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Name: Marius Daniel Urzica
 Nickname:
Date of Birth:30-Sep-1975 Place of Birth:Toplita Hometown:Bucharest (ROM)
Gender:Male Height: 163.0cm/5.3ft Weight:57.0kg/125.7lb
Marital Status:divorced Children:One Profession:Sport Teacher
Start discipline:1981 First Int.Event:1993
Nat.team since: Club:C.S.Dinamo Bucharest
Head coach:Josef Perenc Assistant coach:Daniel Grecu Choreographer:
 Best apparatus:Pommel Horse
Music#1:
General Interest
The King of the Pommel Horse!
2000 Olympic Champion, World Champion in 2001 and 2002, World Cup holder in 1998, 2000 and 2002, European champion (?94, ?00, 02).
His unique technique and style of performance have already won him the recognition as the one of the greatest masters on this piece of apparatus ever, together with Miroslav Cerar (YUG) and Zoltan Magyar (HUN).
Marius made a history by winning a perfect score of 10.00 points for his performance in the Finals of the 2001 Glasgow Grand Prix and World Cup competition in Kelvin Hall, on Saturday, 15th December.
On his achievement: "Feels great, though I still can?t believe it? For one thing, this achievement came at the very right time for me. It will help me sustain my motivation for another three years, up to the 2004 Olympic games.
- Why gymnastics and why Pommels?
"I guess a great deal because of my brother Paul, who is one year older than me. As kids we were both involved in gymnastics and we both loved it. At home we fought like all brothers, in the gym we competed against each other. Paul was also very good on Pommels and I didn?t want to fall behind. My real love in gymnastics is in fact the High Bar. I could have practiced on it endlessly. Sadly I fell a few times badly from the bar and injured both my feet and my shoulder. My coach then said ?! Enough is enough- you move to the Pommels- you will not have so many accidents there! If you still keep falling from it- it will not be from such a height. This is how I had to switch to the Pommels. As you see it was not a love at first sight!
- What makes you "THE Pommels King" ?
-"I think it?s the content and the difficulty of my routines, which I always try to execute without fault. Some elements, like "the four Russians on one handle", a super E element, could not be seen in anyone else?s routine.
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2003
- World Championships Anaheim: 5th/Team; 5th /Pommels.
- Glasgow Grand Prix and World Cup- Gold on Pommels
2002
- European Champion on Pommels in Patras, Greece, April
- World Cup Holder (Stuttgartt, Germany, December)
Romanian Gymnastics News Archive. 
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