News & Updates

Maria Neculită
Copyrighted photo by Robert Kensit

After almost two years, a new team doctor will look after the national gymnastics team. Dr. Ioan Branda is the director of the orthopedic department of the Deva county hospital. The 44-year old already started looking after the gymnasts coached by Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang. The new team doctor is scheduled to sign a 3-year contract with the RGF today.

Steaua Bucharest will open its official website later this year. The page will feature a section titled “I want to be a star, too”, whose main purpose will be promoting new talents and helping children from low-income families. The gymnastics, fencing and judo sections will be at the forefront of the project.

Andreea Răducan and Marian Drăgulescu won the Czech GP held in Brno. Andreea scored a 9.4 on beam, and Marian a 9.55 on vault in the final to seal the victory. Octavian Belu talked about Andreea’s first competition since the 2001 Worlds, which were held almost 8 months ago. “This is a promising step towards regaining her best form. I noticed she’s very eager to compete, which can only make us happy.”

Former gymnast Simona Amanar-Tabara, is expecting a baby boy. She is now in 3 months pregnant. “I found out I was pregnant in the 8th week. I was constantly tired and I didn’t realize what was going on. I took a [pregnancy] test, and it came out positive,” said Amanar. Simona added that gymnasts generally have a hard time getting pregnant, due to all the physical effort and the stress they are under as competitors. That was one more reason why she was surprised to find out she’ll be a mother less than 6 months from now.

Nadia Comăneci and her husband Bart Conner will attend the wedding of Valentin Stoica, the son of RGF General Secretary Adrian Stoica. Maria Elena Dallestoro, the future Mrs. Stoica, is from Venezuela. The two met while studying in Oklahoma, where Valentin majored in business. Maria Elena was visiting her sister who lives next to Nadia’s house and that’s when they met for the first time. Nadia and Bart wanted to be in the wedding, especially since they took care of Valentin during the 4 years he studied in the US.

Last week, Nadia Comăneci unveiled a monument built in her honor. Over 2000 people were present at the ceremony, including former teammates Anca Grigoras, Luminita Milea and Georgeta Gabor, and Nadia's parents. The sculpture located in Nadia's hometown of Onesti shows two gymnasts performing handstands on the beam, with their legs forming an Olympic flame.
Nadia left Romania immediately following the ceremony, being scheduled to make a public appearance at a long distance race in Morocco. The event will promote women in sports.

Vault # 328 in the COP is now named after Marian Dragulescu. The handspring double front with 1/2 turn was first performed by Dragulescu at an FIG-sanctioned competition in the US. Head coach Dan Grecu said the judges at the meet did not know what was the start value of the value. “The American judges were asking ‘What’s the start value of this vault? What start value did you award it in Europe? I told them we scored it from a 10.0. So, they awarded it a 10.0 SV, as well.” Marian Dragulescu is the first male gymnast from Romania to have a skill named after him in the code of points.

Romanian President Ion Iliescu decided to honor RGF President Nicolae Vieru by awarding him a national medal of honor for “Faithful Service as Knight”. The timing of the award was explained by Vieru’s upcoming 70th birthday, on April 21st. Other official reasons listed include “the long and fruitful activity as RGF leader, and everything he’s done to promote the sport ,as a coach and international judge.”
ROC Secretary Dan Popper believes rewarding Vieru is a huge mistake. "Ion Iliescu has some irresponsible and incompetent presidential advisors. Nicolae Vieru did a lot of good things for Romanian sports, but this wasn’t the right time to congratulate him. Our State Leader was thrown to the press by his advisors. You don’t hand out medals of honor to someone who’s in the midst of a scandal,” concluded Popper.
The National Order for faithful Service includes 5 categories –Knight, Officer, Commander, Ranking Officer, and Big Cross, ranging from the least important to the highest honor. This means Vieru has received the same medal of honor as track & field stars Violeta Szekely and Lidia Simon, and men’s gymnastics team head coach Dan Grecu.

Romanian newspaper Ziua asked Belu to offer his predictions on the women’s senior team event. “Due to our forfeit, Russia is the big favorite, obviously. Besides, the Russians have a very experienced team, led by Svetlana Khorkina who will most likely compete all four events.” When it came to the false DOBs scandal, Belu was visibly affected. “The image of Romanian gymnastics has been irreversibly tainted. Even if I wasn’t involved in these gimmicks in any way, it’s not easy for me to listen to other coaches who knew us very well and are shocked by what is going on. I was ashamed when we were referred to as a nation of hypocrites and liars. No one can understand how you can debate your own self-worth. It’s purely suicidal. But, this is a separate issue and I don’t think I need to make any further comments.”

