My Junior Crushes: Anda Butuc

Anda Butuc is a 2000-born from Romania. She is following with a new Romanian trend of beautiful long lines and elegance and made beam finals at Euros in Sofia. She's just beautiful to watch. Her difficulty is lower, so she hasn't been able to really make a name for herself with Jurca and Iridon in the 2015 class on which Romania is pinning its hopes. I really hope she can upgrade a bit, and at least be an option to fill in should some of the seniors leave between 2015 and Rio.

Floor is where Anda caught my eye. This music has been taking the elite world by storm, and Anda was right ahead of the trend! I love her interpretation. It is right in perfect harmony with the music and is nicely sassy and playful. She has really great quick movements, and especially makes good use of quick leg movements. She manages to combine the jazzy music and sassy choreography with her beautiful elegance to make a unique and eye-catching aesthetic. She lacked a little bit in her projection, but it was great for a 13-year-old.

Anda went with a more mature style for 2014 with Spanish guitar. You can see here where her difficulty is lacking. Her two middle passes are a 3/2 twist and a double twist. Her coaches need to either upgrade or change the approach to the routine for difficulty. She had a great regal air for the routine, and I like the bun with the style! Her lines are lovely and are nicely on display in this routine. She's gone more dramatic and has really been able to take on the maturity.

At the Comaneci Invitational at the beginning of 2013, Anda's bars reflected Romania in general on the event. No release move, a B dismount, a routine consisting almost entirely of Stalder variations.... She looked to be just the next in a long line of poor work on the event which earned Romania's most legendary gymnast the first perfect ten on an Olympic stage.

While Anda's bars still are not the best on the junior level, they are a world of improvement from last year's. She shows much smoother work ad has included a much greater variety of skills and types of elements into her repertoire. She had a nice toe-on full on the low bar and has included two Jager variations. She has upgraded from her double tuck dismount, as well. While it's still a double pike and needs to be upgraded in order for her bars to be a legitimate option for a major Romanian team spot, the rest of her improvements on bars make me think she just might be able to do it for her debut on the senior stage.

Anda's lines translated well on beam, as every other event. In 2013, Anda showed the typical Romanian pedigree on beam. I like some of the unique skills, such as the gainer bhs into the bhs-loso and the switch+aerial. Her little low to beam cartwheel is also so gorgeous! Her work had a very smooth look to it.

Anda's beautiful aesthetic on beam is still her glorious trademark. I really like the addition of the Onodi+split jump+wolf jump. It's a very pretty connection and adds some dynamism to her work. Unfortunately, her dismount is still not a D value. Getting adequate difficulty will always be the problem for Anda. She has kept the unique work she had on this event which makes her a lovely standout and is still performing it absolutely beautifully.



Anda's elegance is keeping with a Romanian trend in their juniors which is wonderful. She has beautifully performed gymnastics which will always keep her a favorite in my book. Unfortunately, her difficulty is not really high enough to put her in the top tier of Romanian competitors. I am aware that I may have to enjoy watching her in videos on YouTube at smaller meets, but I'm okay with that. I just really love her work.