Annaliese Dragan

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Annaliese Dragan
Dragan in 2024
Personal information
Full nameAnnaliese Dragan
Country represented Romania
Former countries represented United States
Born (2005-09-15) September 15, 2005 (age 18)
Orange County, United States
DisciplineRhythmic gymnastics
LevelSenior Elite
Years on national team2020–present
ClubSportul Studentesc Bucuresti[1]
Head coach(es)Irina Deleanu

Annaliese Dragan (born September 15, 2005) is a Romanian-American rhythmic gymnast.[2] Along with teammate Andreea Verdes, she was the first Romanian gymnast in 26 years to qualify for the apparatus finals at the World Championships in 2022.

Personal life

Dragan trains at her mother's gym in Irvine, California and has also lived and trained in Romania since she was 13.[3][4][5] Her younger sister Christina Dragan is also a rhythmic gymnast.[3]

Career

Junior

Dragan was named to the USA Gymnastics National Team of 2018-2019.[6]

In 2019, she changed nationality and began competing for the Romanian Federation.[7] Her first international competition for Romania was the 2020 European Championships in Kiyv, Ukraine. She was 9th in the all-around and qualified for the rope, clubs and ribbon finals.[8]

Senior

Dragan competed with clubs and ribbon at the 2021 Pesaro World Cup. She also competed at the World Challenge Cup in Cluj-Napoca, where she placed 8th in the hoop final. In June she was part of the team that competed at the European Championship in Varna, Bulgaria with teammates Andreea Verdes and Denisa Mailat.[9] Later in the year, she was also selected for the World Championship in Kitakyushu, Japan, where she ended in 22nd place in the all-around qualification and failed to advance to the final.

In 2022, Dragan became Romania's second gymnast and inaugurated her season with the World Cup in Palaio Faliro, where she qualified for the hoop and clubs final. She then competed at the World Cup stage in Sofia. She was again selected again for the 2022 European Championship in Tel Aviv, Israel, together with Verdes for the senior team and Amalia Lică and Dragan's sister Christina for the junior team. She placed 20th in the all-around final.

In September, she competed at the 2022 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. She placed 12th in the all-around qualifications and qualified to the final, where she ended in 18th place because of mistakes with clubs. Dragan qualified to three apparatus finals, placing 8th in ball, 7th in clubs and 6th in ribbon.[10]

At the World Championships in 2023 she competed with pain in her left ankle, an issue that had been bothering her for several years. She qualified for the all-around final in 17th place. This earned Romania a spot at the 2024 Olympic Games, the first since Ana Luiza Filiorianu in 2016.[11][12] Dragan described seeing her scores as "the best moment of my life".[3]

In 2024, Dragan competed at the World Cup stage in Sofia, where she finished in 21st in the all-around. At the 2024 European Championships, she qualified for the all-around final and came in 21st place.[13]

Routine music information

Year Apparatus Music Title
2023 Hoop Ehyeh by Alessandro Safina
Ball Domestic Pressures by Jóhann Jóhannsson
Clubs Great Spirit (feat. Hilight Tribe) by Armin van Buuren and Vini Vici
Ribbon La boda de Luis Alfonso
2022 Hoop Unstoppable by E.S. Posthumus
Ball Domestic Pressures by Jóhann Jóhannsson
Clubs That Man by Caro Emerald
Ribbon La boda de Luis Alfonso
2021 Hoop You're X-Men/End Titles by John Ottman
Ball The Heat by Peter Gabriel
Clubs That Man by Caro Emerald
Ribbon Grand Central by Patrick Doyle
2020 Rope Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!
Ball Rhapsody in Rock VI by Robert Wells
Clubs No Hay Problema by Pink Martini
Ribbon Grand Central by Patrick Doyle

References

  1. ^ "Annaliese Dragan FIG profile". FIG.
  2. ^ "DRAGAN Annaliese - FIG Athlete Profile". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Berg, Tom (May 7, 2024). "Irvine gymnast bound for Summer Olympics". www.irvinestandard.com. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  4. ^ Hațieganu, Alexandru (October 27, 2023). "Annaliese Drăgan, dezvăluire plină de durere. Sacrificiul pe care îl face zi de zi românca născută în California" [Annaliese Drăgan, a painful disclosure. The sacrifice that the Romanian born in California makes every day]. Sport.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  5. ^ Fleşeru, Roxana (August 25, 2023). "Gimnasta de ritmică Annaliese Drăgan a devenit a șaptea componentă a delegației României pentru Jocurile Olimpice de la Paris" [Rhythmic gymnast Annaliese Drăgan became the seventh member of the Romanian delegation for the Olympic Games in Paris]. GSP (in Romanian). Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  6. ^ "Past Rhythmic Junior National Teams". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  7. ^ "Official News from the Executive Committee meeting in Lausanne". FIG. July 11, 2019.
  8. ^ "Gimnastică ritmică: Anneliese Drăgan, calificată în trei finale la Europenele de junioare de la Kiev" (in Romanian). November 27, 2020.
  9. ^ "PARTICIPANTS – 37th Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships". Retrieved June 13, 2022.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ "Annaliese Drăgan, pe locul 18 în finala individuală de la Campionatele Mondiale de Gimnastică Ritmică" (in Romanian). September 17, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  11. ^ "2023 World Championships Result Book" (PDF). gym.longinestiming.com.
  12. ^ Roman, Comitetul Olimpic si Sportiv (2018). "Annaliese Drăgan, vis împlinit - s-a calificat la Jocurile Olimpice". www.cosr.ro. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  13. ^ "Annaliese Drăgan, locul 21 la individual compus la Europene" [Annaliese Drăgan, 21st place in individual all-around at the European Championships]. agerpres.ro (in Romanian). May 25, 2024.

External links