News & Updates 2000

Maria Neculită
Copyrighted photo by Robert Kensit

Andreea Răducan took part in the 10th anniversary of TVV, the television station in Vaslui. She was accompanied by her father, Ghorghe and younger brother, Sorin. The CEO of the TV station congratulated her on her great results in Sydney, and compared her to Nadia, in addition to offering her an early Christmas present, a hand painted (religious) icon.

Ioachim Oană, former National team doctor was suspened by the Romanian Medical Association for 6 months. He will not be allowed to work as a doctor during this period.

Nadia Comăneci will spend the Holidays in Romania, with her parents. Husband Bart Conner will join her after Christmas, and the two plan to welcome the new millenium at Poiana Brasov, a ski resort.

Claudia Presăcan receives another award! This time, Radio Cluj presented her with the award for best Transylvanian athlete for the year 2000. Claudia shared the award with judoka Simona Richter.

Nadia Comăneci will receive the highest order of "Romania's star", a national medal awarded for outstanding service. In other news, Rares Orzata was the 5th best athlete in Brasov, and Marian Dragulescu and Maris Urzica were recognized at a ceremony organized by Dinamo Bucharest, honoring the club's Olympians.

CSA Steaua named Claudia Presăcan athlete of the year. Claudia shared the top spot with rower Veronica Cochelea. Other gymnasts in the top 10 included Olympic team champion Loredana Boboc (tied for second place), and Junior European floor champ Silvia Stroescu, who placed 10th.

Before leaving for the Olympic Stars Gala in Belgium, Octavian Belu told ProSport there will be a couple of changes made to the national teams. "We'll restructure the team as we go because Simona Amânar, Claudia Presăcan and Maria Olaru are now retired", he said. He also added juniors Sabina Cojocar, Silvia Stroescu and Carmen Ionescu will be "promoted to the big [senior national] team."

Ziua reports Marius Urzică was voted sportsman of the year in Romania. Swimmer Diana Mocanu won the award for sportswoman of the year. Simona Amanar also received an award for her AA gold medal, as did the rest of the women's team. Coaches Belu and Bitang wre also honored at the ceremony. I found it interesting there was no mention of Andreea Raducan as an individual performer.

Claudia Presăcan and Maria Olaru spent last week together in Sibiu. "I took my driver's licence test, but I didn't pass it, so now I have to take it again," said Claudia, upset that she won't be able to drive her new Ford Ka sooner. Yesterday, the Sibiu native left for Bucharest to get a licence number for her car, while Maria returned home.

Marius Urzică ended the year with another win on pommel horse at the World Cup and said he was happy to finish the year "with my head held high. It was easier than at the Olympics. Alexei Nemov and Eric Poujade weren't there, but I wasn't afraid on them, in any case. Still, there were two big guns missing [from the final]." After this week-end's Paris gala, Marius plans to spend two weeks at home (in Năsăud) with his family. He came home with lots of Christmas gifts for his new-born son.

New-found best-friends, Maria Olaru and Claudia Presăcan, spent last week-end together in Sibiu, watching the finals of the Stalinskaya Cup, an indoor soccer competition. Claudia was there to cheer on Inter Sibiu, her favorite team.

Great results for the Romanian gymnasts at the World Cup. Both the men's and women's teams won two gold medals. Marius Urzică scored a 9.837 for his pommel horse routine to continue his world domination on the event, and Marian Drăgulescu won vault with a 9.7. On the women's side, Simona Amânar placed second on vault, beam and third on floor in her final competition. Răducan won beam and floor. Complete results are available at the BAGA site.

Simona Amânar and Andreea Răducan left for the World Cup accompanied by their coaches, and nurse Margareta Turcu. Since Dr. Oana no longer works for the national team, Ms. Turcu is the only medical personnel that works with the team. "She'll take care of any health problems that might surface. What's bad is that the 20 gymnasts that make up the extended national team are left behind, without having a [medical] specialist nearby," said coach Mariana Bitang.

ProSport reports Maria Olaru an Claudia Presăcan spent St. Nicholas' day (November 6th) handing out gifts at an orphanage in Bucharest. The two Olympic team members also visited a nursing home, and handed out more gifts on behalf of the ROC.

Simona Amânar won this year's Chunichi Cup (38.35), ahead of teammate Andreea Răducan (38.337). Andreea expressed her desire to continue competing until the next Olympics, saying "I was moved very much when I saw Romanian flags here. This is my first step towards Athens. I really want to win the gold medal at the next Olympics."
Full results are available at Gym Forum's site.

