Raducan Reconsiders Retiring

Thursday was the third straight day the Olympic champion was away from the gym. “I went out for a while and went downtown, but what was I going to do? Wonder around all by myself?,” said Răducan. "I stay in my room, read the newspapers, and pretty soon, I look like a desk receptionist that’s just bombarded with phone calls,” she explains.

Andreea confessed that she is only 50% sure she will retire now, while Tuesday she was 80% in favor of calling it quits. “So many people asked me to keep competing, I’m only 50% sure now. Still, if I decide to come back, and the results at Europeans will be less-than-stellar, I will be blamed for demoralizing the team. My teammates are the ones I care about most. They keep pushing me [to stay] and they’re the only reason why I would still stay here.”

Andreea’s last training session was on Tuesday morning. “all of a sudden, my back and knees started hurting more than ever before. I couldn’t do any routines. I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said. The long talks that followed, with Mariana Bitang until Tuesday at midnight, and with Octavian Belu the next morning couldn’t change her mind. She pointed to her recent health problems, as well as the weight she gained. Andreea weighed 43 (95 lbs) kilograms at the 2001 Worlds. “She came back after the winter break, weighing 4 kilograms more (9 lbs),” explained Mariana Bitang. Andreea says she weighs 45 kilograms (110 lbs) now. “Because of this, and my lack of concentration, I could even, knock on wood, break my neck.”

Andreea’s decision to retire was probably precipitated by the argument she had with assistant coach Mariana Bitang Monday night. After a couple of botched beam routines, Bitang started verbally abusing her. Many of the harsh words involved Raducan’s parents. Andreea called her family the next day crying, and told them she wants to leave Deva.

The coaches are kept up-to-date on possible changes in Raducan’s attitude by her teammates. At the coaches’ initiative, the other gymnasts went to Andreea’s room Tuesday and tried to change her mind about retirement. Since most of the other [age-eligible] team members are injured, Bitang thinks Raducans’ decision seems more like “a desertion than being forced to abandon the race. If she decides to jump ship, we cannot field a team for senior Europeans,” concluded Bitang.

In Gazeta Sporturilor, Bitang offered a slightly different point of view. Mariana Bitang, understands the emotion turmoil facing Raducan because she went through the same process last year, when she wanted to leave Deva.

The biggest problem is that if Andreea decides to quite, we’re almost 100% sure we would not be able to compete at the European Championships. “We’ll most likely go on vacation during the event. Without her, we really have no one else to send. Sabina Cojocar and Silvia Stroescu are recovering from injuries and cannot be forced [into competing]. Loredana Boboc is in Bucharest and if we count Andreea [as retired], there’s no way we could field a competitive team. We barely managed to send a team the past few years. Where could we find more gymnasts, when we only had 7 senior gymnasts competing at the 2001 Nationals? We cannot force Andreea to stay, because you’ll never be competitive this way [when other people force you]. As of now, she is still in Deva. She went to school and no one came to the morning training session,” explained Bitang. According to Bitang, Raducan is cooperating with the team coaches, and her confusion is due to the hardships she’s been faced with in past few years.

This isn’t Andreea’s first attempt to retire. She’s been thinking about retirement since before last year’s Worlds, and repeated this wish at the beginning of the year. Bitang assured us there is no possible love interest behind her decision. “I talked to Andreea about this, since she is at the age where that would be a possibility. No one would have tried to prevent her from going out. Actually, she’s confused and I doubt even she knows what she wants. I think she doesn’t have enough motivation to lose the extra weight, and get back into competitive shape.” Bitang suggested Raducan should see a psychologist and vent about her troubles, but Andreea refused, just like she did before Gent.

Andreea Răducan denied any rumors that she resumed training Thursday. “We always have classes Thursday morning. Even if we didn’t, I still wouldn’t have been practicing simply because I haven’t reached any decision yet. I wish I could make up my mind sooner, because the uncertainty is stressing me out, and I’m sick of being on the phone all the time. My friends, parents, reporters, RGF officials, everyone keeps calling me. I just want everything to work out,” said Andreea.

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