The controversial Dr. Oană

Ioachim Oană has been the team doctor since 1977, when Nadia Comăneci was still a member of the national team. "He was the only doctor in Deva with a background in physical therapy, and since this is where the National training center was located, he was named team doctor. Actually, he's been a huge sports fan for a long before that, since he worked as a coach for the handball team Sănătatea Deva, now Remin University," recalls Ioana Dudas, chairman of the pre-med department of the university Oana graduated from.

Doctors in Deva have mixed opinions about him. "He's an opportunistic guy. After the 1992 election, he joined the Socialist party. Based on political criteria, he was named director the Municipal Deva hospital, a function he held for 2 years. After the 1996 election, when the Democratic party won, he switched parties, and joined the Democrats. Last year, he was named president of the Municipal Health Insurance department, a function which he cannot hold, according to the law, at the same time he is the National team doctor," says one of the doctors who would rather remain anonymous. Another colleague feel that "He knows what's best for him. he doesn't bear grudges to the people who disagreed with him in situations in which the boss, which is what he was until now, could have imposed his point of view. After what happened in Sydney, I was expecting him to resign as president of the Insurance Department, especially since he is old enough to retire."

After he returned from Australia, Dr. Oană said in an interview he does the team doctor job as volunteer work, and he has no contact with the Federation. Dorin Reclaru, director of the Sports & Youth Department in Deva confirmed that" I am certain Oană does not receive a fixed monthly payment from the Federation. However, he gets reimbursed by the Federation for travel and other expenses, and he receives prizes with the rest of the technical staff."

Other accusations against him have also started to surface, including one that alleges he was a former high ranking member of the Romanian Securitate (Romanian version of the KGB, Stazi, etc), and the one who told Romanian police Bela Karolyi was planning to defect. he's also accused of selling a hotel he bought for 4 billion lei profit ($200,000) to the Municipal Health Insurance department, the organization he is the president of.

last year he was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Deva, but now he "has to be investigated by the local DA, as well as the Doctors' Association. The punishment can range form a warning to revoking his license to practice medicine," says Mircea Arteanu, president of the Medical College of Deva.

Even if he will be forced to quit, we shouldn't feel too sorry for Dr. Oană. His family lives in a two-stories house in Deva, owns 4 cars, including a Mercedes and a Volkswagen. He has his own private practice, and his children, Diana and Florin work as a doctor, and (ironically) an assistant DA.

An insert in the article also talked about Andreea Răducan, Simona Amânar and Maria Olaru's interview on a talk-show. Andreea said the girls are allowed to eat chocolate and even doughnuts at Deva, especially Sunday, when they are allowed to go out on the town, without the coaches' supervision (sounds to me like they're not exactly allowed to eat whatever they want...). Asked how she feels about reporters, Andreea said that "I can't stand them." Her teammates joined in with "neither can I, neither can I." Why would that be? "They wrote ugly (mean?) things about me, even after I returned home," said Andreea. The reporter goes on to point out Andreea would be just another athlete who tested positive for a banned substance, it wouldn't have been for the press support.

I remembered seeing Isă -Andreea Isărescu- and Clau -Claudia Presăcan- at the airport, smiling at me, as I rushed by to interview Andreea. I somehow got the feeling *they* didn't hate reporters... (and, finally, Claudia gets mentioned in an article).

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