Belu and Bitang Ready to Sign New Contracts

The national team coaches are set to sign a contract with the RGF and another with the ROC on Monday. "This is a special agreement, done especially for the two head coaches,” said RGF President Nicolae Vieru. It’s been rumored that after the contract, Belu will receive around $2,500/month, and Bitang $1,500. “We haven’t heard anything that would involve quite that much money. In any case, we are pleased. For a country where you don’t make much money, they made us a decent offer,” said Mariana Bitang yesterday. “Part of the salaries will be covered by the ROC, and the Federation will cover the rest from outside sources. The ratio of contributions between ourselves and the ROC and ourselves is 2 to 1,” explained Nicolae Vieru. He said that the salary increase will be even more significant in Belu’s case, since they are planning on doubling the salaries of RGF employees. “If he earned 5 million lei/month before, he’ll make 10 million ($350) from now on. Bitang will not get that increase because she is an employee of the Deva Sports High School. She will get the same 3 million lei she earned before,” added Vieru.

Bitang and Belu asked for a protection system to be included in the agreement they will sign on Monday. “To make sure we won’t be exposed to any more accusations of spanking the gymnasts, or torturing children,” explained Bitang. “We still don’t know what the provisions that would protect us sound like. We hired legal experts for that. The main idea was that we didn’t want to put up with any more of the “I’ll work today, but I won’t feel like it tomorrow”-type attitudes. We have these up-and-coming juniors and we want to have a clear understanding of where we stand with them,” said the assistant coach.
The contract would mean the two coaches will stay at Deva at least until after the 2004 Olympics. “Our goals for the 2003 Worlds are to win 2 medals and qualify [a team] for the Olympic Games. We want to win 3 or 4 medals at the Olympics, including at least one gold,” added Nicolae Vieru. “Our predictions were based on the tradition we have to respect. We also took into account our promise to the YSM to win 5-6 medals at next year’s competitions,” explained Vieru.
Bitang and Belu have been in Bucharest since the beginning of the week, and they will stay there until Monday when they will sign the new contracts. ‘"I hope we can all go back to work satisfied. Maybe try to work harder,” added Vieru.

Sibiu Prefect, Mircea Silvestru Lup decided to have a balance beam and uneven bars from the Transylvania Hall to the club where Sabina trains, all in an effort to help her. “This is the equipment I competed on 2 years ago at Nationals. It’s not great, but at least I’ll be able to train in half-way normal conditions this way, “ said Sabina in an interview with local newspaper Monitorul de Sibiu. The county Youth & Sports director Paul Frasie made sure the gymnast can use the local swimming pool Olimpia at least three times a week and also wants to give her a monthly allowance for her efforts as well as a room in the athletes’ dorms.

Mariana Bitang said she didn’t talk to any of the senior gymnasts who were sent home to train at their home clubs two weeks ago. “If they couldn’t be bothered to call us…All of them turned off their phones and won’t answer them,” explained Bitang. "In any case, the Federation contacts them daily. That’s how we know they are working hard on rehabbing. We might surprise them one of these days. I don’t want to say anything else. For now, we’re thinking it over.”

In an almost contradicting article published in Romania Libera, Belu gave his take on the situation.

Signing an agreement between the RGF and the national team head coaches isn’t going as smoothly as the NGB wanted us to believe. “We cannot rush into signing this agreement with Federation. We need to analyze the potential up-and-coming gymnasts very carefully and assess their individual level of preparation. We have to determine which of the current gymnasts have the optimum age to be selected as potential team members in Athens. We have to pay attention to all the details because anything we neglect now could come back to haunt us later on. We also have to come up with a preliminary plan for the 2004 Olympics, based on the available coaching staff. Only then, will we sign a contract,” explained Belu.

According to his previous statements, he hasn’t discussed any financial issues [with the RGF] so far. “We cannot talk about money, while the system itself is collapsing. You can’t promise results when there is no talent base, not even for $15,000/month.” Belu said he was surprised and unhappy with the latest rumor, according to which, future contracts with the RGF are estimated at $2,500/month, and an additional $1,500 bonus/month from the ROC. “Something’s not right. When people talk about these out-of-this-world amounts , I can only think they’re trying to bring me down. They probably want people to point me out, amazed by how much money Belu makes. I should remind you we do live in Romania, where there are economic limitations that cannot be easily overcome.” Yesterday, Octavian Belu and several RGF officials checked the equipment the gymnasts will use at the European Championships, as well as their warm-up suits. They left for Deva later on in the afternoon.

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