Larisa Iordache has meant so much to the gymnastics world over her long career. Now that she’s retiring, this video looks back on three amazing routines she put up at different times in her life—her 2013 Worlds qualification routine, when she first established herself as a major contender on the world stage, her 2015 Worlds all-around final routine, when she fought to keep Romania on any podium after a disastrous qualification, and her 2020 Europeans event final routine, when she brought home her last international gold en route to an Olympic bid.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
0:36 2013 Worlds FX QF
2:31 2015 Worlds FX AA
4:33 2020 Euros FX EF

You'll notice that this video spans two quads, and therefore two versions of the Code of Points: there were some rules (or loopholes?) that Larisa took advantage of in 2013-2016 that weren't doable from 2017-2021, meaning that her "adjusted" scores in the new CoP are usually around 0.5 lower than what they could've been. I'm under the impression that Larisa's side somi at the end of her routine doesn't earn forwards acro credit—per the Code, it must be within an acro line to count, regardless of whether or not it's an aerial. Execution scores were also generally higher in 2013-16 than in 2017-21, which you may notice while watching (I tried to keep the discrepancy to a minimum but I don't know if I was successful).

Larisa has had a ton of great routines! I didn't include her 2013 EF routine where she won bronze behind Simone Biles and Vanessa Ferrari or her 2014 EF routine where she beat out Aliya Mustafina and MyKayla Skinner for silver because they're the same as the 2013 QF routine choreography-wise. I didn't include any Olympic performances because I would get immediately destroyed by the IOC. (Speaking of copyright, I have a video of Angelina Melnikova that's currently in dispute: I hope I'll be able to publish it soon!).

Notes on Scoring:
- In general, Iordache didn't seem to get all of her elements ratified. In every official score, she'd be knocked down a tenth or two, often for reasons that I found hard to discern from even with slow motion and replay. The difficulty panel seemed to lowball her on D score a bit, which is why you'll notice things like downgraded Gogean leaps.
- Larisa's Gogean was probably best in 2015, followed by 2020 and 2013. I think I was right to downgrade the 2013 one, but the 2020 one is a bit more in the air (the score she received indicated that one element was bumped down).
- Her 2015 Gomez turn attempt was obviously off (I think the commentator mentions it live?) but I think she was good for the other two, getting all four rotations around, even with a bit of extra in 2013.
- I found Larisa's floor routines to be a bit difficult to edit: she was really energetic and fast-paced in her 2013 and 2015 floor exercises, moving nearly immediately from element to element. She was also a bit "bouncy" in things like her choreography and leap exits (though I don't think that the judges really came for her there given the scores she received).
- Even though they incurred deductions for posture, I found her 2015 double pikes (including the double pike full-in) to be really satisfying elements.
- I didn't see many artistic deductions—maybe I missed some for corner choreography, etc—and her complex choreography was the same in all three routines. There's a little somersault on her shoulder (??) that she does in the second half of each routine. In general, it's interesting to see that even when the content and rulebook changed, Iordache kept the same routine structure throughout her career.

Actual difficulty and execution scores:
- 2013 Worlds Qualification • Larisa Iordache, Floor Exercise: 14.500 (6.2, 8.3)
- 2015 Worlds All-Around Final • Larisa Iordache, Floor Exercise: 14.475 (6.2, 8.275)
- 2020 Europeans Event Final • Larisa Iordache, Floor Exercise: 13.500 (5.6, 7.9)

The footage in this video does not belong to me but qualifies as fair use, being transformative, educational, and a commentary. Videos come from FIG Channel, CBC (via Balance Beam on YouTube), and europeangymnastics.

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