Larisa Iordache

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.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.She won a bronze medal in the team event with Diana Bulimar and Slovenian gymnasts Rebeka Sarec and Tatjana Holeczek.[13] Iordache won the bronze medal in the all-around final behind Russians Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina, with a score of 55.675.The Alliance Dijon team included Iordache, Daniela Andrei, and Raluca Haidu from Romania, and French gymnasts Sophia Serseri, Laurie Antoniazzi, and Julie Roemer.Iordache won the all-around title with a score of 58.300, nearly five points ahead of British silver medalist Gabby Jupp.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.In the all-around final, she finished fourth due to a fall from the balance beam on a back handspring full twist.[48] Then, in the floor exercise final, she won the bronze medal behind American Simone Biles and Italian Vanessa Ferrari.[49] After the World Championships, Iordache competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial in Morges, Switzerland where she won the gold medal in the all-around.With her teammate Andrei Muntean, Romania won the gold medal ahead of Germany, Switzerland, and Ukraine.[54] In March, Iordache competed at the Doha World Cup where she won gold on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise.[62] In September, she competed at the Switzerland-Germany-Romania Tri-Friendly meet in Obersiggenthal, Switzerland, and the Romanian team finished second behind Germany.[74] Iordache was scheduled to compete at the World Cups in Doha and Cottbus, but she withdrew due to an ankle injury.[81] Iordache was selected to compete at the 2015 World Championships along with Diana Bulimar, Ana Maria Ocolişan, Laura Jurca, Silvia Zarzu, and Cătălina Ponor.[84] In the qualification round, Iordache scored a disappointing 55.698 in the all-around after downgrading her floor routine and falling off the uneven bars and balance beam.[86] Their performance was described as a meltdown, as everyone except Jurca fell off the uneven bars and team members had several falls off the balance beam."[89] After the World Championships, Iordache competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial, where she won the all-around gold medal ahead of Pauline Schäfer from Germany and Romanian teammate Diana Bulimar.[101] She was selected for the European Championships in Cluj-Napoca along with first-year seniors Olivia Cîmpian and Ioana Crișan, and London Olympic teammate Cătălina Ponor.[111] Then at the Romanian Championships, Iordache won the gold medal in the all-around by five-and-a-half points over Denisa Golgotă.[113] In October, Iordache traveled to Montreal for the 2017 World Championships but suffered an Achilles tendon tear during the warm-ups for the qualification round.[115] In September 2018, Larisa went to Dr. Weinstable in Vienna, Austria, with the help of former Romanian head coaches, Mariana Bitang and Octavian Bellu, to have her third surgery on her Achilles tendon.[118] She was told that she was able to begin training at full capacity, and Iordache officially announced her comeback to elite gymnastics.[119][120] In late October 2020, Iordache reported on Twitter that she had tested positive for COVID-19, forcing her to forego a verification meet that would have been her first competition in three years.[123] At the European Championships, the Romanian team of Iordache, Antonia Duță, Silviana Sfiringu, Ioana Stănciulescu, and Daniela Trică won the silver medal behind Ukraine.[124] Iordache won the silver medal on vault behind Hungary's Zsófia Kovács,[125] and she placed fourth on uneven bars.[129] Despite waking up the morning of the competition with severe abdominal pain and being told by doctors to withdraw, Iordache competed in the qualification round.[4] In the qualification round, she placed fourth in the all-around with a score of 54.698 behind Russians Angelina Melnikova, Viktoria Listunova, and Vladislava Urazova.[135] At the end of the European Championships, Iordache was presented with the Shooting Star award from the event's sponsor, SmartScoring, alongside Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan.[140] She qualified to the balance beam final in fourth place, behind American Sunisa Lee and Chinese gymnasts Tang Xijing and Guan Chenchen.

Iordache (second from the left) with the 2012 Romanian Olympic team

Iordache performing on the floor exercise during the all-around final at the 2013 World Championships on 4 October 2013