Romanian News

This week's big news from Romania would have to be Nicolae Forminte's indignation at the news that marathon runner Constantina Diţă-Tomescu rather than Sandra Izbaşa was named Romanian Sportswoman of the Year 2008 at the Romanian Sports Gala on January 31. "If we had known Sandra wasn't going to win, we wouldn't have come," an angry Forminte reportedly told Gazeta Sporturilor, adding that he felt the award should have gone to the athlete who had won most medals in 2008. On top of her Olympic title, Izbaşa won two European golds (team and floor) in 2008, whereas Diţă-Tomescu "only" won an Olympic gold medal. Izbaşa herself has not publicly commented on the row.


Sandra Izbaşa in Beijing (photo: Reuters)

Meanwhile, ProSport posted a videotaped interview with Forminte in which the head coach said he hoped Sandra Izbaşa, Anamaria Tămîrjan and Gabriela Drăgoi would be healthy enough to represent Romania at the European Championships, to be held in Milan, April 2-5. He also identified newcomer Diana Chelaru as a possible fourth representative at the Europeans.


Newcomer Diana Chelaru, slated to compete at the Europeans
(Photo taken from the website of the Blanc-Mesnil tournament)

Forminte also said in the ProSport interview that rising star Ana Porgras was recovering well from the knee surgery she recently underwent in Italy; she will miss the Europeans but is expected to recover in time for the World Championships. However, Forminte is concerned about the slow recoveries of Cerasela Pătraşcu, Andreea Acatrinei and Gabriela Drăgoi, saying that some of the gymnasts struggling with injuries are contemplating retirement.

In men's news, Gazeta Sporturilor reports that Romania will probably be represented in Milan by Flavius Koczi, Răzvan Şelariu and Marius Berbecar.

Meanwhile, judging from this ProSport interview with head coach Nicuşor Pascu, Adrian Bucur (not Flavius Koczi, as reported earlier) will represent Romania at the American Cup.

Finally, former star Steliana Nistor and new men's coach Nicuşor Pascu have recently given interviews which we hope to translate for you soon.

Four More Juniors to Go to Deva

For a while now fans of Romanian gymnastics have been worried about the low scores obtained by Romanian juniors at international competitions. Generally speaking, the Romanian youngsters score well on beam and floor, only to lose valuable points on vault and bars. It seems Nicolae Forminte has noticed the problem too, and according to ProSport, he has hit upon a solution...


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.

More on the Romanian Girls' Training Camp

Yesterday we posted a very short update from ProSport saying that the Romanian girls had returned from their training camp in the mountains. It was a two-line report without any details about the training camp, which kind of baffled us, as we were expecting stories and photos of the girls in the snow.

Turns out we were looking in the wrong direction. While ProSport more or less ignored the girls' training camp, other papers were devoting ample attention to it.


Cerasela Pătraşcu and Diana Chelaru (photo: Libertatea)

This article was posted by Libertatea ("Freedom") on December 27.

Attack in the snow!

Thanks to the snow, which has fallen in abundance over the last few days at the mountain resort of Poiana Braşov, the scenery looks like a fairy-tale. In this dreamscape, at less than five minutes' distance from Hotel Olimpic, a group of little girls is doing its best to plow its way through the 30-centimeter [one-foot] layer of snow in the middle of the path, each morning and each afternoon.

They are the members of the national gymnastics team, who are on a restorative training camp. Well wrapped up, with hats drawn over their foreheads and leg warmers like footballers', coach Nicolae Forminte's pupils have red cheeks because of the cold, but they are in excellent spirits. But even here, far away from the "laboratory" in Deva, the girls maintain a strict discipline. Standing in a perfect line, like they do at the beginning of each workout in the gym, the girls respond in unison to their coaches' greeting, "Bună ziua" (Hello).

Sandra Izbaşa, leader of the platoon

After that, with a smile on their lips, they listen to the short and precise instructions given by coach Lili Cosma: "You'll run six laps. You'll go up to the pillar of the cable car and come down close to the hotel." The girls quickly move off, after a light warmup where Cerasela Pătraşcu is the center of attention. Sandra Izbaşa, the Beijing Olympic champion, encourages the recent additions to the team: "Come on, girls! We still have a long way to go. Let's keep the momentum going!" Sandra goes at the head of the platoon of running girls.

Here the article ends, rather abruptly in our opinion.


Cerasela Pătraşcu (left) and Ana Porgras (photo: Libertatea)

Meanwhile, local newspaper Braşovul Tau ("Your Braşov") posted this article on December 28.

Romania's Female Gymnasts Spent Christmas in Poiana

The most prolific Romanian national team ever, which is to say the national women's gymnastics team, actually trained during the holidays. Nicolae Forminte's golden girls celebrated Christmas together at a training camp in Poiana Braşov.

