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Alexandra Agiurgiuculese

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Alexandra Agiurgiuculese
Full nameAlexandra Ana Maria Agiurgiuculese
Nickname(s)Alex, Agiurgiu
Country represented Italy
Former countries represented Romania
Born (2001-01-15) 15 January 2001 (age 23)
Iași, Romania
ResidenceDesio, Italy
DisciplineRhythmic Gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
Years on national team2015 - present
ClubSan Giorgio Desio
Head coach(es)Elena Aliprandi
Former coach(es)Špela Dragaš, 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]
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
World Championships 0 1 2
Mediterranean Games 1 0 0
FIG World Cup 3 6 5
Total 4 7 7
Representing  Italy
Rhythmic Gymnastics
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2021 Kitakyushu Team
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Sofia Ball
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Sofia Team
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Tarragona All-around
Junior European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2016 Holon Ball
Silver medal – second place 2016 Holon Clubs
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Holon Rope
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Holon Team
Last updated on: 28 May 2021.

Alexandra Ana Maria Agiurgiuculese (born 15 January 2001) is a Romanian-Italian individual rhythmic gymnast who represents Italy. She is a World Championships silver and bronze medalist, and she competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Agiurgiuculese was the first Italian gymnast to win the Longines Prize for Elegance. At the national level, she is the 2019 Italian National all-around champion and three-time (2017, 2018, 2020) Italian National all-around silver medalist.

Personal life

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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.[citation needed] Her father worked at a factory in Italy and sent money to the family in Romania, and 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] Agiurgiuculese speaks Romanian, Italian, and English.

She joined the Aeronautica Militare at 17 and is a first airman as of 2020.[5] She lived in Udine until she moved to Desio in late 2021.

Career

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Junior

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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. She won the junior national championships in 2012, 2013 and 2015. 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. She won 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 she finished 4th in hoop.[8]

Senior

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In 2017 season, Agiurgiuculese made her senior international debut at the 2017 Grand Prix Moscow. She was 8th in the all-around, and 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 5–7 May Agiurgiuculese competed at the 2017 Sofia World Cup, finishing 13th in the all-around. She qualified for two apparatus finals, and she won a silver medal in ball and finished 8th in ribbon. On 19–21 May, Agiurgiuculese, along with teammates Milena Baldassarri and Alessia Russo, represented the individual seniors for Italy at the 2017 European Championships. She qualified for the ball final, but she finished in last place.

Agiurgiuculese won silver in the all-around at the Italian National Championships behind Veronica Bertolini. On 7–9 July Agiurgiuculese finished just out of the medals with 4th place in the all-around at the 2017 Berlin World Challenge Cup. She qualified for three apparatus final and took a silver medal in hoop and placed 5th in ball and 4th in ribbon. On 5–7 August Agiurgiuculese finished 7th in the all-around behind Bulgaria's Katrin Taseva at the 2017 Minsk World Challenge Cup and qualified for three apparatus finals. She won bronze in ball and finished 6th in hoop and 8th in clubs. On 11–13 August, Agiurgiuculese competed at the 2017 Kazan World Challenge Cup. She was 10th in the all-around and competed in three apparatus finals. In the apparatus finals, she finished 8th in hoop, 5th in ball, and 6th in clubs.

Together with Milena Baldassarri, Agiurgiuculese represented Italy in the individual competition at the 2017 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Pesaro, where she finished 8th In the All-around behind Neviana Vladinova. She also qualified for three apparatus finals and finished 7th in ball, 5th in clubs and 4th in ribbon. Agiurgiuculese was awarded the Longines Prize for Elegance at the games; she was 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 13–15 April Agiurgiuculese competed at the 2018 Pesaro World Cup, finishing in a disappointing 17th position. On 27–29 April Agiurgiuculese then competed at the 2018 Baku World Cup, where she finished 16th in the all-around. On 4–6 May she competed at the 2018 Guadalajara World Challenge Cup. She finished 8th in the all-around. In her two apparatus finals, she was 5th in clubs and 8th in ribbon. On 15–17 May Agiurgiuculese competed at the Holon Senior International tournament, where she won gold in the all-around with a total of 66.300 points. On 29–30 June she competed at the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain, where she won the 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 a 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 at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan together with Milena Baldassarri, Alessia Russo and Sofia Maffeis. Italy placed 4th in the team competition. Agiurgiuculese placed 7th in the all-around qualifications and qualified to the hoop and clubs finals. In the all-around final, she ended in 6th place and secured an Olympic spot for Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She also placed 6th in the hoop final and 5th in the clubs final. During her ball exercise at the 2019 World Championships, she performed an original body difficulty element, a turning leap which was named "The Agiurguiculese" after her.[11]