An old injury, strained ligaments in her right ankle suffered last year in Japan, resurfaced for Oana Ban. She tried training through the pain, but she didn't meet Belu & Bitang's criteria. Oana will train at CSS Deva's gym (not the Olympic team facilty) because she can represent either CSS Cluj or Deva. She will take part in a test to see if she can be readmitted to the national team in early May.

Andreea Raducan is back at Deva, but she's only training with the rest of the team during the morning training session. She comes to the gym one hour before everyone else in the afternoon, and works out on the UB, FX and V under Octavian Belu's supervision. "I thought about making up a shorter but more intense training program for her. I decided it would be better for her not wait in line for 4 or 5 teammates on every event and let her train next to her teammates only on beam in the afternoon [training session], " explained Belu. He hopes to bring Raducan back into top shape before the European Championships. Should he fail to do so, Belu will not risk compromising her [reputation] just to help the team, out of which only one quarter of its members can train properly. Even the newest senior team members, who just turned 16, are struggling at half strength due to medical problems. Oana Petrovschi already had two knee surgeries, and Oana Ban trains only one or two days a week since she complains of pain in her foot. Doctors are yet to figure out what causes the pain .

Geta Holban from CSS Galati placed second in the AA competition at the 28th edition of the GP of Nimes, France. The 7th grader is coached by Mariana Ionescu and Tudorel Lovin and competed in Nimes along with a team from CSS Barlad, led by club director Ionita Chirila.

ProSport reports Simona Amanar's former coach, Nicolae Forminte started to train the juniors at CSS Onesti. "I don't long how long I'll stay here. It all depends on the conditions the RGF can offer. I couldn't make ends meet with my 4 million lei/month ($150) salary, since I was the only one working in the family," said Forminte. The 18 team members are between the ages of 13 and 15. "I'm determined to work hard. You can expect to start seeing results in less than 2 years."

Gina Gogean is now a voting member of the Romanian Olympic Committee. The former gymnast is expected to attend the next ROC meeting, which will be held on February 4th.

The men’s team resumed training at the Lia Manoliu sports complex in Bucharest on January 7th. The only gymnasts who will miss training are Marius Urzica, and Marian Dragulescu. Dragulescu suffered a back injury at the end of last year, which forced him into a two-month break.

Marius Urzica is headed for Germany where he will follow a one week-long treatment for his shoulder and back. “Since I am leaving on January 26th, it wouldn’t make any sense to go back to training now. If I won’t need surgery, I should be back in competitive form a month after I come back.” He will be joined by Sabina Cojocar, who has shoulder surgery at the end of last year.

Monica Sabou was named the 10th best athlete in Maramures county by the local sports association. Monica, coached by Costela Mihaiuc, hails from CSS Baia mare and is a member of the senior national gymnastics team.

Several gymnasts placed in the top 10 lists for best athletes of 2001. Alexandra Brinzei from CSS Focsani was the 4th best athlete in Vrancea county, while Larisa Apostol and Roxana Becheanu from CSS Deva were 6th and 8th respectively in a similar listing for Hunedoara county.

Two American sports photographers wrote ProSport, offering financial help for Monica and Carmen Afilipoaie, the two rhythmic gymnasts from Iasi, whose tragic story was published on December 28th. Both of them read a translated version of the article online at oocities.com. “I’m not rich, but I love gymnastics and I want to help reduce the Afilipoaie family’s debts,” said Thomas Coyne, a photographer working for a sports site. “I brought this up in chat and several people wanted to help the girls whose mother committed suicide due to [extreme] poverty,” said Tom Theobald, a UPI photographer. The gymnasts’ family was supposed to leave their apartment on December 31st because they owed over 80 million lei ($2,600) in unpaid bills and rent. “So far, no one came to evict us, but we’re waiting for them any day. My heart breaks for my daughters,” confessed the gymnasts’ father.

The Timis County Youth & Sports Organization gave out prizes for the best athletes of 2001. Andreea Ulmeanu, world champion with the Romanian gymnastics team, took first place and was awarded 10 million lei ($330). Andreea was attending a training camp, and she was represented by her father who attended the gala in her name.

News 2001

News 2000

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