Andreea Ulmeanu Update
Timisoara-native Andreea Ulmeanu arrived home Monday night and she called her first coach from CSS 1 Timisoara, Marcel Benea. The gymnast is suffering from periostitis, an inflammation of the surface of the tibia bone. “She needs a break, but under no circumstances should she quit gymnastics,” said Benea. He cannot understand how, in a span of 4 months, the gymnasts got to the point where they are treated like cripples and sent home. He talked to coaches Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang about breaking up the senior national team at Simona Amanar’s wedding. He firmly believes the two of them decided not to send a team to Europeans a long time ago. “This generation of gymnasts had a lot of personality; sometimes they would open their mouth when they shouldn’t have. Maybe that’s what bothers Belu. Back in the days of Simona Amanar or Lavinia Milosovici, none of the gymnasts would answer back. They all followed orders army-style,” added Benea.
Andreea Ulmeanu is determined to keep training, even though training conditions in CSS 1 Timisoara’s gym are downright awful. There is no vaulting table, the floor mat was ruined by being moved around so much, the beam is from Lavinia Milosovici’s days, and the uneven bars came from Deva’s warehouse. The only clubs offering training facilities comparable to those at Deva are the Lia Manoliu Sports Complex in Bucharest, and the Onesti and Sibiu gyms. “If we had the same equipment as the Sibiu gym, Andreea could train properly,” said coach Benea.
In order to bring the Timisoara gym back to normal standards, over 3 billion lei ($100,000) would have to be spent. Marcel Benea gave up his position as an RGF executive, responsible for the junior team’s preparation, because he felt he couldn’t really help Romanian gymnastics that way. He emphasized the strength of character demonstrated by Ulmeanu, who kept going even after she was the first alternate for 1999 Worlds team and the second alternate for the Olympic team. He believes she could “make the national team in 130 other countries” with her current preparation level. Training at Timisoara would set her both in the gym and in school. “A break longer than 2 months, in conditions like the ones in Timisoara would take her out of the sport for good,” said Benea.
Andreea Ulmeanu won 148 million lei ($5,000) for the team world title and her 5th place on vault at last year’s Worlds and 10 million lei ($350) for being named the best athlete in Timis county. She never received any money from her home club CSS 1 Timisoara. It looks like Octavian Belu has given up on this generation, even if he said they can come back at Deva. Andreea Ulmeanu would like compete at Worlds in 2003 and the 2004 Olympics
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