In 2021, she started her season by competing at the FIG Ritam Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, where she finished 1st in the all-around. On 7–9 May 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 and did not advance to the final.[12]

In 2022, just after her birthday, it was confirmed that she left her coach Spela Dragas from ASU Udinese and moved to Desio.[13]

Agiurgiuculese was given a one-year ban in July 2023 due to missing three anti-doping test appointments; she claimed that she had forgotten to properly update her whereabouts for testing because she was fatigued from travel. The suspension meant that she could not participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics.[14]

Eponymous skill

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Agiurgiuculese has one eponymous skill listed in the code of points, a turning leap in a split position with ring (back leg bent with head bent toward foot), with the take-off and landing on the same leg.[15] She is the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to have an eponymous skill.[16]

Name Description Difficulty[a]
Agiurgiuculese Turning split leap with ring, take-off and landing on the same leg (Jete en tournant) 0.6
  1. ^ Valid for the 2022-2024 Code of Points

Achievements

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Routine music information

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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
2022/2023 Hoop Seasoned Oak/ Zhelka by Daniel Pemberton/ Elitsa Todorova
Ball La donna cannone by Francesco De Gregori
Clubs I Will Follow Him by God's Angels
Ribbon Can't Help Falling in Love [dark version] by Tommee Profitt, brooke

Competitive highlights

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(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
2023 European Championships 12th 4th 15th (Q) 17th (Q) 8th
World Challenge Cup Portimão 7th 13th (Q) 8th 6th 4th
2022 World Challenge Cup Pamplona 12th 7th 14th (Q) 12th (Q) 11th (Q)
World Cup Tashkent 7th 6th 10th (Q) 9th (Q) 4th
2021 World Championships 2nd 16th (Q) 6th
World Challenge Cup Cluj-Napoca 7th 6th 3rd 11th 3rd
Olympic Games 15th (Q)
World Cup Pesaro 13th 23rd (Q) 9th (Q) 7th 24th (Q)
World Cup Baku 4th 7th 1st 4th 8th
FIG Ritam Cup 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
2019 World Championships 6th 4th 6th 9th (Q) 5th 36th (Q)
World Cup Portimao 4th 1st 2nd 1st 14th (Q)
World Cup Cluj-Napoca 11th 4th 15th (Q) 29th (Q) 2nd
World Cup Minsk 4th 7th 6th 5th 6th
European Games 4th 5th 6th 6th 6th
European Championships 4th 9th (Q) 15th (Q) 12th (Q) 21st (Q)
World Cup Guadalajara 3rd 6th 3rd 2nd 3rd
World Cup Baku 10th 10th (Q) 16th (Q) 8th 12th (Q)
World Cup Pesaro 10th 9th (Q) 19th (Q) 2nd 10th (Q)
MTM Ljubljana Tournament 1st 3rd 1st 1st 2nd
2018 World Championships 9th 3rd 14th (Q) 3rd 10th (Q) 4th
World Cup Kazan 7th 12th (Q) 5th 6th 11th (Q)
World Cup Minsk 11th 13th (Q) 9th (Q) 12th (Q) 13th (Q)
European Championships 8th NT
World Cup Guadalajara 8th 10th (Q) 5th 5th 8th
World Cup Baku 16th 21st (Q) 14th (Q) 16th (Q) 14th (Q)
World Cup Pesaro 17th 12th (Q) 48th (Q) 9th (Q) 9th (Q)
MTM Ljubljana Tournament 4th 16th (Q) 1st 1st 1st
National
Year Event AA Team Ball Ribbon Hoop Clubs
2022 Italian National Championships 4th 7th (Q) 3rd 5th 11th (Q)
2021 Italian National Championships 3rd
2020 Italian National Championships 2nd 2nd 3rd 11th (Q) 2nd 6th
2019 Italian National Championships 1st 3rd 1st 1st 2nd 1st
2018 Italian National Championships 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 3rd 1st
2017 Italian National Championships 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 4th 2nd
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

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  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. ^ a b "New Rhythmic body difficulty element named for Italy's Agiurgiuculese". gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
  12. ^ "Rhythmic Gymnastics — Individual All-Around — Qualification — Results" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  13. ^ "Agiurgiuculese, compleanno con addio a Udine: la campionessa di ginnastica ritmica si è trasferita a Desio" (in Italian). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  14. ^ Toffoletto, Mattia (2023-07-29). "Agiurgiuculese, sentenza choc: un anno di stop. Antidoping saltato, addio al sogno Olimpiadi" [Agiurgiuculese, shocking sentence: one year ban. Missed anti-doping, goodbye to the Olympics dream]. Tribuna di Treviso (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  15. ^ "2022–2024 Code of Points Rhythmic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  16. ^ "What we learned from the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships". olympics.com. 22 September 2019.
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