1979- At the Junior International Championships, Romania shows the world that the talent at Onesti does not stop with Nadia, as the teeny Rodica Dunca exhibits a technically excellent and somewhat bizarre floor exercise for the Japanese gymnastics- hungry crowds.

1980- Nadia Comaneci shows the world just how much she has grown up at the Moscow Olympics with her new, mature look and floor routine to match. She takes silver.

1982- At the World Cup Lavinia Agache proves that no matter how hard he tried, Poszar could not quite destroy the hints of lovely, balletic lines in one of his most graceful floor workers yet, despite the fact she was being forced to prance around like a manic show pony. Oh what the Soviets would have done with this girl!! She was wasted on the Romanian choreography of the time.

1983- The gymnastics world gets one of its first close looks at Daniela Silivas and the stellar floor work to come from her in the future at the World Junior Internationals. Here, the knee-high-to-a-grasshopper Dana performs a solid, near-perfect little routine (bar the shonky landing of the second last pass) and performs an incredibly high double back to finish. It is a taste of things to come. Watch HERE

1984- In the Olympics floor exercise finals, Ecaterina Szabo acheives a perfect ten. Paired with her prelim score which eclipsed that of Julieanne McNamara’s, who had also been awarded a ten, she took the gold. At these Olympics Szabo continued to more than proved her mettle as the first in a long, long line of the “next new Nadia’s” that the Romanians were so desperate to produce back then. Watch HERE

1985- Teeny tiny Aurelia Dobre performs on floor at the Junior International Cup. She has a rough time, drastically under-rotating her double back tuck and stumbling. She is comforted on the sidelines by an equally tiny team mate. If only someone could have whispered in the crying Aurelia’s ear that she is, within mere years, going to execute one of the most memorable and beautiful floor exercises ever performed by a Romanian, or any gymnast, loved by fans all over the world, she might just have cheered up a bit.

1987- Aurelia Dobre, Daniela Silivas and Camelia Voinea amazed the world (and the Soviets!) when they each earned a perfect ten at the Rotterdam Worlds with brilliant, beautiful floor exercises. Voinea achieved it with a routine that expressed everything the eighties were about, bright leos, crazy electro music, wild tumbling and of course, breakdancing! And lets not forget the double layout punch front to start it off! Pure gymnastics gold!!!

Daniela Silivas executes a double twisting double back, a move named for her in the Code of Points.

At the DTB Cup the same year, the ever-lovely Eugenia Golea performs a fantastically jazzy little routine to the Chattanooga Choo Choo and a commentator states how pleased he is to see the Romanians shift from the old “little robotic cutesy dancing” of old.

Watch Golea perform HERE

1988- Daniela Silivas and Aurelia Dobre treat the audience to a floor dance routine as part of the exhibition element of the DTB Stuttgart Cup. It is a crazy-eighties routine, but kind of in a good way. And very, very cute to boot. They looks as though they are trying not to crack up the whole time! Unfortunately, they wear black leggings over their leos, and for some reason, at the beginning, it makes them both look like they have extra long arms and oversize hands!! Watch it HERE

(Dobre and Silivas getting their whacky on. So cute!)

1988- Celestina Popa performs a straddle jump full turn on floor, a move which will be named for her hereafter in the code of points.

1989- Cristina Bontas performs floor at the World Artistic World Championships in the all-around and is awarded a perfect ten at the tender age of fifteen. Crazy-haired Cristina also surprised everyone by beating out Daniela Silivas to be the highest ranked Romanian in the AA, coming in fourth. She took bronze in floor after earning the second highest score on a tie basis. The fascinating little routine that earned her the ten had absolutely everything; interesting leaps, some spinning on her head, some crazy body waves, a little bit of grace and a divine double layout!

1991- The bloody revolution in Romania sends the country into a spin, including the temporary closing down of the Deva school. The world loses the imeasurable grace and expression of Aurelia Dobre’s floor work, who is forced, because of the crisis and injury, to retire at age 17.

1992- Lavinia Milosovic receives the last perfect ten ever awarded at a Worlds or Olympics for her high tempo- high octane floor exercise. She went up against some big shot floor workers of the time, like Onodi, Zmeskal, Mitova and Chusovitina, but nobody could touch her. A second look might show that it was somewhat less than perfect in the cowboying and stepping area, but it was still a terrific little routine from a fantastic gymnast at her peak. It is effervescent and dynamic to watch.

Watch Milosovic get the last 10 HERE

1993- Gina Gogean wins one the first of her gazillon major floor medals, taking the silver at the World Championships. It was also one of the first of the TWENTY World and Olympic medals she won during her career (watch it HERE)

1993- At the Junior European Championships that same year, tiny Claudia Rusan awes viewers with a cutesy little floor routine in which the first pass includes a whipback-back-handspring into a double layout! She was sadly injured early and unable to climb the ranks in the sport after this stunning start.