Romanian Senior Men Win 4 Gold Medals

The European Championships started off with the junior team -Ciprian Veres, Adrian Bucur, Iulian Radutu, Cosmin Popescu and Adrian Ionescu, coached by Cristian Balint, Gheorghe Blas & Vasile Vuc- placing sixth the first day of competition.

The senior men took the floor later in the evening to decide the European title. Romania started with a bye, and followed Russia on every event. The Romanian gymnasts were solid on all the events, including a meet-high 9.825 from Urzica on pommel horse. They went into the last event, high bar, with a 2-point advantage over Russia. The first sign of nerves showed through, with Marian Dragulescu, the lead off gymnast falling on the event and getting a lowly 8.087. Dan Potra and Marius Urzica followed, and they both managed to keep calm and deliver hit sets under pressure. The team total 168.170 pts was good enough to give Romania its first-ever European team title, ahead of Russia (167.098) and Belarus. Marian Dragulescu explained that “we knew it was going to be hard, we knew that even placing third would be difficult, but we managed to make few mistakes on the HB, when we already had a 2 point plus advantage.” Marius Urzica, the veteran of the team, was by far the most calm gymnast on the floor. “Even though it might appear otherwise, I don’t think we won the event too easily, especially since we worked a lot. We had a comfortable advantage over Russia, but the competition was fierce and any other mistake or bobble could have easily relegated us to second place. We’re happy we hung in there until the very end, and proved we deserve to be champions.”

The men continued their gold streak, with Dan Potra winning the all-around the next day. “The gold medals we won the first day meant a lot to me, because I had the necessary peace of mind in my next competition,” said Potra. Despite starting the all-around with a fall on his first tumbling run on floor, Potra went on to hit all his other routines, and claim the gold medal.

"I still can’t believe it"

Dan Potra from Dinamo Bucharest is the new European all-around champion. Born in Timisoara, he started gymnastics when he was 5 years old, because he was the most hyper kid in his kindergarten class. His parents thought he might have a future in gymnastics, and they weren’t wrong. The first Romanian gymnast to be crowned all-around champion, Dan Potra was interviewed by the Romanian media right after his win.

A: Dan, what’s it like being the best gymnast in Europe?
DP: I’m very happy and so emotional! I still can’t believe it, it’s like it happened too fast.
A: You had a shaky start. How did you feel afterwards?
DP: I was under a lot of pressure throughout the entire event, especially after the bad start, but I managed to get over my mistake fairly well, I think.
A: Speaking of your fall on floor, did you ever feel like giving up after you made the mistake?
DP: I had a couple of moments when I was sitting on the chair, wondering if there is any point in competing anymore, but I told myself that the competition isn’t over; there are 5 more events left and anything could happen. I couldn’t block everything out, and keep thinking nothing else will go right. I forgot about floor, refocused, and everything went better than I ever expected.
A: How much did it matter that you were the last contender to compete on HB?
DP: It mattered a lot, because if I were to compete earlier and the score wouldn’t have determined the winner, the pressure wouldn’t have been so great. In any case, the pressure was enormous, but I thought no one is going to kill me, that I am ready and capable of getting a score good enough for gold.
A: Do you think this medal avenges your finish in at last year’s Worlds, when you placed 4th?
DP: Yes, most definitely.

In the event finals, junior Adrian Ionescu got the team off to a flying start winning fold on floor with a 9.2. Cluj’s Ciprian Veres also claimed bronze in the rings final. The seniors proved their team and AA wins were no fluke, with Urzica confirming his pommel horse dominance, scoring a 9.812. Ioan Suciu completed the 1-2 finish on PH, with his silver medal performance. Marian Dragulescu won bronze on floor, and tied Belarus’ Kasparovich for gold on vault, with a 9.656 average. His first vault, HS double front with a half turn was again the class of the field, and helped him make up for a less-than stellar second vault, Kasamatsu with 1 ½.

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