Alexandra Agiurgiuculese

Alexandra Ana Maria Agiurgiuculese (born January 15, 2001) is a Romanian-Italian individual rhythmic gymnast who represents Italy and coached by Špela Dragaš. She is a four-time medalist at the 2016 European Junior Championships. At the national level, she is the 2019 Italian National All-around champion, three-time (2017, 2018, 2020) Italian National All-around silver medalist and a three-time (2012, 2013, 2015) Italian Junior National champion, and a bronze medalist with the ball at the 2018 World Championships. She competed at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Alexandra Agiurgiuculese
Agiurgiuculese in 2018
Personal information
Full nameAlexandra Ana Maria Agiurgiuculese
Nickname(s)Alex
Former countries represented Romania
Born (2001-01-15) January 15, 2001
Iași, Romania
ResidenceUdine, Italy
DisciplineRhythmic Gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
Years on national team2015 - present
ClubAssociazione Sportiva Udinese
Head coach(es)Špela Dragas, Magda Pigano
Eponymous skillsThe Agiurgiuculese (Ag Jump): turning split leap with ring of the back leg, take off and landing on the same leg (jete en tournant)
World ranking22 WC 6 WCC (2017 Season) [1]
Last updated on: 28 May 2021.

Personal life

Agiurgiuculese was born in Iași, Romania. She has a brother, Sebastian Constantin, and a sister, Madalina. Her mother is Romanian while her father is of half-Italian, half-Slovene descent. Her father worked at a factory in Italy and sent money to the family in Romania. Her mother and brothers later joined him. She lived in Romania from ages 8 to 10 with her grandparents and trained with the Romanian National rhythmic gymnastics team.[2] She moved to Martignacco ,[3] where she attended middle school and later lived first with her coach, Spela Dragas, in Udine for 4 years.[4] She speaks Romanian, Italian, and English.

She joined the Aeronautica Militare at 17 and is a first airman as of 2020.[5] She lives in Udine, where she also trains in gymnastics.

Career

Junior

Representing Romania, Agiurgiuculese won the national competitions in Romania and competed in numerous international events such as at the 2011 Irina Delanu Cup and 2010 Miss Valentine Cup.

In 2012, Agiurgiuculese began to represent Italy and won the national competitions. At the 2014 MTM Ljubljana, she won gold in ball and silver in hoop, clubs, and ribbon. She also competed at the Italian Serie A. She competed at the 2015 Moscow Junior Grand Prix, finishing 8th in the all-around. She won the all-around gold at the 2015 MTM Cup in Ljubljana.

Agiurgiuculese competed at the 2016 Lisboa Junior World Cup, taking bronze in ball, and finished 8th in rope, 7th in hoop, and 4th in clubs.[6] She won silver in rope, and bronze in hoop and ball at the 2016 Pesaro Junior World Cup. At the 2016 Sofia Junior World Cup, Italy won the team bronze, and Agiurgiuculese took silver in ball and finished 4th in clubs.[7] At the 2016 European Junior Championships, Italy won team bronze, and Agiurgiuculese qualified to all apparatus finals. She won silver in ball and clubs, and bronze in rope, and finished 4th in hoop.[8]

Senior

In 2017 Season, Agiurgiuculese made her senior international debut at the 2017 Grand Prix Moscow finishing 8th in the all-around, she qualified to all the apparatus finals placing 5th in clubs, 6th in hoop, 7th in ball and 8th in ribbon. She competed at the 2017 Pesaro World Cup and finished 13th All-Around and qualified to two apparatus finals, where she won bronze with ribbon and placed 4th with ball. On May 5–7, Agiurgiuculese competed at the 2017 Sofia World Cup finishing 13th in the all-around, she qualified in 2 apparatus finals where she won a silver medal in ball and finished 8th in ribbon. On May 19–21, Agiurgiuculese along with teammates Milena Baldassarri and Alessia Russo represented the individual seniors for Italy at the 2017 European Championships, she qualified in the ball finals finishing in last place. Agiurgiuculese won silver in the all-around at the Italian National Championships behind Veronica Bertolini. On July 7–9, Agiurgiuculese finished just out of the medals placing 4th in the all-around at the 2017 Berlin World Challenge Cup, she qualified in 3 apparatus final taking a silver medal in hoop, placed 5th in ball and 4th in ribbon. On August 5–7, Agiurgiuculese finished 7th in the all-around behind Bulgaria's Katrin Taseva at the 2017 Minsk World Challenge Cup, she qualified in 3 apparatus finals and won bronze in ball, finished 6th in hoop and 8th in clubs. On August 11–13, Agiurgiuculese competed at the 2017 Kazan World Challenge Cup finishing 10th in the all-around, she qualified in 3 apparatus finals and finished 8th in hoop, 5th in ball, 6th in clubs.

