Mihaela Stanulet update

A list of Mihaela Stanulet’ credentials includes 1984 Olympic team champion, silver medallists at the 1983 Worlds, bronze medal winner at the 1983 Europeans.
17 years after winning her Olympic title, the Sibiu gymnast works as a coach at her home club, CSS Sibiu. Now 34 years old, she prides herself on helping form 4 generations of gymnasts. She still remembers her glory days. “My teammates included Ecaterina Szabo, Cristina Grigoras, Lavinia Agache, Simona Păuca and Laura Cutină. Competing at the Los Angeles Olympics was a very special moment, because Romania was the only [European] Communist country not to boycott the Games.” Thanks to a Romanian man who was living in the United States, the entire gymnastics team has a chance to visit the world famous Disneyland park. “Wherever we went, we were accompanied by people we were seeing for the first time just then. Only later on did we find out they were Security Service agents, sent by Ceausescu’s government to supervise us. They were very afraid we would give interviews to the American press without their knowledge, or even worse, that we might be tempted to stay there."

Before they left Romania for the Games, the Olympians were assured by Romanian authorities they would be given $100,000 lei (at the time somewhere around $5000-10,000) or a Dacia car. “In the end, we only got 16,000 lei. I still have the satisfaction of having won an Olympic medal.”

In 1985, Mihaela decided to retire from competitive gymnastics. Before taking her decision, she received an offer from Dinamo Bucharest to compete for their club, but she refused. She decided to go back home to Sibiu. “Back then, there weren’t a lot of openings at gymnastics clubs, so I was given a job at an Agricultural Firm, which was basically a pig farm. The job offer came in 1987, straight at the club’s door.”

For 16 years, Mihaela Stănulet was the only athlete from Sibiu county to win an Olympic medal. Despite that, none of the city authorities thought about making up for the city’s wrongdoing and offering her the title of Honorary Citizen. Moreover, current Sibiu authorities said that title cannot be handed out to just anyone. According to their interpretation, an Honorary Citizen must prove he/she had a significant contribution in promoting the city. Even though Claudia Presacan was already given that title, when it comes to Mihaela Stanulet, the mayor’s office continues to remain completely indifferent.

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