The women's team finished second at 2000 International Team Championships, behing the American team, scoring 151.249 pts. All team members (Oana Ban, Alexandra Barac, Sabina Cojocar, Carmen Ionescu, Oana Petrovschi) are still juniors, with Andreea Ulmeanu the lone senior on the team. Petrovschi had the highest all-around score, with 38.35 pts. Sabina Cojocar topped the beam and floor standings, scoring 9.775 on both events.

Romania's men's team won their first title at 2000 International Team Championships, edging out the US and Chinese teams, with a score of 225.075 pts. Marian Drăgulescu led the tyeam with the highest all-around score, 57.5 pts. The other team members, Rares Orzată, Ioan Suciu, Dănut Coseru, Robert Ene, and Adrian Rădoi all had good performances.
Full results are available at the USAG web site.

Former tennis player Ilie Năstase confirmed he wants to nominate Nadia Comăneci as president of the Romanian Olympic Committee, now that Tiriac's resignation left the post open. "Her personality could enrich Romania's image in many sports circles around the world," he said.
In other news, Dr. Ioachim Oană has been named CEO for Regional Health Insurance until a new CEO will be elected.

Claudia Presăcan, member of the 2000 Olympic team, confirmed her retirement in an interview with TVR Sibiu. "Due to health reasons, but also because of my age, I decided to retire. From now on I will "fight" for the Romanian team as a coach," said Claudia. The Olympic champion was awarded 50 million lei (about $2,500) by Klaus Johannis, mayor of Sibiu, to show her hometown's appreciation for her great results, and everything she's done to promote Romanian gymnastics.
On the other hand Simona Amânar decided to go back on her decision to retire, and she is scheduled to compete at this year's Chunichi Cup.

Ziua reports Dr. Ioachim Oană is now under investigation by the Romanian Medical Commission. The investigation is expected to last up to one month. In other gymnastics news, sports channel Eurosport is organizing its first ever Sport Stars Awards, to honor European athletes who won gold medals at the Sydney Olympics. Romanian gymnasts Andreea Răducan, Marius Urzică, Simona Amânar, Loredana Boboc, Claudia Maria Presăcan, Andreea Isărescu and Maria Olaru, are scheduled to attend the Monte Carlo ceremony.

Andreea Răducan has been officially cleared by the ROC to return to gymnastics competitions as soon as she wants to. She expressed her desire to continue doing gymnastics "for at least a couple of years", but she has not committed to the 2004 Olympics yet -at least, not publicly. In other news, Dr. Oană was found innocent by the Deva Doctors' Association, who concluded "he had done nothing from form a medical standpoint." Judging by initial reaction in the Romanian press, the decision has been controversial at best.

Over 1000 people, mostly school children, welcomed the Olympic champions back to Deva. The celebration included a stop in downtown Deva, where each of the gymnasts addressed the crowd. "I didn't get a chance to say much of anything, because everyone was chanting my name. At first, I thought they wanted Andreea Răducan to give a longer speech, but I realized they were actually cheering for me when they started yelling 'Isă! Isă!'", said a slightly bewildered Andreea Isărescu. The mayor of Deva presented the team with a 3.5 meters-long cake (over 10ft), and a 20 kg (40 lbs) sausage. Octavian Belu liked the sausage idea so much, he carried the basket with the sausage on his shoulders around the stage, a la Andreea Răducan, after her AA win.

Ziua reports that Romania's Olympic medalists under the age of 18 will be unable to pick up their prize money until they turn 18. According to a law recently approved by the ROC, all athletes' prizes, including those under the age of 18, can be doubled by the ROC, provided the minors' prize money is placed in an International bank (in Romania). However, the athletes will be unable to pick up their prize money until they turn 18, and their parents will not be allowed to withdraw the money, either. The athletes affected by this include Andreea Raducan (17), Loredana Boboc (16), Andreea Isarescu (16), and 16-year old swimmer Diana Mocanu, whose entire family has to live off of her mother's salary, since her father was forced into early retirement. The ROC can withdraw the yearly interest and give that money to the athletes, should they ask for it.

Andreea Răducan & Simona Amânar had a busy day in Bucharest. After receiving their diplomatic passports in the morning, they went furniture shopping. The store Mobexpert is offering to pay for Andreea's furniture for the 3-room apartment her family will be moving on. Simona will receive her living-room furniture for free (all the other Olympians can buy the furniture at a discount). Andreea said that "I saw some very nice things, but I couldn't make up my mind yet, because I don't know what the apartment looks like. All I know is that I have 3 or 4 (apartments) to chose from." The gymnasts were accompanied by assistant coach Lucian Sandu, because Octavian Belu took time off to be with his family.