"I think this is the first Christmas we've spent together at a training camp," Olympic gold medalist Sandra Izbaşa said. "It was really nice. We were together and felt like a family. Mr. Forminte and the Romanian Gymnastics Federation gave us presents and we thank them very much for those."


Sandra Izbaşa and Nicolae Forminte (photo: Libertatea)

"The girls sang Christmas carols for us and we spent a very nice evening together. We gave the girls presents and we felt like one great family. And on St. Nicholas [December 6] the girls surprised us with tiny gift parcels they had prepared for us, which we found in front of our rooms in Deva," said Nicolae Forminte.

A great year

For Romanian women's gymnastics, 2008 was a great year. "It was a good year. It was the year that ended the Olympic cycle, the year for which we had worked four years, and the year in which we demonstrated that our country's new national team can still command a place among the top nations in international women's gymnastics," said the coach of the national team, Nicolae Forminte.

For the leader of the current crop of gymnasts, Sandra Izbaşa, 2008 was a very good year too. "It was a fabulous year in which I made my greatest dream come true and had other valuable experiences. The medal I won at the Beijing Olympics after so much work was just extraordinary. It was the crowning glory of a perfect season," Sandra said.


Sandra Izbaşa (photo: Libertatea)

Santa was generous

Because they achieved such very good results, Santa Claus was generous toward the girls on the national team. But both for them and for the national team coaches, the results obtained at the Olympics were the most valuable present.

"I think Santa came very early for me, when we won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. That was the most beautiful present," said Forminte, while Sandra Izbaşa considered her gold medal in Beijing to be both a birthday present and a Christmas present. "You could say it was both a birthday present and a gift from Santa Claus, because I've had such a successful year."

And that concludes our Poiana Braşov coverage for this year!

Meanwhile, Over in Romania...

ProSport reports that the Romanian national women's team will resume training at Deva today. The girls are returning from a ten-day training camp in the mountain resort of Poiana Braşov. "We've put emphasis on physical preparation [conditioning drills] and on the cumulative effect. The results will have to be seen in training in the next few months," coach Nicolae Forminte told ProSport.

And yes, that's all there is to that report, so we're not even going to dignify it with a photo!

The Great Injury Post

We've been reliably informed by the DTB (that's the German Gymnastics Federation for you) that Oksana Chusovitina was supposed to undergo surgery in the Swiss city of Basel yesterday. According to the official DTB site, Chuso has completely torn the Achilles tendon of her right leg, but hopes to be back in training by February. Now that's ambition for you.

Edited to add: The DTB reports that Chuso's operation was successful. She is expected to leave the hospital this weekend.

Meanwhile, Marie-Sophie Hindermann's injury would appear to be a bit more serious. The DTB site reports that Hindermann has a cyst and scarred tissue on her Achilles tendon. Like Chuso, she will undergo surgery in Basel, to remove the cyst and scar tissue, which is expected to make the tendon stronger. According to the DTB, Hindermann is looking at two weeks in the hospital plus a six-to-eight-month period of recovery. Ouch.


Marie-Sophie Hindermann (Photo: Lluis Gene/Getty Images)

As far as we know, the Chinese girls are still struggling as well. Chinese newspapers reported a while ago that Deng Linlin was suffering from a knee injury, while Li Shanshan was suffering from an ankle injury. Jiang Yuyuan is said to be recovering from an elbow injury. She's working out, but not at full strength.

As we reported a while ago, Team Romania is having its share of injuries too. According to Nicolae Forminte, Ana Maria Tamirjan, Gabriela Dragoi and Andreea Grigore are all unable to compete at present because of health issues. No wonder Sandra Izbasa is being kept so busy!


Andreea Grigore (Photo: Getty Images)

We're wondering now how Dasha Joura is doing, following her ordeal at the Olympics. And what about Isabelle Severino, who tore her Achilles tendon at the Europeans? Mum is the word, it seems.

Edited to add: No news on Dasha Joura, but according to the Australian Gymnastics Blog, Georgia Bonora just underwent surgery on both ankles. She's expected to be out of action for at least three months. Ouch.

Hambüchen and Izbaşa Win Arthur Gander Memorial

Sandra Izbaşa has won the first of the five competitions in which she is slated to compete this post-Olympic season: the Arthur Gander Memorial, an annual event held in Chiasso, Switzerland. The Gander Memorial has a unique format: female gymnasts only compete on three events of their choice, while male competitors get to pick their four favorite events.


