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Raluca Haidu
Raluca Haidu
Personal information
Full name	Raluca Oana Haidu
Nickname(s)	Pitic
Born	20 November 1994 (age 30); Petroşani
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Country represented	Romania
Club	CSS Deva
Head coach(es)	Octavian Bellu, Mariana Bitang
Assistant coach(es)	Raluca Bugner, Lucian Sandu, Mircea Vintila
Former coach(es)	Ramona Micu, Florin Cotutiu, Nicolae Forminte, Liliana Cozma
Choreographer	Mariana Ristea, Puia Valer
European Championships
World Cup

Raluca Haidu (born 20 November 1994 in Petroşani, Romania) is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is a European gold (2012) and bronze (2010) medallist with the team. Individually, she is a European bronze medallist on beam.^[1]^[2] She also placed fourth with the team and ninth in the women's all around at the 2010 World Championships.

Early life and career

Haidu started to train for gymnastics at CSS Deva sports club. She was one of the main characters of a 2004 TV documentary ("The secret of Deva") about the life of gymnasts in Deva's famous sports boarding school.^[3] This documentary, directed by Anca Miruna Lazarescu, received several awards at prestigious international film festivals.^[4] Haidu had a promising junior career medaling at various international competitions. For example, she won bronze on floor and silver with the team at the 10th European Youth Olympic Festival.^[5]^[6]

Senior career

2010

Haidu's senior debut at a major international event was at the 2010 European Championships. Here she contributed to the team bronze medal by competing on all four events.^[1] Individually, she won bronze on balance beam.^[2] In October she was selected in the national team to compete at the 2010 World Championships. Here she helped her team qualify in the fourth position by competing on all four events (balance beam, vault, beam and uneven bars).^[7] Individually, she qualified in the all around event (12th place). She ended her first world championships experience by placing fourth with the team and ninth all around.^[8]

2011

In the spring of 2011, Haidu was not selected in the team for the European Championships, but competed at some international meets. At the 2011 Glasgow World Cup, Haidu won the all around bronze after teammate Amelia Racea (gold) and Jessica López (silver)^[9] and won the Brno mixed-pair event together with Cristian Bățagă.^[10] In August 2011 she had a good showing at the Romanian Championships where she won the all-around bronze behind Ana Porgras and Amelia Racea, and silver on vault and uneven bars.^[11] She was then selected to the Romanian team for the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo. Here she helped the team to qualify (and finish in) fourth place; the top-eight finish secured the team a place at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Individually, Haidu qualified in 10th place for the all around final,^[12] but in the final she placed 18th after a fall on vault.

2012

After good performances at some international friendly meets, she was selected over teammate Diana Chelaru^[13] in the Romanian team for the 2012 European Championships. Here she contributed to the team gold by competing only on uneven bars.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b International Gymnast Magazine Russian women reclaim European title, by Amanda Turner, May 1, 2010
^ ^a ^b International Gymnast Magazine Tweddle, Russia bid golden farewell to Birmingham, by Amanda Turner, May 2, 2010
^ IMDB "The secret of Deva" at IMDB.com
^ Kloos & Co Medien GmbH Archived April 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine The secrets of Deva
^ International Gymnast Magazine Komova, Belyavsky win EYOF all around titles, by Amanda Turner, July 23, 2010
^ Gymnastics Results 10th European Youth Olympic Festival
^ International Gymnast Magazine Russia on top as qualifications conclude, by Amanda Turner, October 17, 2010
^ International Gymnast Magazine Schedule, start lists, and results, October 2010
^ Glasgow 2011 Results FIG ART World Cup 2011, Glasgow (GBR) 2011 Apr 14–17, Artistic Gymnastics Results, Men and Women
^ International Gymnast Magazine Haidu, Bataga best at Brno Grand Prix, by Amanda Turner, May 28, 2011
^ Gymnastics Results Romanian Championships Women, Onesti (ROU) 2011 August 26–28, Artistic Gymnastics Results
^ Gymnastics Results 43rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, Tokyo (JPN) 2011 October 7–16, Artistic Gymnastics Results
^ The couch gymnast Road to Euros: Battle to make the Romanian team, Brigid McCarthy, May 4, 2012
^ European Union of Gymnastics 29th European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships