Getting to Know Ioan Suciu

Original article was published on October 22nd in Gazeta Sporturilor

For gymnast Ioan Suciu, European champion in the men’s team competition in Patras, daily life resumes to going to the gym and then back home. Between two daily training sessions, Nelutu -as his teammates call him- doesn’t have much time left for anything else.
Even tough this is a very busy period for competitive gymnasts, he managed to find time to go skating at an outdoor rink with his girlfriend Ana Maria Guther, a university student majoring in Psychology. Ana Maria was born in Bistrita and was a gymnast when she was younger, but she quit the sport a while back. She now focuses on school and her modeling career.
”I live right next to the skating rink. Every time I’d pass by, I wanted to go out on the ice, if only for a few minutes. I feel great when I skate,” he adds. Born in Sibiu, Ioan skated for the first time at the age of 10. "I remember taking the ice when they were playing the song Lambada. The rink was so full, you could barely fit on the ice. I fell so many times, I came back home covered in bruises,” Suciu recalled.

Helping Ana Maria tie her skates on, the newest star of the men’s team is very attentive towards his girlfriend. “Let’s go, Bibilută. It will be okay. If we were to fall, I’ll hold you up.” Ana managed to do just fine out on the ice. “It’s a good thing I know how to go backwards. Oops! Well, the important thing is not to fall down,” he explains while sliding down on the ice. Suciu was brave enough to try a couple of spins and one foot glides while on the ice. “It’s awesome! Not quite the same as floor, but it’s a cool feeling.”

Two months in crutches

Ioan Suciu underwent surgery on his left knee in May. The doctors removed a screw from another surgery. He was forced to walk on crutches for two months. “If I didn’t have Bibiluta by my side, I don’t know what I would have done,” he said. Even though the competitive season seemed to have ended far too soon, he somehow overcame the early setbacks and come back at full strength. He was amazing on pommel horse and floor at the Paris and Glasgow GPs, placing ahead of world champions Marius Urzică and Marian Drăgulescu on both events.

Marius Urzică is not making any excuses

While hampered by a slight elbow injury in Paris, Marius Urzică was unable to compete up to his potential once again in Glasgow, placing third. “I’m worried that I didn’t do my routine as well as I could. I could come up with a number of reasons for that, but that’s not necessary. I’m very unhappy with my performance,” said Urzică. He went back to Bistrita to spend some time with his family, before the men’s team leaves the country to go to Switzerland for a joint training camp.

Marius also talked to Gazeta Sporturilor about a possible rivalry between himself and Ioan Suciu on pommel horse. “I don’t think you can talk about any rivalry between us. Actually, we’ll be competing against the other gymnasts. I would be very happy if we were both on the podium. It would be a huge success for men’s gymnastics in Romania.”
Suciu & Guther’s picture is used courtesy of VIP

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