Romania's Olympic medalists will receive their prize money & a commendation medal for their performance in Sydney. Athletes who placed 4th, 5th and 6th will also receive $3750, $3000 and $2500 respectively. This means Claudia Presăcan, Maria Olaru and Andreea Răducan will receive additional prize money. "I was shocked when I found out about the prize money offered for 4th place, but this is definitely a nice surprise," said a smiling Claudia Presăcan, adding "it's about time we had a few of those, after all we've been through in Sydney."

Romania's 35 Olympic medalists were honored in a ceremony held in Piata Revolutiei, a plaza in the center of Bucharest. As soon as the athletes took the stage, the over 5000 people in attendance started chanting Andreea Răducan's name. After performances by Romania's most popular bands & singers, the athletes took turns addressing the crowd. Marius Urzică, left the stage a little disappointed saying "I'm sorry they wouldn't let me get a couple of words in, but that's how it is when you're next to the girls (team). They have the right of way."

Members of the Romanian gymnastics team will each receive a Ford Ka car for the gold medal they won in Sydney. Mariana Bitang is none too happy that the coaches will not receive a car of their own. "The people who made this decision should go to Deva and see how hard the coaches work. If they think the athletes should get all the credit, then maybe they'll start coaching themselves. They showed the callused and blistered hands of the gymnasts on television, but no one noticed the coaches' gray hair." In the same category of 'coaches behaving badly', ProSport hinted Belu was very resentful of Ion Tiriac getting close to his gymnasts, and having them "drifting away" from him.

Romanian newspaper Ziua reports the gymnastics team was honored at a ceremony organized at the Hilton Hotel in Bucharest. Andreea Raducan and Simona Amanar received matching prize money from RomTelecom, the team sponsor, as all-around gold medalists. They were awarded 30 million lei (about $16,000), while Maria Olaru received $10,000 for the silver she won. All the team members were awarded 25 million lei ($12,000) for their gold medal. Interestingly, Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang were awarded $20,000 each. They will not receive any other prizes from the RGF, but the RGF will match Romtelecom's prizes for each gymnast. Belu was quoted as saying "I'd give anything for [Andreea's] medal, not only because it belongs to her, but also because it's ours, the coaches & the Romanian people."

Romanian company Media Pro Pictures will make a biographical movie about Andreea Raducan. The movie will be accompanied by a one-hour documentary about Andreea. They have not determined who will play Andreea yet, but one of the front runners to get the part is a (still unnamed) 10-year old actress from Abracadabra, a children's TV show. In other Andreea news, IBM released their Olympic fanmail stats, including a list of the athletes who received the most messages. Andreea is in 5th place, after Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe, Italy's Claudio Nolano and Cathy Freeman & Susie O'Neill (both from Australia).

In Bucharest, participants listed to "Song for Andreea Raducan", performed by the band A.S.I.A. Verona Olaru, Maria's mother said she is "very worried about what happed. I'm here to support Andreea's family, because what happened to her could have easily happened to Maria." She will meet the team when they arrive in Bucharest on Saturday. Despite all the controversy, the good news include the fact that both Simona Amanar & Andreea will receive the $30,000 prize money given to gold medal winners. Simona will also receive an apartment from the mayor's office in Constanta (the block will be finsihed at the end of the year). Andreea will receive a gold medal, made for her by Romania jewlers, as soon as she returns home.

In an unprecedented show of support, hundreds of Deva students -and thousands throughout the whole country- took to the streets to support Andreea Răducan, including Junior European Champions Silvia Stroescu and Sabina Cojocar. Messages of support have been pouring in from all over the country. 1979 World team Champion, Rodica Dunca, now a coach at CSS Baia Mare, told her "You're our champion, regardless of what happens!" Vanda Hadarean was among the supports who demonstrated in Cluj. The most original supporter was equestrian champion Viorel Bubău, who rode his horse, Carnaval, while carrying a banner with Andreea's name on it.

The latest version of COR's story about what happened to Andreea Raducan changed yet again. Initially, they reported Andreea did not have a cold, and she was not given any medication, except vitamins. Then, two hours later, when they drafted the letter sent to the IOC, they explained the team doctor also prescribed one pill of Nurofen (used to treat back pain) per day. After leaving the IOC conference, the COR staff said Dr. Oană gave the gymnast two pills of Nurofen every day to treat a cold. Today, the latest version of the story is that the doctor only gave her one Nurofen pill right before competition started because Andreea complained of a head ache. All these ever changing stories confirm confusion reigns supreme in the Romanian delegation. (ProSport)

Someone started a petition trying to convince the IOC Andreea Raducan should get gold medal back. If you would like to sign it, please visit their web site.

