{{short description|Romanian artistic gymnast}} {{Infobox gymnast | name = Oana Ban | image = | image_size = | caption = | full_name = Oana Mihaela Ban | nickname = | country = {{ROU}} | formercountry = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1986|01|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Cluj-Napoca, Romania | hometown = | death_date = | death_place = | height = | discipline = WAG | natlteam = 1999–2004 (ROM) | club = | gym = Deva National Training Center | collegeteam = | headcoach = Octavian Belu | assistcoach = Mariana Bitang | formercoach = | choreographer = | music = | eponymousskills = | retired = 2004 | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = <!-- see Template:MedalRelatedTemplates --> {{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games}} {{MedalGold|2004 Athens|Team}} {{MedalCompetition|World Championships}} {{MedalSilver|2002 Debrecen|Balance beam}} {{MedalSilver|2003 Anaheim|Team}} }}
'''Oana Mihaela Ban''' (born 11 January 1986 in Cluj-Napoca)<ref name =OBSR>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ba/oana-ban-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418074820/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ba/oana-ban-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-18 |title=Oana Ban }}</ref> is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic gold medalist with the team and a world silver medalist on beam and with the team. Her best events were the floor and the balance beam.<ref name=OBFIG>[http://fig.lx2.sportcentric.com/athletes/2509 Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525180550/http://fig.lx2.sportcentric.com/athletes/2509 |date=2012-05-25 }} Oana Ban</ref>
==Early career== Oana Ban started to train for gymnastics in her hometown at "Viitorul" Gymnastics Club with coaches Rodica Câmpean and Anton Ciupe.<ref name = art>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027135251/http://geocities.com/gimnastica/articles01/oanaban.html Monitorul de Cluj] "Following in Vanda Hadarean's Footsteps" English translation from Romanian</ref> Ban quickly rose to prominence as one of Romania's top junior world-class gymnasts. She competed in her first Romanian national championships in 1998, winning the floor exercise event in the junior division. The following year, she was invited to join the Romanian national team, and began working with coaches Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang at the elite training facility in Deva.<ref name =OBFIG/> Success in major international junior meets soon followed, including a first-place finish at the Top Gym tournament in Belgium in 1999<ref name =tgOB>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Misc/1990s/Women/1999_Top_Gym.html Gymn Forum Results] Top Gym 1999</ref> and a bronze medal at the 2001 European Youth Olympic Days.<ref name =EYOD>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/EYOD/2001_EYOD_AA.html Gymn Forum Results] 2001 European Youth Olympic Days</ref>
==Senior career==
===2002-2003=== With her early January birth date, Ban missed the eligibility cutoff for the 2001 World Championships by 11 days.<ref name =OBFIG /> She was forced to wait until 2002 to make her international senior debut. At the 2002 World Championships in Debrecen, Ban won a silver medal on the balance beam, one of Romania's only victories of the competition, and placed fourth on the floor finals.<ref name= 2002W>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Worlds/Women/2002_ef.html Gymn Forum Results] 2002 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships</ref> Later that year she placed second all around at the Chunichi Cup (behind teammate Oana Petrovschi)<ref name=cc2002>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/CCup/Women/2002.html Gymn Forum Results] 2002 Chunichi Cup</ref> and won the Massilia Cup.<ref name=mc2002>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Massilia/2002.html Gymn Forum Results] 2002 Massilia Gym Cup</ref> In 2003, Ban had a similarly strong showing, contributing to the Romanian team's silver medal at the 2003 World Championships and placing sixth in the all-around final.<ref name =w03t>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Worlds/Women/2003_team.htm Gymn Forum Results] 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Women Team</ref><ref name =w03aa>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Worlds/Women/2003_aa.html Gymn Forum Results] 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Women All Around</ref> That year she successfully competed in several international competitions, winning the all around silver medal at the Gander Memorial behind Cătălina Ponor<ref name =ag2003>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Gander/Women/2003.html Gymn Forum Results] 2003 Gander Memorial</ref> and the all around bronze medal at the 2003 Chunichi cup behind Andreea Munteanu and Svetlana Khorkina.<ref name =cc2003>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/CCup/Women/2003.html Gymn Forum Results] 2003 Chunichi Cup</ref> She also won silver on beam at the 2003 Cottbus Cup<ref name=2003cottbus>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/CCup/Women/2003.html Gymn Forum Results] 2003 Cottbus Cup</ref> and the 2003 DTB Cup<ref name =dtb>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/DTBCup/Women/2003.html Gymn Forum Results] 2003 DTP Cup</ref> and won the Swiss cup together with Marian Drăgulescu.<ref name =sc03>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/SwissCup/Men/2003_Mixed_Pairs.html Gymn Forum Results] 2003 Swiss Cup</ref>
===Athens 2004=== Oana's career highlight came at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she, along with teammates Monica Roșu, Alexandra Eremia, Cătălina Ponor, Daniela Șofronie and Silvia Stroescu, won the gold medal in the team competition. Ban contributed heavily to the Romanian victory, competing on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor in the team finals.<ref name =og04>[https://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/Olympics/2004_Athens/2004_women_team_finals_1-4.html Gymn Forum Results] 2004 Athens Olympic Games Women Team Finals</ref> Individually, she qualified for both the all-around and the floor exercise final.<ref name =OBSR/> She also placed fifth in the qualifications for the balance beam final but she could not compete due to the two per country rule.<ref name =OBSR/> Unfortunately, an injury sustained on her last event in the team competition forced her to sit out both competitions and essentially ended her Olympic experience.<ref name =OBFIG /> For Ban, the situation was unfortunate: she had qualified to the all-around in an impressive third place;<ref name =OBSR /> her qualifying floor score would have been good enough for second place. She was replaced in the floor final by Daniela Şofronie who won the silver medal.<ref name =dssr>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100131034438/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/so/nicoleta-daniela-sofronie-1.html Sports Reference] Daniela Şofronie</ref>
==Post-retirement== Ban retired from gymnastics after the Olympics; she is currently a coach in her hometown of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She participated in the 4th televised competition of ''Kunoichi'' in Japan. She made it past the First Stage of the competition, but failed on the ''Floating Bridge'' of Stage 2.
==Skills== {{unreferenced-section|date=April 2025}} During her career, Ban specialized on floor exercise and beam.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Olympedia – Oana Ban |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/107139 |access-date=2026-05-27 |website=www.olympedia.org}}</ref> Her favorite event was floor; she was renowned for her difficult tumbling and fast-paced, playful, crowd-pleasing choreography. As many of her Romanian teammates, her weakness was the uneven bars. In spite of her powerful tumbling skills and strength, Ban was not an especially strong vaulter. Nonetheless, she was able to perform as an all-around gymnast for the Romanian team, and posted scores that frequently placed her in the top ten at major competitions. She qualified in third place for the Olympic all-around in Athens and would have been a medal contender had injury not prevented it.
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{FIG|bio=21991|lic=2509|name=Oana Mihaela Ban}} * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817144414/http://gymn-stands.com/routines/romania.htm |date=August 17, 2011 |title=Oana Ban's routines at Routine Archive}} * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027135251/http://geocities.com/gimnastica/articles01/oanaban.html |date=October 27, 2009 |title="Following in Vanda Hadarean's Footsteps"}}
{{Olympic champions artistic gymnastics Women TC|2004}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ban, Oana}} Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from Cluj-Napoca Category:Romanian female artistic gymnasts Category:Olympic gymnasts for Romania Category:Olympic gold medalists for Romania Category:Olympic medalists in gymnastics Category:Gymnasts at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Category:Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:21st-century Romanian sportswomen