Photo: Harry How/Getty Images

Competing on vault (14.000), beam (15.1000) and floor (15.200), Izbaşa amassed 44.300 points in Chiasso, holding off German über-veteran Oksana Chusovitina, who competed on the same three events and obtained 15.000 on vault, 14.800 on beam, and 14.200 on floor for a 44.000 total. He Ning of China placed third with a 43.550 total which included a rather sloppy bar routine (by Chinese standards). Rounding out the field were Ariella Kaeslin, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Yasmin Zimmermann, and Lia Parolari.

According to the DTB site, Germany's Marie-Sophie Hindermann had to withdraw from the competition due to an Achilles tendon injury which will also prevent her from competing before a home crowd at the DTB Cup.

The men's title went to Fabian Hambüchen, the first German to win the competition. Aside from the overall title, the high bar specialist obtained the highest scores on each of the individual events on which he chose to compete: high bar (16.000), floor (15.250), vault (16.150) and parallel bars (15.600). According to the DTB site, Hambüchen unveiled a new routine on high bar featuring both a layout and a tucked Kovacs (7.1 start value).


Photo: picture-alliance/dpa

As in the ladies' competition, the men's all-around silver went to a veteran: Bulgarian Jordan Jovchev (61.450). Russia's Maksim Devyatovsky ranked third with a 60.650 total.

Sandra's Hellish Schedule

Once upon a time, November and December were when gymnasts recovered from their year's efforts. Sure, a few competitions were held toward the end of the year (notably the Chunichi Cup and the DTB Cup), but by and large, gymnasts used November and December (as well as January and February) to recuperate and learn new skills and/or routines. And then the bunch of crazy people known collectively as the FIG introduced the Grand Prix cycle, and the competitive year just became a bit longer and more exhausting for certain gymnasts.


Photo: Xinhua

Take Sandra Izbaşa, for instance. Did you think she'd rest on her laurels after winning that Olympic gold medal on floor? Hell, no. According to ProSport, Izbaşa has just announced that she'll participate in five more competitions this year: the Arthur Gander Memorial and Swiss Cup in Switzerland, the Toyota Cup in Japan, the Milan Grand Prix in Italy, and the World Cup Final in Spain. These competitions will be held on October 29, November 2, November 15, November 22, and December 12, respectively, meaning Izbasa will be competing until the second half of December. She herself is the first to admit it's all a bit much: "I'll have a hellish schedule. But I'm not afraid, as I've done series of competitions before, and besides I've got plenty of rest [since the Olympics]. It's time to show that my place is in the competition arena. Moreover, I'll do floor, the event on which I feel great, and possibly also beam, depending on what scores I get."

So why is she putting herself through such a demanding schedule? "I long for the audience, for the competition arena, for everyone who will be there watching me. I long to make every leap count. But mostly I long to compete, to feel the rhythm of the music, to work as hard as I can and to hear the applause afterwards."

Apparently, Izbaşa will be the only one representing Romania at the aforementioned competitions. National team coach Nicolae Forminte was quoted by ProSport as saying, "Tămîrjan and Drăgoi are still recovering, and Sandra was the only one who was sufficiently prepared to honor the invitations from the Grand Prix events. Grigore has sprained her ankle, and the other girls are struggling to find their motivation."

Ah well. Best of luck to Izbaşa, then. And to all those Romanian national team members who are apparently struggling to find their motivation. Ahem.

The Moroccan Won't Give Up...

You'd think Marian Dragulescu would be a bit depressed after all the bad press he's had over the last few weeks (see here and here). You'd be wrong, though. The Moroccan, as Dragulescu is known in Romania, is feeling great. So great, in fact, that he may well reconsider his decision to retire from competitive gymnastics.

ProSport reports that Dragulescu is doing extremely well in the German Bundesliga, where he represents KTV Straubenhardt, Fabian Hambüchen's club. In the club's first three competitions, Dragulescu competed on floor and vault, obtaining the league's top scores on the latter event: 16.500 in the first two competitions, and 16.300 in the third one. "I feel incredible," Dragulescu told ProSport. "The last two competitions were attended by 1,500 spectators. This Saturday I'll also compete on my third apparatus, high bar. I want to help the team win the national title, because they believed in me and asked me to come and join their team."

Dragulescu is doing so well in the Bundesliga that he'd like to continue his career on the Romanian team, despite his earlier announcement that he would retire. "I've discussed it with the Federation people, and they've told me they're awaiting my decision. In December, after the last Bundesliga competition, I'll know for sure." He went on to say, "I'm having trouble retiring. I live for this sport. If it were up to me, I'd stick around for a few more years, but we'll see how it goes. Right now I'm feeling great, so I've told myself I can go on for a bit longer."

According to ProSport, Dragulescu is not actually living in Germany at the moment. He continues to train twice a day with his former teammates at the Lia Manoliu gym in Bucharest, and flies to Germany every weekend to compete for KTV Straubenhardt.

