Dan Potra Interview

The guest hall at the International Otopeni Airport was opened in honor of the men’s gymnastics team who returned home with 4 gold medals from the European Championships.
”You could say Romania was the biggest surprise of these championships based on our results in the team event and all-around,” said head coach Dan Grecu. “Before leaving for Greece, I said it would be possible to get 4th place, based on previous results. Our guys were unbelievable, though, and our strategy was inspired. We established new record in Patras and I think you’ll get used to them from now on.“

Timisoara native Dan Potra turned into an over night sensation following his all-around victory at the European Championships. He’s still trying to realize he was the one standing above all other competitors at the end of the day. The shy and respectful 25-year old, did not turn down one single reporter, and ended up leaving the airport more exhausted than after a training session.

EZ: Congratulations, Dan Potra! How was Patras?
DP: All’s well that end well. I trained a lot for these European Championships, where I was hoping to be on the podium. The final results exceeded all my expectations. The gold medal in the all-around means a lot to me. The second I finished my last routine I felt something extraordinary, hard to put into words.
EZ: How long have you been doing gymnastics?
DP: Since I was 6 year old. I worked a lot to get here.
EZ: How many days a year do you spend in training camps?
DP: I don’t even know anymore. A lot of them. Actually, we train almost all the time. That’s how gymnastics works. The sacrifices are huge.
EZ: This means you don’t have much free time left?
DP: Something like that.
Z: Do you still have time for girls?
DP: I have a girlfriend in Sibiu. I met her there 3 years ago, when I was in a training camp. Her name is Simina and she’s a [psychology] student there. I would like to spend more time together because we hardly ever see each other…That’s exactly why Simina is trying to transfer to a university in Bucharest.

EZ: The prize money for a gold medal would be a ridiculously small amount for a soccer player, fror example. For you, this means years of work and sacrifices. Do you think this is fair?
DP: If I wanted to make lots of money, I would have been a soccer player! To each his own. It’s true that soccer players make lots of money, sometimes undeservingly. They also have to make some sacrifices, like summer training, but it’s different for us [gymnasts].
EZ: Have you managed to save enough money to buy a house since you started the sport?
DP: Not even close. We just work -work a lot.

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