Together with Milena Baldassarri, Agiurgiuculese represented as individual gymnasts for Italy at the 2017 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Pesaro, where she finished 8th In the All-around behind Neviana Vladinova, she also qualified in three apparatus finals and finished (7th in ball, 5th in clubs and 4th in ribbon). Agiurgiuculese was awarded with Longines Prize for Elegance at the games, becoming the first Italian gymnast to win the award.[9]

In 2018, she started her season competing at the MTM Ljubljana tournament where she finished 4th in the all-around behind Julia Evchik. On April 13–15; Agiurgiuculese competed at the 2018 Pesaro World Cup finishing in a disappointing 17th position. On April 27–29, Agiurgiuculese then competed at the 2018 Baku World Cup where she finished 16th in the all-around. On May 4–6, she then competed at the 2018 Guadalajara World Challenge Cup finishing 8th in the all-around, she qualified in 2 apparatus finals finishing 5th in clubs and 8th in ribbon. On May 15–17, Agiurgiuculese competed at the Holon Senior International tournament where she won gold in the all-around with a total of 66.300 points. On June 29–30, she competed at the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain, where she won gold All Around medal with a total of 71.150 points.

At the 2018 World Championships Alexandra won a historic bronze medal in the ball final with the score of 19.900. Her bronze medal was the first individual medal for Italy in 27 years at the World Championships.[10]

In 2019, Agiurgiuculese represented Italy together with Milena Baldassarri, Alessia Russo and Sofia Maffeis at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, who placed 4th in Team competition. Alexandra then placed 7th in All-Around Qualifications and qualified to Hoop and Clubs finals. In All-around Final, she ended on 6th place and secured Italy an olympic spot for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokio, Japan. She also placed 6th in Hoop final and 5th in Clubs final.

In 2021, she started her season competing at the FIG Ritam Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, where she finished 1st in the all-around. On May 7–9, she then competed at the 2021 Baku World Cup finishing 4th in the All-around. At the 2020 Olympic Games, she finished fifteenth in the qualification round for the individual all-around.[11]

Achievements

Routine music information

Year Apparatus Music title
2016 Clubs Batucada / Besame Mucho (Dub Mix) by The Booty Jocks / Buddha Bar
Ball Your Love by Ennio Morricone & Dulce Pontes
Hoop Black Skinhead/Personal Jesus by Kanye West/Marilyn Manson
Rope Hava Nagila by DJ Jacob
2017 Ribbon Va Pensiero by Albano Carrisi (former), The Wall/ Another One Bites the Dust by Pink Floyd/ Queen
Clubs Pharaoh by Snavs
Ball Hallelujah by Susan Boyle
Hoop Earthshaker/ Army of Drummers by Audiomachine
2018 Ribbon The Wall/ Another One Bites the Dust by Pink Floyd/ Queen
Clubs Habibi Min Zaman, Manea-K by Balkan Beat Box, Max Pashm
Ball Zajdi, zajdi by Amira Medunjanin
Hoop Gangsta's Paradise by 2WEI
2019 Ribbon La Cumparsita by Milva
Clubs Area by Magnus The Magnus
Ball House Of The Rising Sun by Heavy Young Heathens
Hoop The Ecstasy of Gold by Ennio Morricone
2020 Hoop Für Elise by Hidden Citizens
Ball Coro A Bocca Chiusa from Madama Butterfly by Filippa Giordano
Clubs Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious) by Teriyaki Boyz
Ribbon You're The One That I Want by Alex & Sierra, Olivia Newton-John
Rope bury a friend by Billie Ellish
2021 Hoop Für Elise by Hidden Citizens
Ball Rinascita by ?
Clubs Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious) by Teriyaki Boyz
Ribbon You're The One That I Want by Alex & Sierra, Olivia Newton-John

Competitive highlights

(Team competitions in seniors are held only at the World Championships, Europeans and other Continental Games.)