More on the Dragulescu Case

The Dragulescu domestic violence scandal appears to be big news in Romania. According to ProSport, both Marian and Larisa have hit the talkshow circuit to tell their versions of the story. Meanwhile, others are weighing in on the scandal. ProSport quotes an anonymous teammate of the former world champion's, who claims trouble in the Dragulescu household had been brewing ever since the beginning of 2007: "At the beginning of 2007, [Marian] changed. He had great trouble concentrating on the elements he had to do, and then there was the accident at the Europeans. After that it seemed like something broke inside of him. He told us he wasn't sure he could handle the situation anymore, that things were getting worse and worse at home, and that he couldn't deal with the arguments with Larisa anymore. He was actually afraid he might do something stupid."


Photo: ProSport

The teammate made it sound like the violence at the Dragulescus' home got quite bad at times, with both parties taking blows: "He often came to the gym covered in scratches and bruises. He was sad and didn't want to talk to us. We all told him to stay single for a while, to get his act together and then to see what to do next, but he told us that his children were the most important thing to him and that he didn't want to do anything to hurt them."


Photo: ProSport

Meanwhile, Newsreport claims money (or rather a lack thereof) was indeed at the heart of the scandal. According to the Romanian website, Dragulescu borrowed heavily from his friends and coaches prior to the Olympics to be able to afford his deaf daughter's €40,000 ($51,000) operation in Vienna, just before the Games. He was confident he would be able to pay his creditors back soon, as the reward for an Olympic gold medal was about €100,000 ($128,000) . Sadly, he then failed to medal in Beijing, thus plunging himself into debt. Seeing his former wife use money raised by well-wishers for his daughter's operation for her own ends, he lost his temper and lashed out.

Dragulescu will soon get the opportunity to forget about the scandal and focus on gymnastics instead. He is about to depart for Germany, where he will take part in a few Bundesliga competitions for KTV Straubenhardt, Fabian Hambüchen's club. Here's hoping his results in Germany will go some way toward restoring his reputation.

Marian Dragulescu: The Scandal That Is Rocking Romania

We weren't sure whether to report this story at first, as we greatly respect Marian Dragulescu the athlete and didn't want to impair his reputation any more than we had to. However, since the story is big news in Romania, we decided to go ahead and publish it. Parts of it, anyway.

It appears that Dragulescu's estranged wife Larisa, with whom the vault specialist continued to live together for the love of their children (Beatrice Maria, aged 3, and Richard Alexandru, aged 1) despite having obtained a divorce in March, checked into a hospital a few nights ago with a black eye, claiming that her husband had beaten her up, and not for the first time. The incident resulted in massive headlines in Romania: "Dragulescu, accused of brutally assaulting his wife!" (ProSport), "A champion's blows: Marian Dragulescu beats his wife in front of the children" (Ziua), "Marian Dragulescu assaults his wife" (Mediafax), etc.

Details of the case are now forthcoming. Among other accusations we won't repeat here, Larisa is quoted in ProSport as saying, "He had beaten me before, even when I was pregnant, but this time he kicked me with his foot. After beating me, he said he didn't want me anymore and was going to kick me out of the house with the children. This time I won't forgive him anymore; things have already gone very far. So far I've always forgiven him because I loved him."


The Dragulescus in happier times (photo: ProSport).

According to Mediafax, Marian Dragulescu has admitted to lashing out at his ex-wife after discovering that the latter had spent over half of the money donated by third parties for the treatment of the couple's deaf daughter Beatrice Maria on clothes and shoes. "We had about 75 million lei ($25 million) in our account. Then she went and bought herself shoes, dresses, and boots. I spoke to her about it on Saturday, after which I went to a wedding. When I came back on Sunday, I was very tired and planning to go to bed, but she came to me and started to argue. She really had it in for me, probably because I had gone to the wedding without her. From 9PM to 2:30AM she kept yelling at me. In the end I lost my patience and couldn't bear it anymore. I'm not a violent man and I'm very sorry about what I've done. I was afraid because the children were there, and that's another reason why I'm very sorry," Dragulescu told Mediafax.

According to Mediafax, Dragulescu denies ever having beaten his wife before last week's incident.

For its part, ProSport had another Dragulescu quote: "I regret that it has come to this. It was an out-of-character thing for me to do. I couldn't bear the situation anymore. Every day there were rows and arguments. I acknowledge this mistake - that I gave her a blow with my fist. Aside from that, absolutely none of the things Larisa has said on TV are true. She just wanted to drag my name through the mud, to make me look like the worst man on earth. We couldn't go on anymore, we were at loggerheads all the time."

ProSport also quoted Adrian Stoica, the President of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, who said, "I'm shocked. I'm speechless. It's a difficult moment for the Dragulescus and I hope they have the maturity to deal with it in a dignified manner."

To be continued, we expect.