"Historic day for Romania's Olympic delegation in Sydney", reads the headline in Thursday's ProSport. Indeed, it was. Starting with a medal sweep in the all-around gymnastics competition (the first one since 1960, when the then Soviet Union's Larisa Latynina, Sofia Muratova & Polina Astakova went 1-2-3) Andreea Raducan, Simona Amanar, and Maria Olaru brought in the first three medals of the day. Mihai Covaliu won the fencing event. Simona Richter's bronze medal in judo, and Iulian Raicea's bronze in shooting capped off the impressive medal haul, which propelled Romania's team to 9th place in the medal standings.

The townhall of Constanta, Simona Amanar's home town, organized an open house celebration in honor of the Romanian team's gold medal. Guests of honor included Nicolae Forminte, Simona's former coach who is currently visting his family, and Simona's mother.

The Romanian team was in the third group at yesterday's podium practice, and ProSport reports they looked very good. Andreea Ulmeanu was in the audience, watching her teammates. Unfortunately, she had to watch the competition form the "nose bleed" section (not sure if that's because the ROC didn't think about buying her a ticket ahead of time, or if they simply couldn't afford to pay for a better seat). Simona Amanar's floor routine, set to Romanian folk music drew loud cheers from the crowd, who clapped along with her music. Maria Olaru had a couple of low landings on floor, but she looked a lot better than at the last practice. Bars, which were supposed to be the team's nemesis were very solid. One of the gymnasts even earned a "Don't worry about it. The rest (of the routine) was good" comment from head coach Octavian Belu, after taking a step on her landing. Mariana Bitang summed up podium training as "the last chance to make a mistake, without losing a medal for it."
Octavian Belu & Maria Olaru gave two brief interviews after the send-off party for the Romanian Olympic team to Romanian newspaper Romania libera.
"In my case, there can be no talk about being nervous, since this is the fifth time I go to the Olympics. I will not make any predictions, or set any goals. The most important thing from my point of view is that the girls do their routines to the best of their abilities. If they can do that, I'm sure we'll finish on the podium. As always, the Russian and Chinese teams will be our main competitors, but we will not minimize the potential of the American (?!) team, who seems determined to cause a few surprises." (Octavian Belu)
"I worked so hard to get to Sydney. We know our competitors very well, because we've been competing against them since Sydney in various internationals. I would be happy to win a medal, regardless of what color it is." (Maria Olaru)
Members of the Romanian Olympic delegation will take part in a presentation ceremony on August 31st, to be broadcasted live by Romanian television. Laura Badea, member of the women's fencing team, will take the Olympic oath on behalf of the athletes, and head coach Octavian Belu will take the oath for the Romanian officials. The delegation, which includes the women's gymnastics team, will leave for Australia on September 1st.
The men's team for Sydney is yet to be determined. The gymnasts fighting for a spot of the team are Marius Urzica, Ioan Suciu, Marian Dragulescu, Rares Orzata, Florentin Pescaru, Dorin Petcu, Dan Potra, and Nistor Sandro. The six members of the team will be selected by the National team coaches Dan Grecu, Aurelian Georgescu, Gall Csaba & Adrian Sandu 4-5 days before the team is scheduled to leave for Sydney on September 1st. No alternate will be named to the team.
The Romanian men's team won their tri-meet against Spain and Switzerland in Sibiu, scoring 228.100 points to Spain's 222.975 pts. The Romanian gymnasts also went 1-2-3 in the all-around, with Ioan Suciu of Sibiu taking top honors in front of the home crowd, with a total of 56.900pts. Florentin Pescaru (56.300 pts) was second, and Rares Orzata (56.250 pts) was third.
Here is a list of the women's Olympic team (including their height & weight), in the order in which Octavian Belu announced the team members to the press:
Simona Amânar (Oct 7th 1979, Constanta) 1,53 m 44 kg
Maria Olaru (June 4th 1982, Fălticeni) 1,61 m 49 kg
Claudia Maria Presăcan (Dec. 28th 1978, Sibiu) 1,54 m 43 kg
Andreea Mădălina Răducan (Septemb. 30th 1983, Bîrlad) 1,45 m 37 kg
Florenta Andreea Isărescu (Jul 3rd 1984, Bucharest) 1,47 m 38 kg
Loredana Boboc (May 17th 19 Bucharest)1,40 m 33 kg
Andreea Elena Ulmeanu 1,45 m 37 kg (alternate)

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