International: Senior
Year Event AA Team Hoop Ball Clubs Ribbon
2021 World Challenge Cup Cluj-Napoca7th6th3rd11th3rd
Olympic Games15th (Q)
World Cup Pesaro
World Cup Baku4th7th1st4th8th
FIG Ritam Cup1st1st1st1st1st
2019 World Championships6th4th6th9th (Q)5th36th (Q)
World Cup Portimao4th1st2nd1st14th (Q)
World Cup Cluj-Napoca11th4th15th (Q)29th (Q)2nd
World Cup Minsk4th7th6th5th6th
European Games4th5th6th6th6th
European Championships4th9th (Q)15th (Q)12th (Q)21st (Q)
World Cup Guadalajara3rd6th3rd2nd3rd
World Cup Baku10th10th (Q)16th (Q)8th12th (Q)
World Cup Pesaro10th9th (Q)19th (Q)2nd10th (Q)
MTM Ljubljana Tournament1st3rd1st1st2nd
2018 World Championships9th3rd14th (Q)3rd10th (Q)4th
World Cup Kazan7th12th (Q)5th6th11th (Q)
World Cup Minsk11th13th (Q)9th (Q)12th (Q)13th (Q)
European Championships8thNT
World Cup Guadalajara8th10th (Q)5th5th8th
World Cup Baku16th21st (Q)14th (Q)16th (Q)14th (Q)
World Cup Pesaro17th12th (Q)48th (Q)9th (Q)9th (Q)
MTM Ljubljana Tournament4th16th (Q)1st1st1st
National
Year Event AA Team Ball Ribbon Hoop Clubs
2020Italian National Championships2nd2nd3rd11th (Q)2nd6th
2019Italian National Championships1st3rd1st1st2nd1st
2018Italian National Championships2nd2nd2nd2nd3rd1st
2017Italian National Championships2nd3rd1st2nd4th2nd
Q = Qualifications (Did not advance to Event Final due to the 2 gymnast per country rule, only Top 8 highest score);
WR = World Record; WD = Withdrew; NT = No Team Competition; OC = Out of Competition(competed but scores not counted for qualifications/results)

References

  1. "FIG World standings for rhythmic gymnastics". International Federation of Gymnastics. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  2. Bambini, Nicola. "Alexandra Agiurgiuculese: "La mia vita tra body, pizza e tacchi alti"". Vanity Fair Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  3. "Ginnastica. La giovanissima Alexandra, stella della pedana". www.avvenire.it. 2017-08-26. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  4. "intervista ad Alexandra Agiurgiuculese". ilfriuliveneziagiulia. Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  5. "The Air Force at the Italian rhythmic gymnastics championships". Difesa Online. 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  6. "Torneo Lisbona: argento alla fune per Alexandra". Ginnastica Ritmica Italia. 20 March 2016.
  7. "Pesaro, torneo junior: pioggia di medaglie per l'Italia". Ginnastica Ritmica Italia.
  8. "Double gold for Russia on day 2 of Rhythmic Europeans". European Union of Gymnastics. 18 June 2016.
  9. "Italy's Alexandra Agiurgiuculese presented with the Longines Prize for Elegance at the 35th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships 2017 in Pesaro". Longines. Longines Watch Co. Francillon Ltd. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  10. "Italy's Agiurgiuculese inspired by unexpected World medal". Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. 13 September 2018.
  11. "Rhythmic Gymnastics — Individual All-Around — Qualification — Results" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
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