Romanian Larisa Iordache, the world’s second-best gymnast behind Simone Biles in this Olympic cycle, is 60 percent healthy following March surgery to repair a broken finger, according to her social media.
She expects to be 75 percent at the Romanian Championships from July 1-3.
“I’m going to compete on all four apparatus, but I’ll have an easier and more safe exercise on uneven bars,” Iordache said on her social media. “If everything si (sic) going right, the Nationals will be the last part of my preparation to Rio.”
Iordache, who finished fourth, second and third in the last three World Championships all-arounds won by Biles, is in a race to return to top form to compete for one Romania Olympic spot.
Romania shockingly failed to qualify a full, five-woman team for the Rio Olympics because it finished 13th at October’s Worlds (top eight qualified for Rio) and seventh at April’s Olympic test event (top four qualified for Rio).
Romania, which earned a women’s team medal at every Olympics from 1976 through 2012, was left with one individual berth in the Rio Games.
Iordache and three-time 2004 Olympic champion Catalina Ponor, both members of the 2012 Olympic bronze-medal-winning team, are considered the two women in the running for the one berth.
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