Following in Vanda Hădărean's footsteps

After Vanda Hădărean, Cluj Napoca's Viitorul gymnastics club has a new star in Oana Ban. Coached by Rodica Câmpean and Anton Ciupe at CSS Viitorul, she joined Cetate's gymnastics team in 1997, and her career took off since she's been training at Deva.

"This is what the hands of an Olympic champion look like!"

That's what a Romanian TV host exclaimed , shocked to see the blisters that covered Andreea Răducan's hands when she was a guest on his show. "I wouldn't want you to see Oana's hands. Calluses, and more calluses, and blisters," says Oana Ban's father. He knows there's a lot more to the gold medals won by the 2000 Olympians than meets the eye. The glitter in their hair, and the shinning medals around their necks could make people forget all the hard work that gymnasts put in day in and day out. Not so for Oana's father, who is all to well aware of what it takes to make it to the top. Oana Ban is still largely unknown, even in her native hometown of Cluj, but she does bear a striking resemblance to Andreea Răducan. At just 14 years old, she is Romania's top rated junior. "Sometimes, people will stop her on the street and ask "are you Andreea Răducan?" Without getting mad, my daughter always tells them they have the wrong person. She's Oana Ban", adds her father, Vasile. He hopes that 2 or 3 years from now, people will no longer shrug unknowingly when they hear Oana's name. A member of the junior national team since May 1999, the Cluj native could have been eligible for next year's Worlds if only she were born a couple of days earlier. Born on January 11th, 1986, she will not be age eligible for the 2001 Worlds, because the age rules require gymnasts to turn 16 by the end of the year they compete. Therefore, Oana will have to postpone her rendez-vous with the world of elite gymnastics.

Total Isolation

Since she left Cluj 4 years ago, Oana has spent less a month back home in the last 4 years. The last time she got to eat her favorite food, her mother's "ciorba" (legume soup) was for the New Year celebration, when she was home for 4 days. Besides that, it's training and more training, up to 8 hours a day, and total isolation from the rest of the world --probably the recipe for success in Romanian gymnastics. "We talk on the phone twice a week, Friday and Sunday, and we go to see her at Deva once every month. We're not allowed to stay more than 4 hours, but we're not complaining", says Oana's father. Far from the outside world, the girls' main distractions are watching TV for half an hour at night, or, rarely, going downtown with one of the team coaches. They live in special dorms with their coaches, who sometimes act as surrogate parents. This strict training program helped Oana win two gold medals at international meet in the Netherlands and Belgium, a silver in Japan, and a 3rd place finish at Nationals.

Hard times

"At the beginning of the year, she grew about 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) in 3-4 months. Those were hard times, when her muscles were sore, and we were afraid she'll have problem with her gymnastics career. We talked to Mr. Belu, who assured us it was a normal occurrence, and we shouldn't panic," recalls her father. Deva's rules are hard to comprehend, let alone respect, by outsiders. They offer no alternative: you either conform, or you quit. Just like it happened to Simona Amânar, or Maria Olaru, Oana Ban wanted to quit gymnastics at one point, overwhelmed by the never ending training sessions. "It happened right after she joined the national team, around May. The training session were tougher than the ones at the club, and this scared her a bit. She was crying on the phone and telling us she wants to come home. Eventually, she got used to it, and now, her only thoughts are of achieving big things; she wouldn't even say how high she's aiming." Almost as an afterthought, Vasile Ban remembers how his daughter offered a bouquet of flowers to Nadia when she visited the Deva school, before the Sydney Olympics. And, that beam is Oana's favorite event.

Accompanying photo is copyrighted by Michael Van Tendeloo, and may not be used without permission

Additional info from 1998

Oana's first coaches were Anton Ciupei and Rodica Cimpean. In 1992-1993 she won the silver AA medal in her age category, and in 1994 she placed 3rd on floor, and first on vault in the "Little gymnast" category. In 1997, she placed second on bars in a Nationalcompetition for "categoria a IV-a". In the same year, 1997, she joined the junior team at CSS Deva, coached by Cristian Enoiu.

In 1998, Oana competed at Romania's junior Nationals, held at Ploiesti from Oct 29th-Nov 1st. 32 gymnasts qualified for each category, after the team championships, which were held in June. Lucian Ciupei, Oana's coach at the competition commented on the results. "It was very high-level competition, with close results. In the all-around, the gymnasts from Steaua confirmed their status as favorites, sweeping the podium, but only .05 separated the first 4 gymnasts." Unfortunately, Oana only qualified for the floor final, even though she was the first alternate for all other three EFs. "She won floor, her favorite event (back in 1998) with a score of 9.575, and if she wouldn't have competed at the recent Senior Nationals, she could have done even better," concluded her coach.

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