Romanian Olympic Committee promises to give coaches a raise

Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang were not exaggerating when they said they received the same amount of prize money after the Sydney Olympics as Loredana Boboc got just for winning the team medal. Boboc was awarded $30.000 by the ROC, a Ford Ka car valued at $14,000 as well as several other awards from sponsors. Belu and Bitang were each awarded $56,874, while Simona Amanar won over $100,000 only for her Olympic performance. The coaches described their situation as "completely unacceptable."

Belu and Bitang said they plan to leave the team one month from now, unless they are given a raise from their current monthly salaries --$150 for Belu, $90 for Bitang. The two of them threatened to do the same thing 3 years ago, after the Romanian International, due to the same reason [money]. Despite several attractive offers from other countries, the problem was eventually solved when George Ilinca, major share holder at Universitatea Craiova (one of the most successful Romanian clubs) promised to personally sponsor Belu with a salary of $1,000/month. Ilinca didn't keep his word, but Belu stayed with the team, being awarded a bonus from the ROC for excellence. The same bonus could be key to solving the current situation.

The ROC has always offered the bonus 2 years before the Olympic Games. In order to avoid further problems and support valuable coaches, 3 coaches will be receive the bonus in April of this year. "I think Belu's accusations [that the ROC does not want his services anymore] are unfounded , especially since I told him he will receive the money", said ROC president Dan Popper. "Three people will get the bonus: Octavian Belu, Mariana Bitang and Nicolae Gioga, head coach of the rowing team. The first will receive $1,200/month, and the other two $500. The basis for awarding the bonus is very simple. The coach must have won at least two gold medals at two separate Olympics. Only three of them fulfill this requirement. There's also something else to consider. Usually, we start giving these bonuses in 2003, after we are convinced it is a worthwhile investment and the athletes have a good chance to medal at the next Olympiad. However, we decided to start paying them now to make sure we don't lose our coaches, knowing how valuable they are," explained Popper, adding that "might be a lot, might not be enough depending on who you ask, but these are the funds the ROC receives from private [non-government] sponsors."

Despite their lowly salaries, Belu and Bitang are still coaching the national team the way they always do. There's no slacking off, even though there would be plenty of reasons for that to happen, since none of the coaches received the money they won after the Olympics. The money has to come from the RGF. "The ROC is only a supporter of the sport, meaning we provide a small bonus for the National team, or we help them buy some equipment," said Dan Popper. "On the other hand, the Sports and Youth Ministry should provide financial support. I'll just give you one example: the ROC budget is 40 billion lei ($1.5 million) while the SYM budget is 1000 billion($37.5M). Who do you think would be better suited to provide financial support?"

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