low. This was an extremely dangerous situation, as it completely altered the gymnasts' pre and post flights. As a result of the incorrectly set vault, many gymnasts suffered serious crashes and injuries during both the warmups and the competition. British gymnast Annika Reeder was hurt badly enough to withdraw from the remainder of the meet. Even those who escaped injury found themselves shaken by their experiences on the vault. When the error was discovered by Australian gymnast Allana Slater in the third rotation, International Federation of Gymnastics officials reset the vault height and allowed the competition to continue. They did permit the gymnasts who had vaulted in the first two rotations to take another turn on vault and be rescored; not every athlete accepted this offer.
While Raducan was one of the gymnasts who had vaulted on the incorrectly set apparatus, she continued through the competition, turning in outstanding performances on beam and floor. At the end of the meet, she found herself the all-around champion. Also on the podium with her were her Romanian teammates; Amanar with silver and Olaru with bronze.
However, after the meet, the IOC announced that Raducan had tested positive for pseudophedrine, at the time, a banned substance. In spite of strenuous appeals from Raducan, her coaches, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and certain members of the gymastics community, she was stripped of her gold medal. The gold was re-awarded to Amânar, Olaru was promoted to silver, and former fourth-place finisher Liu Xuan from China was given the bronze medal. Raducan's test samples from the team and vault event finals were clean; she was therefore allowed to keep the medals she won in these competitions. Amanar had also tested positive for Nurofen, but as she was taller and heavier than Raducan, the substance did not register as being over the allowed amount as it had with her younger teammate.
Raducan and her coaches maintained that she was innocent, and, that as a minor, she had only followed the treatment plan the team physician had recommended. The night before the team competition, she had been given Nurofen, a common over-the-counter medication, to help treat a fever and cough. The Romanian team doctor who gave her the drug in two cold medicine pills was expelled from the Games and suspended through the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Both Amanar and Olaru expressed their belief that Raducan was the deserving all-around gold medalist. Following the announcement that Raducan would be stripped of her medal, they initially decided to refuse their new medals; however, they changed their minds in order to bring the medals back to Romania. Amanar said of the gold medal, "I didn't win it. It was won by Andreea and belongs to Andreea." She did in fact return the medal to Raducan back in Romania.
Raducan's case was brought before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the fall of 2000. While the arbitration panel did concede that Raducan had not gained any advantage by taking the pseduophedrine, they upheld the IOC's decision.
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Post-Sydney
Despite the controversy, Raducan was still seen as a positive and even sympathetic figure. She received a significant amount of support in Romania, and members of the gymnastics community, including Nadia Comaneci, publicly expressed their support. Raducan was given a replacement medal in pure gold by a Romanian jeweler; she also received several endorsements and sponsorships. At one point, a Raducan doll was even rumored to be in the works.
Raducan continued to train in Deva after the Olympics. With the retirement of her Sydney teammates Amanar, Olaru, and Claudia Presacan, she found herself as one of the senior gymnasts at Deva. At the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, she was part of the gold-medal winning Romanian team; she picked up a bronze in the all-around and golds on floor and beam. Injuries and other concerns marred her training in 2002; after a poor showing at the Worlds in Hungary, she quietly retired.
Currently, Raducan is a sports announcer in Romania. She covered the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Skills
Vault: Round-off 1/2 twist on, layout cuervo off.
Balance Beam: Full twisting back, Double Pike back dismount, Tucked Korbut
Floor Exercise: Round-off-back-handspring-double layout, Round-off-whip back-double pike, Round-off-back-handspring-2.5twist-punch-layout-front, Round-off-flick-triple-twist.
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