Five of the current juniors at Deva (photo: ProSport)
"I Want the Juniors to Train Alongside the Seniors"
From this month onward, the national team at Deva may be expanded. The sixteen girls who are currently on the team may soon be joined by another four. "I have asked the Federation to send us another four juniors from Oneşti and I'm waiting for them to make a decision. I want these girls to develop on the national team without getting rushed, and as we won't have any team competitions this year, they will have time to get used to things," coach Nicolae Forminte told ProSport.
The bringing-in of more juniors to the senior team would have another advantage. "I'm convinced that if they train alongside the senior team, they will be able to score 58 to 60 points by the time they turn senior, rather than the 54 to 55 points we're seeing now. This scoring gap is hard to bridge. It cannot be bridged in a hurry, so it's good to get an early start. Our rivals for medals are already realizing all-around scores like that [58 to 60 points] while juniors," explained Forminte.
The national team currently consists of the seniors Sandra Izbaşa, Anamaria Tămîrjan, Gabriela Drăgoi, Andreea Acatrinei, Cerasela Pătraşcu, Andreea Grigore and Dana Druncea, as well as the juniors Claudia Voicu, Amelia Racea, Raluca Haidu, Diana Chelaru, Diana Trenca, Ana Porgras, Loredana Sabău, Daniela Andrei and Mălina Savoaia.
"I think that all gymnasts who will be age-eligible for the 2012 Olympics should be in Deva to be guided, corrected and prepared for that kind of competition," stated Nicolae Forminte.
Our money is on Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar, Patricia Tiron and Mădălina Neagu.
It's pretty surprising to me that the Romanians have become weak on vault since 2004. They've always been among the strongest teams on vault, beam, and floor with poor bars. But it's a little disappointing that vault has become a weak event with the current generation.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably something to do with the change of coaches. For all his faults, Octavian Belu was an excellent vault coach. He paid a lot of attention to vaulting during training and it paid off. We guess Forminte and the junior coaches are either less interested in the event or less skilled at teaching it.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the coaching change had something to do with it. But yet, Simona Amanar was coached by Forminte. We all know what Amanar did on vault throughout her career!
ReplyDeleteSimona Amanar was coached by Forminte when she was young. Once she went to Deva she was coached by Belu, and we're pretty sure it was he who brought out the great vaulter in her.
ReplyDeleteForminte was in Deva with her. I believe he stayed with her in Deva up until 1998. Or at least that's the last time I remember seeing him at competitions with her.
ReplyDeletefirst of all I want to say that Forminte was in Deva since Simona came in Deva. You should know that the succes of Romanian gymnasts until 2004 was not just because B&B. Among the other trainers was Forminte. And now at Deva is not only Forminte..there is Lili Cozma(BB), Lucian Sandu and after Olympics a new coach was promoted from the junior center(UB)...Forminte is for FX from what I remember and vault. And I think there are some new person in the stuff.
ReplyDeleteI hope it will be Ana-Maria Baicu instead of Patricia Tiron...in my eyes she is better.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, Forminte wasn't in Deva when I (Mihaela) was there (I visited twice in the late 1990s). I didn't see him on either occasion, but perhaps he was at a competition with a gymnast? It was my impression that Forminte was coaching at Farul Constanta at the time, but perhaps I'm mistaken about that. Anyhow, I know about Sandu, Cosma, and Valer Puia. Is the new UB coach Daniel Nistor?
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about Baicu. You're right, she might be better than Tiron.
The new UB coach is Florin Cotuţiu( he trained the juniors from Deva) Daniel Nistoris still in Onesti..from what I know.
ReplyDeleteI remember that in the documentary from Antena 3 he said that even for him is hard to be in Deva ..away from his family and so in 98 or something like that he returned to Constanta...but he returned in 2000.
Si eu ma numesc Mihaela :)
Nice to meet you, fellow Mihaela! Imi pare bine de cunostinta. :)
ReplyDeleteYour comment helps to explain the situation. I was in Deva in 1998 and 1999, and Forminte wasn't there then. So I guess he was in Constanta then and returned to Deva in 2000.
Thanks for the name of the new UB coach. I hope he can teach the girls some proper UB routines!
Would you happen to know who taught Larisa Iordache bars? Because she's got very good form on bars. I'm assuming it was one of the Dinamo coaches...
Is it coaches or just luck? Different athletes have different strengths and sometimes a nation has one or the other.
ReplyDeleteP.s. why am I already banned? I saw the warnings and expected to be banned after misbehaving but have not actually done so since the warning.
Both, I'd imagine, TCO. I guess Belu got lucky with his vaulters, but I also suspect he was a better vault coach than Forminte. Plus he attached enormous importance to vault - more than most coaches, I think.
ReplyDeleteYou have not been banned. We are merely moderating comments. Consider that a warning too.
Daniela Sofronie (Romania's only strong bar worker in Athens) said she had more success on bars simply because she enjoyed it so worked harder on it- I think I read that in the interview following her (far too early) retirement.
ReplyDeleteI love steliana nistor. I can't believe she is retired!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling a little over-warned.
ReplyDeleteAlso, despite your not asking for my help, I take some credit for your comments exploding. Your kick ass content and professional demeanor has not hurt either.
TCO, you get warned because you seem to need warning. We've asked you several times not to troll in any way. We're now reminding you of that one last time. Please get this through your head. We don't NEED you to troll to get us more comments. We don't WANT you to troll go help us get more comments. We're not that concerned about the number of comments we get. We'd rather get few comments than have to deal with one commenter who thinks he owns the blog and insists on helping us in ways we haven't asked for. Is that understood? You're a guest here. Please behave like one. No more trolling, no matter how well intended. And no more taking credit for things we never even asked for.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see Larisa going to Deva, but she will be eligible only for 2012 and maybe for the 2011 Worlds ( if they don`t change the rule in the pre-olympic year)....I can`t wait to find out who will go from Onesti to Deva
ReplyDeleteI think developing the girls together makes sense. Given physical demands of gymanstics and how girls often surpass women, large numbers of current seniors will be eclipsed by juniors by 2012.
ReplyDeleteP.s. Gymgirls, agreed. Will behave.
Mikeyy, isn't that exactly what Forminte wants? He wants girls in Deva who are age-eligible for 2012, including very young ones like Iordache. We're pretty certain she'll be among the girls called to Deva, being such a huge talent and everything. But we'll see!
ReplyDeleteTCO, atta boy! We agree on the joint training plan too.
There is something about that photo that is very appealing to me. Not in any sicko way. But they look martial. The way they stand and the design of the uniforms. Seriously. Cool.
ReplyDeleteThis television show:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103573
shows that the true home for Rumanian gymnasts is in the USA. Just like Bela and Nadia and Dominique. The TV shows it is true.
If Larisa will go to Deva, I wish that her training will be made step by step. She is our best hope for London...she has a great potential and she has enough time to grow in difficulty till 2012. For the moment her skills are great, maybe too diffcult her age, and I don`t want to see Larise taking the same way as other great juniors from the past. I want to see Larisa`s best moment of her career at London 2012 not sooner, as a junior.
ReplyDeleteWe agree, Mikeyy. We hope that Iordache won't burn out too soon. But we'll just have to wait and see...
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know what has happened to Alexandra Ghita? I noticed she was conspicuous by her absence in the list of girls at Deva. She was a very promising gymnast, but seems to have disappeared. Anyone know whats happened to her? Thanks:)
ReplyDelete